CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#windows-installermerge-module
Presidenten
Presidenten

Reputation: 6437

How to resolve merge module dependencies

I'm trying to add a merge module to my windows installer 3.1 project. It turns out that it has a dependency to another merge module ... which I also have added. But it seems like the first module doesn't register that this new merge module has been added, so I still get a warning that says: "Unable to find module dependency with signature...."

How can I resolve this?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 2946

Answers (1)

Tyson
Tyson

Reputation: 14734

Firstly, I am assuming you are talking about VS deployment projects with Merge Modules added that produce Windows Installer 3.1 msi's.

Turns out it would be way too easy to look in the same directory as the added Merge Module for any Merge Module dependencies it references.

Instead, it goes through the list of standard Merge Module folders (e.g. C:\Program Files\Common Files\Merge Modules) looking for the dependency merge modules. So you can copy the dependency merge modules into that folder, and only reference the top dependent Merge Module(s) in your deployment project. It should then resolve all of its merge module dependencies (they will also appear in the 'Detected Dependencies' section of the deployment project).

However, I had a further requirement that I wanted these merge modules in SVN, and didn't want to require admin access to run a script to copy them into that Program Files folder.

The solution - you can extend the Merge Module dependency search folders to include your own custom folders. On the deployment project, bring up the Properties grid (not the right click -> properties window) and add the folder that contains the dependency Merge Modules to the SearchPath property. It works relative to the deployment project and so worked nicely with my SVN requirements.

Upvotes: 4

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