On Fri, 9 Sep 2005 14:09:40 -0400, "Henry Stock"
<hs****@onproject.com> wrote:
I am not really sure what news group this should be posted to. It has to do
with a visual studio install project for a c# application.
We have noticed that if any of the files installed by the installer are
moved or deleted that this automatically triggers the installer the next
time the application is started.
While this would appropriate if the file in question were an executable, the
files are actually report files. Clients want to be able to choose new
loacations for these files, but cannot do so without causing installer to be
involked. We do not know how this feature got set or how to disable it for
the report files.
Worse yet, if we allow the installer to completion the install fails and the
installer dutifully removes all the install files including the reports.
Can someone give me guidance as to how to fix this?
This is and MSI (Windows Installer) issue. I'm not sure how VS sets
up a package so it is MSI compliant but you may want to review whether
you want to have these reports available at install time or just let
the program create them when necessary. I suspect that they are being
bundled into the installer as protected files. Explore the installer
stuff from within Visual Studio. I think you can get access to the
install tree. You may also be able to get access to properties that
are going to be applied at install time. If you can you want to set
these files to be relocateable at install time by the user at a
minimum. If they are going to be overwritten with new user data as
the program runs over time you may not want them protected. The MSI
protection mechanism is designed to save the user from themselves and
will replace deleted files. The property you are probably looking for
in MSI/InstallShield terms is whether the file is a key file or not.
Ken Wilson
Seeking viable employment in Victoria, BC
