We have a solution, there are about 100 hundred projects in it. And we have around 20 installers which we created with vdproj.
I need to create WiX projects, which would create .msi instead of vdproj. I used dark.exe to generate wxs file out of msi and got binaries out of it.
I successfully created an msi file and everything was good.
But then I started thinking about it. If some of these projects are changed, will those changes be applied to the application after rebuilding of wix project? Or wxs will be referencing the old version and to update it someone will have to rebuild vdproj project to create new msi, then use dark.exe again?
I am sorry for a stupid question, it's my first time using wix and working with installers in general.
Thank you in advance
You've started on the right track. The VDPROJ outputs are .msi files, so using dark to convert those to wxs files is the right thing to do. Now that you have your wxs files (the base source file to build wix deployments), you can do away with the VDPROJ projects in your solution and only update and use the wxs files (I believe WiX has a visual studio project template available as well).
You'll have to update you wxs files with new assemblies or deliverable files as your projects change.
It is better this way then doing a wildcard pickup (something you can't technically do with WiX, anyway) as having explicit control of what goes on the target machine is preferred. I've seen many cases where developers carelessly add a reference as build output that isn't needed, and sometimes that reference cannot be redistributed per the license agreement or other legalities.
Related
Can someone help me understand how WiX works? I have a directory structure which I would like to create an installer for. I have generated the for the directory structure with heat.exe and when I build the setup project it generates an .msi file but I don't think it installs anything.
Maybe someone can walk me through the steps of generating a .msi installer.
Any advise is appreciated,
Thank you
If you're using Visual Studio:
Install the WiX Toolset V3 Visual Studio plugin.
Install the Wax interactive editor.
Build your project if you haven't already.
Add a new project to the solution containing the project you want to create an installer for.
Choose the template Setup Project for WiX v3.
Name the installer. A personal convention is the name of the project plus ".Setup"
A Product.wxs file will open up. Change the Manufacturer="" value to something like your company name or your name. Keep the file open.
Go to Tools -> WiX Setup Editor
On the left under Root Directory choose InstallFolder
Under Projects to install, choose the project you want to install.
In the red area to the right, you'll see a list of files. These are the output results of your build from step 3.
Click the plus sign next to files you want to copy. They should turn white and change to a Resolved state.
This might look daunting, but you're just telling it what to copy--which would be your project's executable, configs, dll libraries, and images it's dependent upon.
You typically want to copy everything. If there are dll's you know you don't need, it's better to remove them as a dependency from the Visual Studio.
Notice the Product.wxs has changed. It now has the files you checked off in the Setup Editor GUI added to the <Wix><Fragment><ComponentGroup> section. Save that file.
Close the Setup Editor.
Build the setup project you just configured.
Open Windows explorer and go to that project's bin/Debug or bin/Release folder, depending on what mode you built in. There you'll see the .msi that you can copy to where you need.
To make an update, make the necessary changes and then change the version number in that project's Properties -> Application -> Assembly Information. Then also change it in Product.wxs <Wix><Product.Version>. Then just build your setup project again.
Good tutorial here:
http://wix.tramontana.co.hu/
http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/105638/A-quick-introduction-Create-an-MSI-installer-with
They should get you started.
If you learn something about the MSI log that will also help - install the MSI with a command line that includes /L*vx
And "doesn't install anything" should be easy to check - are there are any files installed, or did it create an entry in Programs&Features?
WiX is a language (XML/XSD) that serves as a way of authoring (compiling) Windows Installer (.MSI) databases. WiX doesn't install anything, MSI does.
I maintain an open source project called IsWiX. The concept is simple. IsWiX provides additional WiX project templates (scaffolding) and graphical designers to assist you in creating installer. Then as you gain knowledge of WiX and MSI you can make additional tweaks of the WiX XML by hand and go beyond what IsWiX currently knows how to author.
Here's a video showing how to author, build and test an MSI to deploy an IIS website in a mere 3 minutes.
Update: IsWiX has tutorials now.
After a few 'false starts' trying to learn WiX from online tutorials I noticed that on http://wixtoolset.org/ there is a link to the book "WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML". You can buy it pretty inexpensively in E-book form from Packt, or also Amazon if you like the easy interface with Kindle.
I found this book to be VERY helpful with every little step regarding the .msi creation process. The book will guide you to create your first .msi in the very 1st chapter! Granted, you have to continue a little more to have a fully functioning .msi, but given the complexity of Wix, this book is terrific. It may not be for the gurus among us, but for those of us who need a little more help to understand the material it's wonderful. I've seen many posts speak to the 'steep learning curve' regarding WiX and it is a complicated process to create a valid .msi, but this book goes a long way toward making that learning curve very bearable.
If you are using the build system 'cmake', then you can use cpack to generate .msi file by setting the cpack generator to wix.
