Visual Studio Setup and Deployment Project Types

Start the Visual Studio Add New Project dialog and select Setup and Deployment from the Project Types pane. The screen shown in Figure 17-14 is displayed.

Figure 17-14

Here are the project types and what can be done with them:

• The Setup Project template is the one you will use. This template is used to create Windows Installer Packages, so it can be used for deploying Windows Applications.

• The Web Setup Project template can be used to install Web applications. This project template is used in Chapter 21.

• The Merge Module Project template is used to create Windows Installer merge modules. A merge module is an installer file that can be included in multiple Microsoft Installer installation packages. For components that should be installed with more than one installation program, a merge module can be created to include this module in the installation packages. One example of a merge module is the .NET runtime itself: it is delivered in a merge module; therefore, the .NET runtime can be included with the installer package of an application. You will use a merge module in the sample application.

• The Setup Wizard is a step-by-step way to choose the other templates. The first question to ask yourself is: Do you want to create a setup program to install an application or a redistributable package? Depending on your choice, a Windows Installer package, a merge module, or a CAB file is created.

• The Cab Project template allows you to create cabinet files. Cabinet files can be used to merge multiple assemblies into a single file and compress it. Since the cabinet files can be compressed, a Web client can download a smaller file from the server.

  Note

  Creating components is not in the scope of this book, so you will not create cabinet projects. You can read Professional C# 2005 (Wiley Publishing, Inc) for information on creating .NET components for download from a Web server.

• The Smart Device Cab Project template can be used to create an installer package for smart device applications.