Windows Installer Editor Reference
423
Setup Editor
Components Tab
The Components tab lets you manipulate an installation’s components. It displays a tree
structure that lists all files, registry entries, and other installation items contained in
each component. It also indicates any component errors.
Installation Expert automatically creates the appropriate components for each item you
add and organizes them according to a component rule set you select. Example: You can
always create a new component for each new file added to the installation, or you can
group related resources, such as help files, into one component.
See
Component Rules
on page 57.
By default, the Components tab displays only items that are in the installation. Example:
If the installation contains a file, a Files icon appears. If you have not added any items to
the installation, only the Components icon appears.
Working with the components tree
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To display all empty items, right-click in the left pane and select Hide Empty Folders/
Items.
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To display a component’s contents, click the component in the left pane. The
contents appear in the upper-right pane. You also can expand the component so
that its contents appear in the components tree.
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To expand or collapse a selected component’s children, use the right-click menu.
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To customize the icons that appear in the components tree, right-click in the left
pane and select Customize View. In the Customize View dialog box that appears,
mark the check boxes of the items to display, and rearrange items by clicking Move
Up or Move Down.
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To quickly organize the items on the Components tab:
Drag an item from the upper-right pane to a different component on the left
pane.
In the left pane, drag an entire component item group from one component to
another.
Adding an item to a component
Do either of the following in Setup Editor > Components tab:
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Right-click the component name. Select New and the item to add.
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Expand the component. If necessary, show empty folders. Right-click the icon for a
particular item and select New.
If an icon does not appear, right-click and use the Customize View dialog box to
show the icon.
Items you can add on the Components tab
Most of these items can also be added in Installation Expert.
Component
See
Adding and Editing a Component
on page 425.
Folder
See
Creating a Folder in Setup Editor
on page 421.
Duplicate file entry
See
Creating Duplicate File Entries
on page 421.
