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Visual Studio Integration - Dummy Project

This information and/or code in this section was provided by Mike Blake-Knox (thank you).

Question in MSI forum:

After I build a deployment project, there are several modifications that I
need to perform on the msi with the <$orca> editor, is there any way to automate
these steps?

In particular I need to assign an INF file to the DPINST merge module,
fiddle with some properties, and finally remove the All user/ just me stuff
from the dialog.

Are there scripts I can run against the ORCA tool that will do these things?
I just need something quick and dirty for this small task that I can stick
in the Visual Studio  post processor.

Mike's answer:

I had the same problem and solved it with a batch file that uses
MakeMSI to modify the VS built MSI.  I created a dummy/null C++ project
and ran the batch file from its post build event. VS.Net 2003 has build
events for C# projects so you don't need to use a C++ project. I've
make the dummy/null project dependent on the Setup Project so it runs
at the right time.

One advantage of MakeMSI is that it normally validates the output MSI.

Mike

Other advantages with using MAKEMSI (over other solutions such as using "wirunsql.vbs") are better error checking and more smarts.

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