Wix project template for Visual Studio Express versions? - wix

Is it possible to use Wix with Express editions? I am interested in 2010/2012 versions. I know I can use candle and light from the command line, but I am interested in integration with IDE

The Express versions of VS does not allow to extend the VS with the necessary plug-ins. So you have to stay with the command line.
Alternatively to VS you could try WiXEdit.

Actually, if the goal is to have a free installer suite, WiX is perfectly happy installing into Visual Studio Shell Integrated, which is freely available. All features of WiX are available.
The only limitation is you have to open a different instance of Visual Studio in order to build your installer, but I haven't found this to be limiting in the slightest, and in fact I appreciate the separation of concerns.
Of course, another solution these days is to simply use VS Community Edition.

Related

How do I force Visual Studio to make this project compatible with VS 2022?

I installed VS 2022 Community and am trying to work on a project that was developed on VS 2008 Pro. VS is giving me this report:
How do I force VS to make whatever upgrades it needs in order to run this program? I can provide more info if needed.
MS in their wisdom, dropped support for the Setup & Deployment project, can't remember when exactly, then after a bit of an uproar re-instated it through the Visual Studio marketplace https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=VisualStudioClient.MicrosoftVisualStudio2017InstallerProjects
Since your project has a file .vddproj, it might be a Smart Device CAB project.
It is not supported by later versions of visual studio.
It is recommended that you open it with VS2008.

How to do a project/modify a existing project in VB

I have no idea/experience in VB programming. One of my client bought me his old project which need to be modified. He says it is written in Visual Basic and no idea which version.
So how can i carry ON to work with this project by identifying the version
And what other components do i require to do the programming and user interface.
I already have Visual studio 2010 with me. So can i do my work using this software or i have to go for anything else...
Any suggestions....?
Regards
ParshTest
You need to check the earlier VS version. If the project was developed in earlier version of VS, you can upgrade to VS 2010 easily but otherwise you need to get hands on specific VS version.
Similarly if the project have database functionality or crystal report or any other external dependencies, you need to check their versions. You need to install the components according to these versions. Specify your versions and i'll tell you what to use for further development.

Missing Other Project Types in visual studio 2012

I want to create my installer. But missing Other Project Type > Visual Studio Installer > Setup Project
They are not supported anymore on VS2012.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckh/archive/2011/03/17/visual-studio-setup-projects-vdproj-will-not-ship-with-future-versions-of-vs.aspx
VDProjects are no longer supported. Either:
Use older versions of visual studio to build existing VDPROJ project types (you can keep them in the solution)
If creating new installers, use a framework such as WiX which contains Visual Studio integration. Little bit of a learning curve, but a very good product (and free). This will produce an MSI from XML within a WiX project in visual studio after you install it.
http://wixtoolset.org/

LESS support in visual studio 2010 express

I am wondering if there is any way to get support for LESS in the 2010 express edition of visual studio. I know there is a plugin available, but you cannot install that on a express edition. Installing the 2012 edition (which has less support built in) is not an option.
Edit:
To clarify, at the very least I am looking for color coding.
You might be able to configure the css or js editor for the extension in the tools, options window of visual studio. But other than that (and even that is only half a solution), VS Express doesn't support extensibility, so the official answer is unfortunately: no.
To enable these types of features you'll need at least VS Pro.
The other option is to use WebMatrix. It has the same LESS editor as Visual Studio, and it's free:
http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/
If you want auto-compilation/minification, there's an extension for that:
http://extensions.webmatrix.com/packages/OrangeBits

Visual basic .net 2008 Deployment

Is it possible to make a setup and deployment project in VB.net 2008, every site i have looked at on google says to just select it from the project list. It isnt in the project list for me to select.
Are these types of projects not available in the express version?
How can I make an installer, other than using one of the setup and deployment projects? (I know there is a publish button, but that doesn't make a proper installer and installs to the appdata folder which is not what i want it to do)
Any help is appreciated
You would need to use another program, such as innosetup (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php), to create a setup.exe. Microsoft has to give you some reason to purchase their software.
Express editions do not have these project types. They support ClickOnce only, per this chart:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zcbsd3cz(VS.80).aspx
This carries over to the 2008 versions as well.
Edit - Added
See here for using ClickOnce from an Express edition:
http://blogs.msdn.com/vbteam/archive/2008/10/02/looking-for-setup-and-deployment-project-templates.aspx
You could use Inno Setup
It pretty much will do what you need to create an installer package. Oh yeah, and it's free.