Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Installer Projects
Sofie Kovalcheck
I was forced to remain using Visual Studio 2010 and not upgrade to Visual Studio 2012 or Visual Studio 2013, because my company has dozens of internally used utility apps that use visual studio installer/setup projects. It just is not worth the effort to migrate to another installer technology.
Surprising, last year Microsoft reversed the decision to remove set-up projects, as politically the focus was on getting developers making Windows Store applications where the end product is submitted to Microsoft to host and manage. I write this post as I still come across developers that are unaware that this functionality has been returned.
I am currently evaluating Visual Studio 2015 preview, so one naturally assumed that you would be able to create a new set-up project as the functionality had been returned in the previous version, albeit via an add-in extension, I assumed I could see the project template shown in the image above, but it was not there.
Add-in Express enables developers to build Windows Installer based setup projects for their Office extensions in two ways:
- Installation Software Products Supported by Add-in Express
- Creating a setup project using Setup Project Wizard
- Creating a Visual Studio Installer setup project manually
Add-in Express doesnt directly support installation software products that don't integrate with the Visual Studio IDE. To deploy an add-in using such an installation software product, you need to "translate" instructions we publish in Creating a Visual Studio Installer setup project manually to the "language" of the product. A "translated" instruction is available for Advanced Installer; see here.
To help you create an installer for your Office plug-in, Add-in Express provides the setup project wizard accessible via menu Project Create Setup Project in Visual Studio. Another way to run the wizard is shown in the screenshot.
Let's run the setup project wizard for the sample project described in Writing Microsoft Outlook COM add-in. The below describes creating a standard setup project in Visual Studio. You may also want to check Creating a WiX setup project.
Also, the following custom actions are created for your setup project. They will be performed on the end-user's machine to register your add-in after installation and unregister it before uninstallation:
You can create a Visual Studio Installer setup project manually; follow the steps below. To manually create a setup project for any other installation software product, you need to "translate" the steps below to the "language" of the product that you use.
If a COM add-in or RTD server is installed on the per-user basis, or if you deploy a smart tag or an Excel UDF, the value of the privileges argument above is user. If a COM add-in or RTD server is installed on the per-machine basis, in other words, if the RegisterForAllUsers property of the corresponding module is true, the value of the privileges argument above is admin.
Make sure that the .NET Framework launch condition specifies a correct .NET Framework version and correct download URL. Note that we recommend using launch conditions rather than prerequisites because installing a prerequisite usually requires administrative permissions and in this way installing a per-user Office extension may result in installing the extension for the administrator, but not for the user who ran the installer.
If administrative permissions are required to install prerequisites, then for a per-user Office extension, the elevation dialog will be shown on UAC-enabled systems. If the administrator's credentials are entered in this situation, then the installer will be run on behalf of the administrator and therefore, the Office extension will be installed for the administrator, not for the user who originally ran the installer.
The executable adxPatch.exe also provides the /RunActionsAsInvoker parameter. If set to true (default), it specifies that adxRegistrator.exe used as a custom action will be run with the privileges of the user who launches the installer.
Solid framework for deep customization of Microsoft Office. Use solution templates, visual designers and components to develop version-neutral, secure and easy deployable extensions for all Office versions.
This technology is now available for our custom development services only. Based on the Add-in Express for Office core, it is designed for building custom-tailored Office add-ins with far less coding than you usually have to do. Plus, it includes all Add-in Express features such as True RAD, visual designers, Outlook view and form regions, etc.
Get the best platform for building version-neutral, fast and easy deployable plug-ins by using Add-in Express projects templates, visual designers, components and wizards in combination with a perfect Delphi compiler.
This technology is now available for our custom development services only. This visual toolkit allows creating secure, managed, isolated, deployable and version-neutral plug-ins for Outlook Express and Windows Mail. It provides powerful solution templates, Outlook Express - specific components, visual designers and wizards for advanced customization of Outlook Express menus, toolbars, panes and regions.
The innovative technology for customizing Outlook views and forms. It is included in all Add-in Express for Office products and can be used to extend Outlook views, e-mail, task and appointment windows, To-Do bar, Reading and Navigation panes with your own custom sub-panes.