What worked for me best, was this fantastic tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yf-eDsRrnM
Its best selling points for me was
independent of visual studio version
it describes deploying a .NET (Core) app also
it focuses on what an average app's installer should be capable of (including heat, icon, background image and banner)
you don't have to learn another layer on wix
it gives you good practices on easy package generation and future maintenance
it gives an installer project template which you can reuse: https://github.com/angelsix/youtube/tree/cecd38ea3d5eea11cc75fc0123297ffc3b5e662b/C%23%20General/Windows%20Installer%20Wix%20DotNet%20Core/ConsoleApp1.Installer
I am a Wix novice, first of all. I am trying to create an installer using Wix. I am using Visual Studio 2012 and I have Wix toolkit installed.
In my installer I have a version.ini file which contains the version information. During each build, the version.ini file will be updated. I need to create a folder using the version specified in version.ini and copy some files to that folder created during installation. I prefer the version.ini should not be deployed during installation.
I went through some threads here. What I got is since the version.ini file is present during build time, we need to use it rather than creating custom actions. But I don't know how.
Can someone help? I really appreciate if you could provide sample code.
Thanks,
ssn
I wrote up a quick WiX preprocessor extension to grab some product version information from a file we keep in our root folder.
I'd like to keep this extension in the same solution as our WiX setup project, because it's easier to maintain. But the problem is that when testing, we use a Debug configuration, and when releasing a build, we switch to Release. This means that I have two extensions to deal with.
How would I tell WiX to grab one depending on the current configuration?
I've been looking at the reference paths in the WiX project's properties, and added "..\MyWiXExtensions\bin\$(Configuration)\" as a folder, hoping that it would pick up the MSBuild property, but that doesn't seem to work.
I've also looked at the build events. I could copy the output dll to my setup project's folder, but wouldn't that break references if I clean my solution?
I'm using WiX 3.7 and Visual Studio 2012.
I ended up using a post-build event on my extension that would copy the output to my wixproj's folder.
I just have to build my wixproj separately from the rest of the solution to prevent file locking issues when overwriting the dll. If file locking does come up, I just have to close VS and reopen the solution.
As a side note, referencing the project itself instead of the dll could be a nice feature to have in Votive.
My task is to create an update installation pack wich delete some dlls and replace config files of installed program. And I have original installation Wix project source. I've read on several places on the internet about how to build update Wix project and I got some questions.
As I understood I have to use the same Product and UpgradeCode GUIDs in my update Wix project. So I have to delete unnecessary files and to add new. Can anybody tell me what is the preferred way to remove old files?
What information I must use from original installation Wix project? At the beginning I want to create my new one using Product and UpgradeCode GUIDs, but may be it possible to modify oroginal project for update purposes?
The Lesson 4 of WiX Tutorial and Patching and Upgrades chapter of Windows Installer documentation should answer most of your questions. I would also recommend you playing with small test project to understand how the things work before implementing this in live solution.
Background:
I always try to ensure the following tenet in my projects:
After a fresh checkout a developer should be able to do all project related tasks with solely the contents of the combined folders.
Obviously, this isn't always possible (e.g. Visual Studio for Windows development). However, I really dislike having to install any third-party libraries or tools that are specific a project like log4net, NHibernate, NUnit, etc. There are number of reasons for this including:
For a given development machine, you may work on several different projects, all which leverage different versions of the same third-party library or tool.
Minimizing the environment setup requirements makes setting up new developers or machines much easier
Facilitates easier maintenance of automated builds
Assumptions/Contraints
I am currently using WiX 3 beta, but if there is way for either 2.0 or 3.0 please respond
I am using Visual Studio 2005
The IDE syntax highlighting is not a requirement.
Question:
Is it possible to avoid local installation of the WiX toolset and use flat files instead? If so, please explain how.
See Also:
First, build your WiX installer:
Create a new WiX Installer Project in Visual Studio 2005.
Build your WiX XML accordingly.
Now, to integrate the WiX toolkit into your source tree:
Copy c:\Program Files\Windows Installer XML v3\bin to a sub-directory in your source tree. I used WiX\bin relative to my .wixproj file.
Copy c:\Program Files\MSBuild\WiX\v3.0\ to a subdirectory in your source tree. I used WiX\v3.0 relative to my .wixproj file.
Either add the following code or replace the line that follows:
<WixTargetsPath Condition=" '$(WixTargetsPath)' == ''>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\WiX\v3.0\Wix.targets</WixTargetsPath>
With the following lines:
<WixToolPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\WiX\bin\</WixToolPath>
<WixTasksPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\WiX\v3.0\WixTasks.dll</WixTasksPath>
<WixTargetsPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\WiX\v3.0\Wix.targets</WixTargetsPath>
As you can see, the WixToolPath, WixTasksPath and WixTargetsPath directives reflect the location of the folders I've instructed you to copy.
Rename your .wixproj to .csproj. This ensures that Visual Studio does not get confused by the .wixproj file but because the .wixproj is a valid MSBuild project, Visual Studio will be able to work with it.
Using this method, the WiX directory as described is about 9MB large.
I know with WiX 2, you can just download the executable files and the dll's to whatever directory your project is in. Then you create a .bat file to run candle.exe and light.exe with the parameters you need to build your installer.
That way, all your projects can have their own version of WiX with a disk drive hit of only about 4 megs each.
I'm not positive, but I think you can do the same with WiX 3.