User Guide

Component Rules

6. Click OK on the Previous Installation Versions dialog.

All new resources you add to the upgrade installation will be checked against and

aligned with the previous installations you specified.

Customizing Component Rules

If the predefined component rule sets do not reflect your company’s standards, you can

create a new rule set. The predefined rule sets, Microsoft Best Practices and One file per

component, are read-only and cannot be modified. However, you can copy a predefined

rule set and modify the copy.

When creating new rules, refer to Microsoft’s rules for creating components; see

Organizing Applications into Components and Changing the Component Code in the

Windows Installer SDK Help.

Caution

If you are sharing component rules, when you edit existing rule sets your changes will

overwrite rule sets used by other members of your team.

To add a new component rule set:

1. Select Component Rules menu > Customize. (In Visual Studio: Project menu >

Component Rules > Customize.)

The Component Rules Manager dialog appears, listing the predefined rule sets and

custom rule sets you have created.

2. Click New.

The Enter Rule Set Name dialog appears.

3. Enter a unique Rule Set Name to identify this rule set and click OK.

The new rule set name appears and is selected in the Component Rules Manager

dialog.

4. Click Modify.

The Customize Component Rules dialog appears.

5. In the Customize Component Rules dialog, click Add to add the first rule for this rule

set.

This starts the Component Rule Wizard, which you step through to add the

conditions and actions that comprise the rule. For details on using the Component

Rule Wizard, see Adding and Editing Component Rules on page 67.

6. When you have finished adding rules to the rule set, click OK in the Customize

Component Rules dialog and then click OK in the Component Rules Manager dialog.

The new rule set is added to the list of available rule sets. To use the new rule set for the

current installation or to make it the default for all future installations, you must select it

as described in Selecting a Component Rule Set on page 64.

To customize an existing component rule set:

1. Select Component Rules menu > Customize. (In Visual Studio: Project menu >

Component Rules > Customize.)

The Component Rules Manager dialog appears, listing the predefined rule sets and

any custom rule sets you have created.

2. Click a rule set.