Create Setup Program that copies large number of files

[MrTea]

Hi Folks

Hopefully a simple question...

Using Visual Studio 2005, what is the easiest way to create a setup for
my Windows Forms App that can copy a large number of required PDF files
to the installation directory when the setup is executed.

I have tried manually adding the PDFs to the Setup Project but it then
takes absolutely ages to build.

I have toyed with the idea of using a Custom Installer but don't know
a) how to reference the source files b) whether this is overkill for a
relatively simple task.

Basically I just want the user to run the setup (which will be provided
on CD) and for Setup to install the app and copy all of the content
files (mostly PDF) to the installation folder.

Any Advice would be much appreciated.

Regards
Jon

 

[Chris Dunaway]

I have tried manually adding the PDFs to the Setup Project but it then
takes absolutely ages to build.

This is what you need to do, but create another build configuration so
that it does not include the setup project.

We have several configurations setup:

Debug
Release
Debug - With Setup
Release - With Setup

When we need to compile without including the setup project, we just
select that build configuration.

Use the configuration manager to create a new build configuration. You
then select which projects get built under that configuration.

Chris