Creating MSI Package from VB 6.0 project
SunRace
This is what our consultant says.."Deploying the application through a
packaged .MSI file (Not possible as VB 6.0 does not have a .MSI Packaging
utility)" ...how true is this and is there any way I can build MSI
deployment package of VB 6.0 project and use it for central deployment in
Windows 2003 Active Directory and Windows XP Professional clients...Please
treat this as Urgent...Please....Let me point here...I am looking for
Microsoft tools and not third party ones...I already know Admin Studio can
do that....
MikeD
"SunRace" <sunrac...@rediffmail.com> wrote in message
news:O7JBAOap...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
Let me make sure I understand....this consultant is saying that you *can't*
create an MSI file for installing a VB6 app? He (or she) is wrong. Dead
wrong. I hope you "educate" him (or her). There are at least 2 third-party
tools that I know of which can create Windows Installer setups for VB6 apps
(Wise and InstallShield). But, since you want to stay with MS tools for
this (dunno why), you're stuck with using Visual Studio Installer
(VSI)....you can't use any .NET version of VB or VS for this (well, I
shouldn't say you can't, but it doesn't natively support it). VSI is a free
download (the best thing it has going for it) from MS that integrates with
the Visual Interdev 6.0 IDE. Don't worry. You don't need the full Visual
Studio 6.0 package. The download includes the IDE. You can download it
here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718352.aspx
VSI includes merge modules corresponding to SP4 components. You can get
merge modules corresponding to SP6 here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718364.aspx
If you need/want merge modules for SP5, they're here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa718363.aspx
In addition, you may want to see the following:
How To Create a Visual Basic Installer Package with Visual Studio Installer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263739/en-us
Now for some personal commentary that hopefully will be helpful to you.
VSI is "OK", but I'd hardly consider it a "professional" tool. It's VERY
restrictive and has a number of shortcomings. It's restrictive in that there
are only a few different dialogs (or wizard steps) that you can include as
part of your installation and there's no way (that I've ever found) to add
your own. Some of the shortcoming can be worked around, but it's a PITA
(namely because you need to repeat them after EVERY build of your MSI file).
Many "simple" things (like specifying a Start In folder for the shortcut and
creating an AllUsers installation) have to be done with a tool called Orca
(which allows you to modify the MSI file) because VSI itself doesn't provide
a way. Using Orca, you can make some changes to existing dialogs, but you
can't add any functionality (for example, you can change text in the
dialogs). Here's a link to information about Orca (including how to get it
as it's part of the Windows Installer SDK and even needs to be installed
after the SDK is installed):
How to use the Orca database editor to edit Windows Installer files
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/255905
If you have questions regarding VSI, I'd recommend you first search the VB
newsgroups at www.google.com as your question may very well already have
gotten asked and answered (and since your need is urgent, this will be the
"best" and "fastest" way for you to get an answer).
--
Mike
Microsoft MVP Visual Basic
BTW, saying it's urgent.....not going to get you an answer any quicker.
People answer when they read the post (and they have to read it to know it's
urgent). Some people think including the word "urgent" in the subject is
going to get more people to reply quicker or cause the post to get more
attention. Not true. In fact, many people, including a lot of regulars,
automatically ignore such posts. Best thing you can do is ask for help
before it becomes urgent. Not to sound harsh, but it's not our problem that
it's urgent and we have our own lives (or deadlines to make, or whatever)
that we really can't give your issue "specal attention". Newsgroups aren't
intended for urgent matters, just by their nature.