Why is this DLL ignored in a VS 2015 Installer Projects Extension setup project?

1
votes

I have a Setup Project created with VS 2015 Installer Projects Extension that contains a DLL, which I added to the Application Folder in the File System Editor. All properties are default except Register, which equals "vsdraCOM". The DLL is stored on Dropbox. The Setup project is in the same solution as the class library project. The setup project builds into a working MSI.

Frequently, when I re-open the Setup project at a later time, I see a red dot next to the DLL icon. Mousing over the icon produces "Ignored". This isn't specific to any one project, it happens in all of them.

Ignored

I have not tested whether this issue occurs:

  • With multiple DLLs
  • With non-COM DLLs
  • With another value for the Register property.
  • If the setup project is created in a separate solution.

I am able to build the MSI again without any problems, so it doesn't seem to be having a negative effect. Nevertheless, despite extensive searching, I am unable to determine what is causing this and what it might affect.

2
visual-studio-2015windows-installervisual-studio-setup-proje
It might help to say where the file came from. Maybe it's 64-bit Dll in a 32-bit build. Maybe you accidentally set the Exclude property to True. – PhilDW
Maybe Dropbox should not be your source control system. This component did get removed from VS and it was not because Microsoft wanted to spend more time on maintaining it. It is just plain flakey. – Hans Passant
@PhilDW Excluse is False. Target CPU is AnyCPU. My computer is 64 bit. – cadsharp
@HansPassant I use Git for source control. I store my files on Dropbox for other reasons, like backup and ease of shareability, and have done so for many years without any problems. I only recently began using VS Installer Projects extension. – cadsharp
Perhaps VS is picking up on my .gitignore file, which contains *.dll. When I right click on the DLL in the picture above, I see "Add Ignored File to source control". When I click it, the Ignored status goes way, unsurprisingly, but within Sourcetree I don't see any indication that this file is now being tracked. This is confusing because I thought VS tied in with the Git repo that I normally work with through Sourcetree. – cadsharp

2 Answers

1
votes

This is because the file is being ignored by .gitignore. Doing the following solved my problem.

You just need to right click the ignore file -> Git -> Add ignored file to source control.

0
votes

This is caused by .gitignore containing *.dll. VS is indicating that this file is being ignored.