A.3 Setup and Deployment

The following Setup and Deployment projects are available in Visual Studio .NET:

Setup Project

This template creates a Microsoft Installer (.msi) file designed to install a normal Windows application and any associated components. This project type can install any of the non-web project types, whether you are using .NET, ATL, MFC, or just raw Win32.

Web Setup Project

This template creates a Microsoft Installer (.msi) file designed to install a web application. (This can be used to install any kind of application, not just web applications. For example, if you wanted to make a Windows Forms Application available for download from a web server, you could use this project type to build an installer that would put the application executable on a web server.)

Merge Module Project

This template creates a merge module (.msm) file. Merge modules can be integrated into MSI projects and are ideal for reusable components that might want to be installed as part of a larger application. (COM components and .NET class libraries are usually packaged as merge modules. Applications that use these components merge the MSM into their own MSI.)

Setup Wizard

This item runs a wizard, which will create a project using one of the other templates in this category. The template selected depends on the input you supply to the wizard.

Cab Project

This template creates a Cabinet (.cab) file.