Using Installation Components

Installation components allow you to set up custom actions that will occur when your application is deployed. You do this if your application requires additional system resources — such as databases, configuration files, Windows event logs, message queues, or services — to be set up and configured in order to work correctly.

In This Section

• Introduction to Installation Components
  Describes the purpose of installation components, the types of installation components that are available to you, and the classes they are represented by in the System namespace.

• Installation Components How-to Topics
  Provides links to all how-to pages found in the documentation for programming with installation components.

• Framework Component Deployment and the Design Process
  Describes how installation components work and the general design process to use in your applications that require them.

• Installation Process
  Provides information on what happens during the installation process.

• State Storage in the Installation Process
  Explains the usage of the Install, Commit, Rollback, and Uninstall methods and how state is maintained throughout the installation process.

• How to: Create Installation Components - High-Level Process
  Lists the high-level steps in the process of adding installation components to your application and configuring them to behave correctly.

Topic	Location
Walkthrough: Installing an Event Log Component	Server Components in Visual Studio
Walkthrough: Installing an Event Log Component	Server Components in Visual Studio
Walkthrough: Installing an Event Log Component	Server Components in Visual Studio

Related Sections

• Walkthrough: Using a Custom Action to Create a Database at Installation
  Presents an example of creating a database during installation using an installation component and a custom action.

• How to: Add Installers to Your Service Application
  Provides directions for creating the installation components that are necessary to install, start, and run your service.

• How to: Install and Uninstall Services
  Gives instructions for installing your service and registering it with the system.

• How to: Add Installation Components to Your Projects
  Explains how to add the necessary installation components to your application.

• How to: Configure Installation Components
  Explains how to change the default values for an installation component to tailor its behavior.

• How to: Override Default Methods on Installation Components
  Explains how to change the default functioning of the Install, Commit, Rollback, and Uninstall methods.