Windows Installer Editor Reference
69
Working With Wise Installation Files
Project Files and Database Files
Typically, the installation you distribute is an .MSI. Windows Installer operates on .MSIs,
which are a type of relational database that stores installation information and files in
tables.
See
About Microsoft Windows Installer
on page 545.
On the Build Options page (see
Setting Build Options for a Release
on page 216) or on
the Media page (see
Setting Up Media for Distribution
on page 236), you can specify to
output an installation in different ways:
z
As a single-file .MSI, which contains compressed installation files.
z
As an .MSI that has external compressed .CAB files.
z
As an .MSI that has external uncompressed files.
z
As an .EXE that contains the .MSI and installation files.
z
As an .EXE that runs an external .MSI.
If you to output an .EXE, you can then pre-install Windows Installer or other runtimes.
When you create an installation, you can work in a .WSI (project) file or an .MSI file.
The same applies to merge modules; you can work in a .WSM (project) file or an .MSM
file.
Note
Do not confuse the Wise installation project file (.WSI) with the Visual Studio project file
(.WSPROJ).
.MSP
Windows Installer patch, which updates an existing installed application. Patches
contain only the differences between the old and new versions of an application.
Create a patch with the Patch Creation tool, which creates an .MSP file that you
distribute to end users.
See
Patch Creation
on page 335.
.PCP
Windows Installer patch project, which describes and compiles to a Windows Installer
patch. A .PCP file is created from the Patch Creation tool.
See
Patch Creation
on page 335.
.EXE
You can compile an .EXE that encapsulates the .MSI or that calls an external .MSI.
Doing so gives you the option of pre-installing the Windows Installer runtime before
performing your own installation, which ensures that the installation will run.
See
Setting Build Options for a Release
on page 216 and
Adding Prerequisites to a
Release
on page 221.
Extension
Description