Visual Studio SDK Redistributable Components
The Visual Studio SDK includes code that you can distribute to users according to the terms of the Visual Studio SDK license agreement. Such redistributable components include Windows Installer packages and merge modules that become part of your product's setup process, and source code that you compile into your VSPackages.
The following table describes the redistributable components that are included in the Visual Studio SDK. The components can be found in Visual Studio SDK installation path\VisualStudioIntegration\Redistributables\.
Note
The Visual Studio SDK license agreement does not allow you to ship VSPackages you develop against Visual Studio 2008 Beta 1. Because of this, you do not need the redistributable components in the table below.
File name |
Description |
|---|---|
BabelPackage.msi |
Language services you develop by using the Babel language-service package require that the Babel package itself also be installed on users' computers. For more information, see Using the Babel Package. |
HTML_Help_Registration__RTL_X86_---.msm VSIPCC_Collection_Files_RTL_---_---.msm |
These Windows Installer merge modules contain custom tables, custom actions, and default data for registering Help files. They must be merged into your product's Windows Installer package to deploy Help 2.x files. For more information, see Deploying a Help Collection. |
Installing Redistributable Packages
Redistributable components that install executable code are provided as Windows Installer packages (.msi files) so that Microsoft can provide updates if they are required to address security vulnerabilities or other critical bugs. Redistributable components that do not install executable code are provided as merge modules or as source code.
Because Windows Installer allows for only one package to install at a time, installing a redistributable package requires that you use a separate executable program that installs several packages sequentially. Such a program is often called a chainer or a bootstrapper.
.gif "Important note") Important Note: |
|---|
Nested installation (also known as concurrent installation) is deprecated in Windows Installer because a "nested" product cannot be patched independently, but only by the product that installed it. Because the Visual Studio 2008 SDK redistributable packages install files to shared directories and must support independent patching, they must not be installed by using a nested installation. |
Distributing the MPF Project Classes
The MPF classes for supporting project types and project subtypes are not included in the MPF assemblies that are part of Visual Studio 2008. Instead, they are supplied as C# source files that you can include in your own packages. You can redistribute them in object-code form only. For more information, see Using the Managed Package Framework to Implement a Project Type (C#).