User Guide

Compiling, Testing, and Running An Installation

To test an installation, you can:

! Compile the installation to an executable .MSI or .EXE. See Compiling An

Installation.

! Test the installation, which appears to run but does not make any modifications on

your system. See Testing An Installation on page 96.

! Debug the installation in an .MSI debugger, which lets you step through the

installation while viewing the property values and other table data. This actually runs

the installation, and lets you see exactly what it is doing at any time. See Running

the Debugger on page 484. The Debugger for Windows Installer is available in the

Professional and Enterprise Editions only.

! Run the compiled installation, which is either an .MSI or an .EXE. See Running An

Installation on page 96.

Note

When working in a .WSI, you can set the installation to generate more than one installation

program by adding releases to the Releases page. If you test, debug, or run an installation

that contains multiple releases, you are prompted to select a release.

Compiling An Installation

Compiling an installation compresses its files, builds .CABs if necessary, and creates the

installation .MSI. Depending on the .EXE option you select on the Build Options page,

compiling can also create an installation .EXE. (In Visual Studio: compiling and building

do the same thing.)

The number and type of files generated depend on the settings you select on the Build

Options and Media pages. If the installation contains multiple releases, all releases in

the installation are compiled. To compile a specific release, go to the Releases page,

select one or more releases, and click the Compile button at the right of the Releases

page.

If you are working in a .WSI or .WSM file, you can speed the compile process by

marking the Enable Quick Compile checkbox in Wise Options. Quick Compile

compresses only previously uncompressed or changed files. If a file or media entry has

changed, a full compile occurs instead. You can also speed compile time by using

ExpressBuild, a multi-processor compile feature in the Professional and Enterprise

Editions. See the description of Quick Compile in Setting General Options on page 43

and see Setting ExpressBuild Options on page 49.

To compile an installation in the Wise editor:

! Click Compile at the lower right of the main window.

To compile an installation in the Visual Studio integrated editor:

Select one of the following commands from the Build menu:

! Build Solution

Compiles all projects in the current solution. If quick compile is enabled and you have

already built this solution, this command compiles only what has changed since the

last build.