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Adding and Deleting Project Outputs

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When you add other development project outputs to your installer project, those projects will be included in the installed application. Project outputs are files generated from a project's build process.

With the Microsoft® Windows®-based interface in Microsoft® Visual Studio® Installer, you can easily add project outputs to your installer project at any time in the development process. You can also easily delete project outputs from an installer project.

Specifically, you can:

  • Add Visual Studio Installer, Microsoft® Visual J++®, or Visual Studio utility project outputs to an installer project.

  • Add Microsoft® Visual Basic® project outputs to an installer project.

  • Add Microsoft® Visual C++® files to an installer project.

  • Delete project outputs from an installer project.

    Note   You can also add Visual Basic project outputs when you create a Visual Studio Installer project. For more information, see Creating and Opening Installer Projects.

To add Visual Studio Installer, Visual J++, or Visual Studio utility project outputs to an installer project

Before you start, make sure any Visual Studio Installer, Visual J++, and utility projects whose outputs you want to add are included in the solution containing your Visual Studio Installer project.

Important   With the following procedure, you can only add these types of Visual J++ project outputs to your installer project:

  • COM DLL.

  • Self-extracting setup (.EXE).

  • Windows EXE.

To add other types of Visual J++ project outputs, you can manually add them as files. For more information, see Adding Files to an Installer Project.

  1. In the Project Explorer window, select your Visual Studio Installer project.

  2. On the Project menu, click Add Project Outputs.

    Note   You can also reach the Select Project(s) dialog box by right-clicking the installer project name in the Project Explorer, highlighting Add, and then selecting Project Outputs.

  3. In the Select Project(s) dialog box, select the project whose outputs you want to add to the installer project.

  4. Click OK.

    The selected project's outputs are added to your installer project and shown in the Files node in the Project Explorer window.

To add Visual Basic project outputs to an installer project

  1. In the Project Explorer window, select your Visual Studio Installer project.

  2. On the Project menu, select Add Visual Basic Project Outputs.

    Note   You can also reach the Browse for Visual Basic Project Files dialog box by right-clicking the installer project name in the Project Explorer, highlighting Add, and then selecting Visual Basic Project Outputs.

  3. In the Browse for Visual Basic Project Files dialog box, navigate to and then select the project whose outputs you want to add to the installer project.

  4. Click Open.

    The Visual Basic project outputs and dependencies are added to your installer project and shown in the Files node in the Project Explorer window.

To add Visual C++ files to an installer project

You can add Visual C++ project outputs to an installer project by manually adding them as files. For more information, see Adding Files to an Installer Project.

To delete project outputs from an installer project

  1. In the Project Explorer window, select your Visual Studio Installer project.

  2. Open the Files node in the Project Explorer window.

  3. Right-click the top node of the project outputs you want to delete. (This node is labeled Outputs of ProjectName*,* where ProjectName is the name of the specific project.)

  4. Select Delete from the context menu.

    The selected project outputs are deleted from the installer project and no longer displayed with the installer project in the Project Explorer.