Windows Installer Editor Reference
97
Working With Wise Installation Files
Compiling An Installation
Compiling an installation compresses its files, builds .CABs if necessary, and creates the
installation .MSI. Depending on the .EXE option you select on the Build Options page,
compiling can also create an installation .EXE.
(In Visual Studio: compiling and building do the same thing.)
Multiple Releases
The number and type of files that are generated depend on the settings you select on
the Build Options and Media pages. If the installation contains multiple releases, all
releases in the installation are compiled. To compile a specific release, go to the
Releases page, select one or more releases, and click the Compile button at the right of
the Releases page.
When the installation is part of a Visual Studio solution, settings on the Visual Studio
Releases dialog box determine which releases are compiled for a given solution
configuration. You access this dialog box from the Release Details dialog box.
See
Associating a Release With Visual Studio Build Configurations
on page 209.
Speeding the Compile
If you are working in a .WSI or .WSM file, you can use either of the following methods to
speed the compile process:
z
Mark the Enable Quick Compile check box in Wise Options. Quick Compile
compresses only previously uncompressed or changed files. If a file or media entry
has changed, a full compile occurs instead.
See
Setting General Options
on page 38.
z
Use ExpressBuild, a multi-processor compile feature.
See
About ExpressBuild
on page 44.
To compile an installation in the Wise editor
1. Click Compile at the lower right of the main window.
If the installation contains files that have missing or invalid source paths, the
Welcome dialog box of the Remove Missing Files tool appears. This lets you remove
those files if they should not be in the installation.
See
Removing Files With Missing or Invalid Source Paths
on page 409.
To compile an installation in the Visual Studio integrated editor:
Select one of the following commands from the Build menu:
z
Build Solution
Compiles all projects in the current solution. If quick compile is enabled and you
have already built this solution, this command compiles only what has changed
since the last build.
z
Build project name
Compiles only the project you selected in Solution Explorer. If quick compile is
enabled and you have already built this project, this command compiles only what
has changed since the last build.
z
Rebuild Solution
Compiles all files in all projects in the solution.