In upgrading from Dev Studio 9.0 to InstallShield 2008 I noticed that the 2008 build didn't seem to register the existence of a Dev-Studio-built merge module with the proprietary extension *.IMM (no doubt, "InstallShield Merge Module"). This is OUR merge module.
The question is:
Do we HAVE to REBUILD these merge modules so that IS 2008 spits them out with a standard *.MSM extension?
Or CAN we merely change the extension to *.msm (quicker, less possibility of introducing errors into existing modules).
The *.IMM is READABLE with ORCA, so presumably it is in MSI database format.
I believe due to the changes in the architecture (which should be well documented in the sticky links at the top of the InstallShield 12 forum), that such a merge module will not work when consumed into a post-12 project. Rebuilding will create a merge module that can be consumed by any merge-module consuming project type and technically the previously built one should only be consumed by an InstallScript MSI project built by the same version, however, so there is an added flexibility once rebuilt.
As an aside, you would probably be better served posting these issues on the InstallShield 2008 forum if that's the product you will be using. This multiplatform community is dedicated towards the Java-based installers, so I expect few MSI experts read them consistently (I certainly don't).
Thanks much for the feedback on this issue. The existing module actually imports without error with a file extension change. But I do worry that there might be some incompatibility in database configuration that could turn up in running the installer . . . so recompiling would no doubt be safter.
I am just beginning to upgrade everything to 2008. So thanks for the heads up about the nature of the comment areas.
