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AaronM
Level 6

Merge Modules and Standalone Build (ISCmdBld.exe)

Scenario:
Multiple merge modules
Multiple MSI projects that reference the various merge modules
Multiple build machines via InstallShield Standalone

When a merge module is built, it will get copied to a folder on network. The problem arises if a build of an MSI project is done on a build machine that didn't have the referenced merge module also build on same machine (no copy in the default C:\InstallShield 2011 Projects\MergeModules folder).

One solution is to specify the network path via -o command line argument to ISCmdBld.exe to include additional search paths.

Questions:
Instead of specifying the -o flag, would it be better to use network repository (we have Premier edition)? If so, how do you specify the path to network repository within standalone since there is no IDE?

Additionally, if a merge module exists in the local C:\InstallShield 2011 Projects\Merge Modules folder AND in a path specified by -o flag (or in network repository) will InstallShield automatically grab the one from network if it is newer (same version, but newer date modified timestamp) instead of taking from the local default folder?
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AaronM
Level 6

I did some additional testing and noticed if specify path(s) via the -o flag it will not also include the default locations when looking for merge modules. For example, if the project references two different merge modules (different network paths) and only included path for one via -o while relying on the default location for the other, it will fail.

Though, I view that as a good thing as it ensures that will always use the merge module that is specified in one of the paths and not whatever is local since the network path may have newer build. Again, multiple build machines are involved and the MSI project may or may not be built on the same machine as the merge module(s).

This answers my second question, though the first question still is valid. Can network repository be used with standalone build, if so how is the network repository path specified without the IDE? Or is the -o flag the way to go?
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