Windows Installer Editor Reference
548
Windows Installer and .NET Technologies
For information on how Windows Installer handles components and features, see the
following topics in the Windows Installer SDK Help:
Windows Installer Components
Component Management
Components and Features
Organizing Applications into Components
See also:
About Microsoft Windows Installer
on page 545
About GUIDs
GUID stands for globally unique identifier. It is a data type comprised of a text string
that represents a Class identifier (ID).
The purpose of a GUID is to provide a unique identifying string that differentiates
products, packages, components, features, upgrades, patches, and so on. By reading
GUIDs, Windows Installer can determine what is installed on a destination computer and
take appropriate action.
Examples:
z
When you create an upgrade, you enter the upgrade codes, which are GUIDS, for
the versions of the application that can be upgraded. Then during installation,
Windows Installer searches the destination computer for these upgrade codes to
determine whether an upgrade should occur.
z
Each component of an application has an assigned GUID. You can use the System
Search page to quickly search for components on the destination computer to
determine if a previous version exists.
A GUID must be in the format: {XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX} where
X is a hex digit (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F). Windows Installer Editor generates
GUIDs whenever necessary, using an algorithm that reduces the chances of generating a
duplicate GUID to almost zero. If you need to change a GUID, Windows Installer Editor
provides a Generate button that generates a new, valid GUID.
Warning
Do not try to create a GUID by typing random hex characters.
See also:
About Microsoft Windows Installer
on page 545
About Microsoft .NET Technology
The Microsoft .NET platform is a family of products that provide tools for developing,
server infrastructure for managing, and building block services and client software for
using XML services. The .NET Framework, which is a .NET development tool, is an
environment for building, deploying, and running XML Web services. It consists of
several parts, including the common language runtime, which is the engine at the core
of managed code execution. Microsoft Visual Studio is a development tool that exploits
the capabilities of the .NET Framework to build powerful Windows applications.