CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studio-2010vstooffice-interopinstallshieldexcel-addins
OfficeAddinDev
OfficeAddinDev

Reputation: 1125

Use a single installer to install VSTO add-ins for multiple Office apps

I have a VSTO add-in for Excel created in Visual Studio that I deploy by installing the following three files on a user's machine:

Company.Excel.dll
Company.Excel.dll.manifest
Company.Excel.vsto

Now, I want to add a VSTO add-in for Word that installs alongside the Excel add-in using the same installer. So, I would maybe expect to add the following incremental files to my installer:

Company.Word.dll
Company.Word.dll.manifest
Company.Word.vsto

Is that (6 files) the best way to do this, or is it better to combine the .manifest and .vsto files into single files, like:

Company.Excel.dll
Company.Word.dll
Company.???.dll.manifest
Company.???.vsto

Any thoughts on which approach is better and why? If it is best to combine them as in the latter case:

1) Does the naming of the last two files matter? In other words, what replaces the question marks in the file name? 2) Any other tips on how to generate a single manifest for this purpose?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 881

Answers (3)

ShipOfTheseus
ShipOfTheseus

Reputation: 234

1) Does the naming of the last two files matter? -

Yes, it kind-of does. Please open the registery and go to HKCR(or HKLM)\Software\Office\Word(or Excel)\Addins\Your-Addin-Name Then, open the Manifest key - You will see the .vsto file mentioned there. The way office add-ins work is, they look up this registery key when they are loading the add-in. Maybe if you rename .vsto file and change "Manifest" key accordingly, things will work as well but I wouldn't risk it.

2) Any other tips -

I would personally keep those files separate.

Upvotes: 0

Sarvesh Mishra
Sarvesh Mishra

Reputation: 2072

The way I go with multiple VSTO based add-ins is by keeping all of them separate completely.

Merging them would never be appreciated because it just complicates the process.

If you want to keep the setup scripts simpler then preferred way is to create Merge Modules of each Add-ins separately and then use all those modules in the final setup.

Upvotes: 1

Mihai Dinculescu
Mihai Dinculescu

Reputation: 20033

I'd suggest not to attempt to rename or merge the .vsto and .manifest file names.

I cannot see a scenario in which renaming this files can be beneficial. While it is possible, there are multiple places which reference these files by their name and you would have to find all and update.

Also I don't see how merging .vsto files would be possible. You'd end up having Excel trying to register the Word Add-In.

And then again, you really can't possibly have any reason with messing with these files.

Upvotes: 1

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