Shared Components Archives

How to register your program for file extensions shared with other programs

August 21, 2014 Aug 21, 2014 08/21/14

Heath Stewart

One frequently asked question is, “how do we register our program for a file extension when other versions (or programs) that handle it might also be installed?” The overarching question is really about how to have non-shared resources both write to a shared resource. But in the case with the Windows registry and file ...

Downgrading Shared Components

September 8, 2010 Sep 8, 2010 09/8/10

Heath Stewart

Shared components define shared resources. It might seem obvious, but it’s important to understand that whatever you do to a shared resource during the installation of one product affects those same resources for any other product. For example, when upgrading one product to update files shared with another product, that other product ...

Major Upgrades with Shared Components

April 9, 2010 Apr 9, 2010 04/9/10

Heath Stewart

Major upgrades are Windows Installer products that can be installed like any other product with the added benefit of removing one ore more related products. For example, version 2 of a product can be installed on a clean machine, or on a machine with version 1 already installed and will remove version 1.When another version of a product is ...

About Shared Components

December 21, 2009 Dec 21, 2009 12/21/09

Heath Stewart

Components are the basic unit of installation in a Windows Installer product. They are installed by one or more features, and can contain any number of resources including files, assemblies, registry values, and are recommended for custom resources as well. Examples of custom resources are web sites, virtual directories, SQL tables, and stored...

Visual Studio Setup