Question

VS2008’s Setup Projects have a handful of built-in prerequisites (e.g. .NETfx version, VSTO, PowerPacks) which you can simply check off to have the bootstrapper ensure they are installed. But what about other dependencies you might want to add, like the SQL Native Client (only available as an MSI, not as merge modules) or the ODBC Data Provider for .NET?

Is there a way I can add these dependencies to a Windows Installer Setup Project?

---

EDIT:

M$ has provided a couple newer bootstrapper packages that can be downloaded from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb898654.aspx — but of course not what I need in this case.

So it seems the options are:

• Try to create my own bootstrapper package using the examples already found in the SDK’s bootstrapper\packages folder
• Add a custom action or such to the MSI to check for the dependency’s GUID (but how?)

Answer 1

I found some helpful info on authoring a custom bootstrapper package. (Another example here.)

I also found a program called the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator (download | more info), but I have not tried it yet–since my own hand-made ones seem to be working alright.