I have a question about Merge Module dependencies.
I have an install with a number of features, two of which are optional (OptFeatA and OptFeatB). OptFeatA contains the ATL71 MM and OptFeatB contains a MM (we'll call it LargeMM) which depends on the ATL71 MM. When I add LargeMM to OptFeatB it does not link the ATL71 MM to that feature because it is already associated with OptFeatA.
My question is, do the ATL71 files get installed if OptFeatA is not installed because OptFeatB contains a MM that has a dependency linking it the the ATL71 MM?
MergeModules have no concept of the Feature or FeatureComponents table. Instead you have Components and ModuleComponents. When you add a merge module ( or any of it's dependencies ) to an InstallShield project you associate the merge module to one or more features.
After the package is built, the merge modules cease to exist. Their components now belong in the FeatureComponents and Components tables as if you authored them diretcly into the installer and associated to components.
So the component action state is tied to the feature action state.
The real gotcha you will find though is that if you associate a merge module to [INSTALLDIR] you'll find that the dependency modules won't respect that setting.
The real gotcha you will find though is that if you associate a merge module to [INSTALLDIR] you'll find that the dependency modules won't respect that setting.
I just custom build automation after the IS Build occurs to "fix" my directory table in the MSI. Otherwise you could avoid module dependencies and flatten your tree out.
