User Guide

335
About Merge Modules
Starting a new merge module in the Visual Studio integrated editor:
1. Start Visual Studio .NET. If a solution is open, close it.
2. Select File menu > New > File.
The New File dialog appears.
3. In the Categories list, select Wise Files.
4. In the Templates list, click one of the following icons:
• Merge Module File
Create an .MSM (Windows Installer merge module). Because the .MSM typically
encapsulates all the files of the merge module, it is larger and takes longer to
save. Also, some options that determine the output of an .MSM file are not
available when you work with the .MSM itself.
• Merge Module Project
Create a .WSM (Windows Installer merge module project file). When you work in
an .WSM instead of an .MSM, the .WSM is smaller and you can set multiple
options for the output of the .MSM.
For information on .MSM and .WSM files, see File Types on page 73.
5. Click Open.
The new merge module opens. In Installation Expert, 4 page groups appear,
showing the pages that apply to merge modules. Go to Assembling the merge
module below.
Assembling the merge module
1. Assemble the merge module by adding files, registry entries and so on using the
pages under the Details page group. Because merge modules cannot have multiple
features, you don’t select a feature on these pages.
Note
The Files page includes an extra folder named Application. By default, files that you add
to this folder are copied to the default installation directory of the installation into which
the merge module is merged. Example: If you merge the merge module into an
installation that installs files to C:\Program Files\Product, all files you add to the
Application folder will also be installed to C:\Program Files\Product.
2. If you’re creating a configurable merge module, specify which items can be modified
when the module is merged into an installation. See Creating a Configurable Merge
Module on page 338.
3. Select the dependencies and exclusions for this merge module.
Dependencies are other merge modules that must be included with this merge
module, and exclusions are other merge modules that cannot be included with this
merge module. See Setting Dependencies for a Merge Module on page 332 and
Setting Exclusions for a Merge Module on page 333.
4. Configure the summary information for the merge module, which is described in
General Information Page on page 105.
5. Configure the Module Details page, which contains the merge module name,
language, and version, and is described in Setting Merge Module Details on
page 331.
After you create the merge module, you can add it to a standard installation. See Adding
a Merge Module to an Installation on page 344.