"flagrant99" wrote:

> Thanks for the response.
>
> Well I think InstallShield provides merge modules for MDAC. Just was
> wondering why they do but Microsoft doesn't.
>
> I tried adding a custom action for launching MDAC_TYPE.EXE for MDAC28 but it
> consistently fails on first try on windows 2000. It always works on second
> try when launched as custom action. If I launch directly without being
> laucnhed from my setup it always works on 1st try. I am using VirtualPC so I
> can quickly refresh the OS to see what happens. This happens with fresh
> win2000 and win2k with SP4. It does not happen on XP.
>
> Also the /Q flag seems useless.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> It seems very difficult to get all these setups run flawlessly as custom
> actions.
> I tried launching from VB Scripts, Bat files, etc.
>
> How does Microsoft recommend we ensure components are up to date when we
> install our application? Are we supposed to tell end users that they need to
> manually install all of the updates?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Phil Wilson" wrote:
>
> > Microsoft generally doesn't use merge modules for shared system components
> > (like MDAC or the .NET framework) because they then become part of your
> > product. That makes it difficult for Microsoft to ship fixes that replace
> > files that were installed by your product. That's why merge module are
> > nearly always non-shared files or files that still need redistributing for
> > older OS versions (like mfc42 on NT systems).
> > --
> > Phil Wilson
> > [MVP Windows Installer]
> > Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
> > http://apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=280
> >
> > "flagrant99" <flagrant99@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:5D64A441-9E7C-48F1-AD89-0B1F2A5E3609@microsoft.com...
> > > Does Microsoft provide Merge Modules for MDAC 28, MS Jet SP 8, etc.
> > > If yes where are they.
> > > If no why not?
> > >
> > > Visual Studio .NET install seems to add some merge modules to the common
> > > files\Merge Modules folder but the list of merge modules here is very
> > > incomplete.
> > >
> > > I was able to find installs for MDAC 28, Jet SP 8, etc. So I tried adding
> > > custom actions to launch these from my setup project but these executables
> > > are useless because they can fail if already installed and cause a
> > > rollback
> > > on install, making it impossible to install your app (JET SP 8). Also
> > > these
> > > executables are a pain to use because there are different ones for each
> > > OS.
> > > (JET SP 8 alone has like 6 different installs depending on OS). It would
> > > be
> > > so much nicer if microsoft provided a merge module for developers that
> > > worked
> > > on all Windows OS.
> > >
> > > Note Also that Windows Update is not the answer either because a Windows
> > > Component will only be updated if it has already been installed, ie JET.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >