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visual-studio-2010vstooffice-interopinstallshieldexcel-addins

Use a single installer to install VSTO add-ins for multiple Office apps

I have a VSTO add-in for Excel created in Visual Studio that I deploy by installing the following three files on a user's machine:

Company.Excel.dll
Company.Excel.dll.manifest
Company.Excel.vsto

Now, I want to add a VSTO add-in for Word that installs alongside the Excel add-in using the same installer. So, I would maybe expect to add the following incremental files to my installer:

Company.Word.dll
Company.Word.dll.manifest
Company.Word.vsto

Is that (6 files) the best way to do this, or is it better to combine the .manifest and .vsto files into single files, like:

Company.Excel.dll
Company.Word.dll
Company.???.dll.manifest
Company.???.vsto

Any thoughts on which approach is better and why? If it is best to combine them as in the latter case:

1) Does the naming of the last two files matter? In other words, what replaces the question marks in the file name? 2) Any other tips on how to generate a single manifest for this purpose?

Solution

  • I'd suggest not to attempt to rename or merge the .vsto and .manifest file names.

    I cannot see a scenario in which renaming this files can be beneficial. While it is possible, there are multiple places which reference these files by their name and you would have to find all and update.

    Also I don't see how merging .vsto files would be possible. You'd end up having Excel trying to register the Word Add-In.

    And then again, you really can't possibly have any reason with messing with these files.