What exactly is the .isproj "TaggedOutputs" used for and when should it be used?
I see the example entry
There is no reference to "TaggedOutputs" and its usage in the help system or anywhere else I can look. Is its purpose to be able to add "Extra" files to a defined project? E.g. if my .isproj file looks like the sample below, will [ExtraFile.bat] be considered part of the "Primary output" of the project "TaxationEngine" so that I would see the two files:
That's the idea. It's not documented because it's a backdoor subversion of output groups, and isn't really tested or supported. That said, you can probably make it work (but I would recommend just adding a static file link in the InstallShield project).
If you're going to do this, just be aware that InstallShield may query any metadata that appears on an item that has gone through the rest of project output group determination process, and InstallShield may make assumptions about a common root folder for any given project's outputs (so no guarantees that including a file from somewhere else will work as expected; but similarly no guarantees that it won't).
If I add static links then installshield relative paths have to be used to locate the items. These seem to be converted sporatically to absolute paths when I open the InstallShield 12 ISLE project.
I was hoping i could use it to add all the files from a bin folder from an EXE project that are needed for the EXE to run since just adding the primary output from the EXE project only includes the EXE itself. It is also a way to include the files with relative paths determined by MSBuild rather than by the installshield process.
Your reasoning makes sense. I'm just suggesting caution because we have not rigorously tested this approach. In theory it should work fine, but practice (especially untested practice) has a way of not working like theory says. 🙂
