Visual Studio Setup Project with all files from a folder

Question

We have a setup project that currently adds Project Output\'s from different visual studio projects. We want to change the packaging system and use a folder with a bunch of

Answer 1

I have the same issue. Although not the ideal solution, one idea I've had is to have a batch file that zips the files up and then my setup project just distributes that zip. After that, you'd have to unzip them after installation.

Alternatively, you could write a small app to compress them into a single file and decompress them when the app runs the first time. Basically the same solution, except you write it yourself so no need to use a third party unzip tool and the installation process is a little cleaner.

I think I'm actually going to do the latter solution for my project soon because I'm not looking at paying the big bucks for a better install app just yet either.

Answer 2

1. You can right click inside the folder(that needs to be copied) in windows explorer and click Ctrl+A or select all the files and click copy.
2. In the FileSystem editor, navigate to the the left side. Then right click on the application folder and click Add and select folder.
3. Give the name to the folder
4. On the right side of the FileSystem editor, right click and select Paste
5. All the contents of the folder will get copied into the newly created folder in step 2.

For further information, refer following link https://dzone.com/articles/creating-msisetup-package-c

Answer 3

Could you just add all the files from the folder with a macro??

Also maybe you can just clear the files on the setup project (with a macro or add-in) and add the files in the folder with the same method..

Answer 4

It seems there was no easy solution for this question. We ended up changing the setup tool and using Advanced Installer to create the setup, it has a nice feature that synchronizes files inside a folder for the deployment.

Answer 5

We had this same issue. You can NOT drag/drop.. But you can go to the contents you want in Windows Explorer, copy the items (which can include sub-folders), then return to VS Installer and paste these (e.g. the application folder).

Note. If you need to create custom folders (e.g. c:\html) you can also use this approach but you must create the custom folder first in the left pane (specifying the absolute path as the target), then again go to the left pane and paste.

This method works to package a set of folders but does NOT SYNC folders that may having varying contents! If the contents change between deployments you must re-copy/paste to get the installer file to contain everything!

Answer 6

The following works perfect: Simply drag and drop the folder to Setup directory (use the windows explorer not the solution explorer). Then it will add all files within it and all the sub folders.