Please help me understand "default" Components

[mchristianson]

I just ran into a problem where my application shortcuts were not being installed because their Components were set to an optional Prerequisite that had not been installed. Luckily for me, I found and solved the problem without too much time wasted. But it did cause me to wonder about Components.

When I created the Project, I did not manually create Features or Components and yet I have one of the former and many of the latter. Obviously the Project needs a MainFeature but how are the "default" Components selected and how are the different parts of my Project assigned to them?

Nothing I could find in the online manual or in this forum answered that question.

[Eusebiu]

Hi,

I'm afraid I don't fully understand what is your scenario. Can you give us more details about your scenario (maybe exemplify)?

All your installation resource files have associated a component in "Organization" page. For example, all the files and registry that you add in your project are automatically added to a specific component. Also, when you are creating a shortcut in "Files and Folders" page, then it will be automatically added to the component of its target file.

You can also read the Organization Page article.

Best regards,
Eusebiu