InstallShield LE (with Visual Studio 2012) completely fails to detect dependencies

Question

I'm having a nightmare trying to get a simple installer working in InstallShield LE (the one shipped with VS 2012). There are all kinds of problems that I can work around (like the fact I can no longer do "Rebuild All" without it messing everything up - I need to simply unload the InstallShield project during development). But the biggie is that when I build my installer, it includes the wrong version of various DLLs (including both those that are part of my project, and 3rd-party ones like the Entity Framework DLL).

Doing a "Clean Solution" didn't even fix the problem with the DLLs that are in my solution. It was finding a random version somewhere on my machine (in some sort compiler temp directory), and insisting on including that. I eventually fixed that by doing a search in Windows Explorer and deleting every single file it found, but I worry that next time I do a release it'll still manage to pick the wrong file.

Plus, I need to have both the .NET 4 and .NET 4.5 versions of Entity Framework on my machine, and it's picking the wrong one to go into my installer. I can't delete the one I don't want it to include.

What an absolutely shoddy product. I could "upgrade" to the full version to see if that fixes any of these problems, but my recent experience with the LE version puts me off ever using any of their products ever again.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Did you find a solution?

Answer 1

Old post so perhaps this can help you or others going through this infuriating issue (assuming you're going through errors like -6225).

Symptoms:

• you can (re)build each project without a hitch, including the Install Shield project
• however, if you build the Solution (of multiple projects) errors just seem to pop up

Try:

• in VS 2012, right click your Solution and select Project Build Order
• even if the order "looks" right, continue to set dependencies
  • e.g. your install project depends on the source project (obviously, but since this tool doesn't "know" it needs some help).

I'm not sure if this solves the "wrong dlls" issue (I haven't gone through that pain...) but the suggestion to check on the project outputs could help....the above did fix my issues.

Yes, I agree, if it can't even do parity with VS2010 and below setup and deployment projects ease of use, then its one of those yet-another-learning-curve that devs have to deal with (waste of time). Not prepared to call it shoddy though, it does have some nice(r) candy - even the "limited" version.....

Anyway I hope this helps....

Update 1

Yes, I can officially call ISLE shoddy indeed. I am now horribly experiencing the "missing dlls" (forget wrong dlls, they're not even in the intall folder, excuse the colorful langauge but WTF??!!) issue. ISLE cannot identify the proper dependencies - and I don't agree with the previous answer. This issue DID NOT exist with the built-in Setup and Deployment Project we've had since VS 2005.

Agreed on comment regarding bonehead MS move.

Once I fix this issue, I'll update.

Update 2

My fix (if there is a better way, please provide answer).. All this is done in the ISLE UI:

1. Scan for dependencies - right click project primary output, select Dependencies from scan at build

2. You will see the dependencies you will have to manually add, indicated by a red icon
   I unchecked them so I could get rid of the -6248 warning which is really odd because IMHO it should be a fatal error in the build - How can this install/setup possibly work if it's missing dependencies?? A warning continues the build, yet it will never work!

3. Then (yes) manually add the dependencies you identified above...

BTW, unsure if this matters - I started the whole process by importing a VS 2010 install project using ISLE (ISLE menu -> Visual Studio Deployment Project Import Wizard). I'm not sure if this actually matters - re: would it still be able to Dependencies from scan at build if you started from scratch (instead of importing)?

So much for "progress" in Setup and Deployment for VS2012...

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

I have recently been experiencing the problem you describe: a console application builds correctly, with up to date versions of dependencies in the bin directory, but when packaged with InstallShield LE, uses old versions of the dependency DLLs.

As you say:

Doing a "Clean Solution" didn't even fix the problem with the DLLs that are in my solution. It was finding a random version somewhere on my machine (in some sort compiler temp directory), and insisting on including that.

In my case, the offending files were located in the ASP.NET dynamic compilation cache at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root and C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root

Clearing the contents of these directories resolved the problem.

As an aside, I thought about adding a build action to empty these directories automatically, but I couldn't do this automatically without falling fowl of ownership permissions.

Answer 3

Each setup tool has its problems. Please note that there are no tools which can accurately detect your application dependencies. The best a tool can do is make suggestions. This is why most setup developers determine the dependencies themselves and manually include them in the installer.

If you're not happy with InstallShield, you can try a different setup tool: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_installation_software

The free version of Advanced Installer includes a Visual Studio setup project which may help.