INSTALL SHIELD in .net

Converting or Importing Visual Studio Projects into InstallShield Projects

Benefits of Using an InstallShield Project Instead of a Visual Studio Project

If you convert or import your Visual Studio project into an InstallShield project, you can use the features in InstallShield to fully customize your project.

Following is a list of a few of the tasks that you can perform in InstallShield projects but not in Visual Studio projects:

Modify the layout of dialogs through a visual Dialog Editor.
Manage components and features.
Store custom actions in the Binary table of the .msi or .msm database. (With Visual Studio, all custom actions must be installed with the product.)
Manage SQL-related tasks, such as connecting to a SQL server and running SQL scripts.
Manage IIS Web sites, applications, virtual directories, application pools, and Web service extensions.
Add billboards that are displayed during file transfer.
Modify XML files or other text files on the target system at run time.
Create shortcuts to pre-existing files on a target system.
Manage COM+ applications.

Import Process

InstallShield lets you import a Visual Studio setup or merge module project into an InstallShield Basic MSI or Merge Module project.

Note

If the Visual Studio setup or merge module project that you want to import into an InstallShield project contains one or more project outputs, the InstallShield project must be in the same Visual Studio solution that contains the Visual Studio setup or merge module project and all of its project dependencies.

In order to import a Visual Studio project that contains project outputs, you must be using InstallShield from within Visual Studio. If your InstallShield project is open in InstallShield, but not from within Visual Studio, and you try to import a Visual Studio project that contains project outputs into the InstallShield project, an error occurs.

Task

To import a Visual Studio project (.vdproj) into an InstallShield project (.ism):

In InstallShield, create or open the Basic MSI or Merge Module project.
On the Project menu, click the Visual Studio Deployment Project Wizard button.
Complete the panels of the Visual Studio Deployment Project Wizard.

InstallShield imports the Visual Studio project into your open InstallShield project based on the settings that you configured in the wizard. As InstallShield imports the project, it displays the status of the project import in the Output window. The Output window shows each step of the conversion process, and it lists any conversion errors and warnings.

Conversion Process

If you use InstallShield to convert a Visual Studio setup project, InstallShield creates an InstallShield Basic MSI project (.ism).

If you use InstallShield to convert a Visual Studio merge module project, InstallShield creates an InstallShield Merge Module project (.ism).

Task

To convert a Visual Studio project (.vdproj) to an InstallShield project (.ism):

Open InstallShield.
On the File menu, click Open. The Open dialog box opens.
In the Files of type box, select Visual Studio Setup Projects (*.vdproj).
Browse to the location of the Visual Studio project that you want to open, and select the project file.
Click the Open button.

InstallShield creates an InstallShield project based on the settings in the Visual Studio project. InstallShield stores the .ism file in the same folder as the .vdproj file. As InstallShield creates the .ism file, it displays the status of the project conversion in the Output window. The Output window shows each step of the conversion process, and it lists any conversion errors and warnings.

Once the conversion process finishes successfully, the new InstallShield project is displayed in InstallShield.

Post-Import and Post-Conversion Tasks

Prerequisite Tasks

Visual Studio lets you add one or more predefined prerequisites to one or more configurations in a Visual Studio setup project. The import and conversion processes in InstallShield attempt to convert all of the prerequisites in all of the configurations to equivalent InstallShield prerequisites. If InstallShield does not include a corresponding InstallShield prerequisite, warning -9071 occurs, alerting you that the prerequisite could not be converted. To resolve this warning, consider creating an InstallShield prerequisite that installs the required redistributable, and add that InstallShield prerequisite to your project. For more information, see Defining InstallShield Prerequisites and Working with InstallShield Prerequisites that Are Included in Installation Projects.

User-Interface Tasks

The import and conversion processes do not incorporate the dialogs from a Visual Studio project into the InstallShield project. Once you have imported or converted your project, you can use the Dialogs view in InstallShield to configure settings for the dialogs in your project.

Language Tasks

If you imported a Visual Studio project into an InstallShield project and the following conditions exist, InstallShield replaces the existing string entry values in your project with default string entry values for the language of your Visual Studio project:

You indicate in the Visual Studio Deployment Project Wizard that you would like to import the language of the Visual Studio project.
The language of your Visual Studio project does not match the default language in your InstallShield project. (In Visual Studio, the Localization property indicates the project’s language. In InstallShield, the Default Language setting in the String Editor view indicates the project’s default language.)
InstallShield has support for the language that is used in your Visual Studio project. (If you are using the Professional edition of InstallShield, you may not have support for the language that is used in your Visual Studio project.)

For example, if you indicate in the Visual Studio Deployment Project Wizard that you would like to import the language of the Visual Studio project, if the language of your InstallShield project is Spanish, if the language of your Visual Studio project is German, and if you are using the Premier edition of InstallShield, InstallShield replaces the Spanish run-time strings in your project with the default German translations. Thus, if you edit a string entry value by revising a setting such as the Publisher setting in the General Information view, and then you indicate in the wizard that you want to import the language of a Visual Studio project, InstallShield overwrites the value of the Publisher setting—as well as values for other settings—with the default German string entry values.

Therefore, if you change the project language while importing your Visual Studio project, review the settings in the General Information view and the String Editor view, and modify the string entry values if appropriate.

.NET Installer Class Tasks

If your Visual Studio project includes a .NET installer class custom action, InstallShield configures the .NET installer class information for the .NET assembly’s component during the conversion process, instead of creating a .NET installer class custom action. InstallShield does not include support for the Condition property of a .NET installer class custom action in Visual Studio. Therefore, if your Visual Studio project contains a .NET installer class custom action that has a condition, you may want to use the Components view in InstallShield to create a condition for the component that contains the .NET assembly after you have converted your project.

Additional Tasks