For our product, to develop an Installer we are using WIX 3.6.
In installation sequence and as part of requiremet we need to configure some changes.This we have implemented separatley in winforms ( (treeview) and referred that exe in installation sequence. The exe is openeing perfrectly but opening in a separate window. We want to open in WIX UI itself not as a separate window.
Please provide inputs to achieve this. Thanks in advance.
It is not possible to launch the executable from inside the installation and integrate with the UI displayed by the package. Instead, you can launch an executable and have it register as an External UI Handler. From there you can parent the package UI to your external executable's UI.
Related
If you add ActionData to the Subscribe event in Edit Control on Wix,
the line is written and erased. I want the ActionData log to continue to be written as a scroll.
Burn: WiX Burn allows you to write your own GUI to run your installer. You should be able to implement whatever you want in terms of GUI if you go down that path. However: installers run quicker and quicker as IO becomes better, are you sure this is time well spent? I'd say just use logging and be done with it? See my comments above for your question.
Burn Bootstrapper Appliation: There are not that many samples I know about for Custom WiX Burn Bootstrapper applications. Here are two:
Write your own WiX Burn setup GUI application (advanced)
https://github.com/rstropek/Samples/tree/master/WiXSamples/CustomBurnUI
Documentation: For documentation go online, or better yet open WiX.chm and locate section "Building Installation Package Bundles".
Here are two past answers that I would suggest you at least skim:
Ways to customize your WiX GUI (do read this one for overall understanding of MSI GUI)
Custom GUI - WiX Burn, Installshield Suite Project, Advanced Installer - their options
The Implementation of a custom GUI for an MSI depends on the core MSI API function MsiSetExternalUI function. It allows what Burn is doing - making a custom GUI. Throwing in an SDK sample too:
MSI SDK Sample: Some details on the MsiSetExternalUI function (serverfault answer). Concrete code sample to handle Windows Installer messages: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/Msi/handling-progress-messages-using-msisetexternalui. This is MSI API calls direct - nothing to do with Burn as such, Burn makes use of these calls.
Links: Link overload - as usual - but here is an example of a custom Burn theme - as opposed to a custom bootstrapper application. This changes the look of the standard Burn bundle.
https://github.com/frederiksen/Classic-WiX-Burn-Theme
SQL Server named instance with Visual Studio 2017 Installer project (just for inclusion)
Native Windows Installer UI doesn't support this. You would need to create a custom UI handler to display it the way you want.
I'm looking to create a Windows Installer package that will run an exe that runs another Windows Installer.
I'm putting a package together that has to install three files, an EXE, a CONFIG and an empty TXT. In addition, we also need to run the Access Database Engine 2007 as part of this process. However, when setting custom actions to just run it (with the flag /quiet) it fails because it's attempting to run an MSI inside of an MSI.
Is there any way I could somehow have it launch right after/right before or something? I've looked into WIX but honestly I'm clueless on how it would solve the problem.
Thanks.
You should look at the WiX Burn functionality and prerequisites. Some examples are:
WiX - Install Prerequisites and 3rd party applications
http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/cb88b2/installing-prerequisites-using-wix-bootstrapper-project-and/
You could probably just run the setup from the Burn bootstrapper - it will do its own detection if it's already installed.
I have created a msi which allows user to view license, select installation folder, and features to install. That all works well.
Now I need to create a bootstrapper that will check if framework 4.5 is installed, install it if not, and then install msi.
I can do this using WixStandardBootstrapperApplication.RtfLargeLicense, where I would install framework, and then execute msi with its own UI.
But what if I do not want to show two apps (msi over exe), but only one window?
Since my msi contains feature, standard bootstrapper does not provide interface where I can set features from msi, so I need to create a custom UI.
The problem is I do not quite understand how WixManagedBootstrapperApplicationHost works? I created a dll with new UI, and place it in Payload. When running the setup, when framework needs to be installed, WixManagedBootstrapperApplicationHost always invokes its own window which says:
Microsoft .NET Framework required for MyApp Setup. Click the "Accept and Install" button to accept the Microsoft .NET Framework license terms.
And after it completes installation of .NET Framework, then it invokes the UI that I Created in dll. Why would anyone want this kind of functionality, where my bootstrapper app contains totally different UI than the framework installation UI? Isn't the idea of bootstrapper with custom UI is to provide completely custom UI?
So, how can I provide my custom UI for that framework installation part?
I assume your own UI is C# and WPF? If your installing it on a machine without .Net then it's going to need to install .Net before it can show the WPF UI. I could be wrong but I'm sure that's unavoidable.
If you want to replace / modify the .Net install screen then this thread looks like it has the answer:
Wix Burn: Basic UI handling if No Net Framework is there
However if your saying the .Net install dialog is showing up over your UI at some point in installation then you need to set the Install command to "/q" which means quiet (no UI).
I have a working WiX installer with a custom UI using a WixUI_Mondo_MyApp.wxs file. I have to extend my installer to also run another exe installer. I understand Burn is the way to do this.
I created a Burn project that chains my original MSI with the custom UI (using DisplayInternalUI="yes"), and that works fine. But I don't want two UIs popping up (the Burn default UI, and my MSI UI), and I need to get some info from the MSI UI to determine if I should install the other exe (it will listed as one of the features).
I suppose the proper solution would be to migrate my UI code from my MSI to my Burn project, but I can find no docs on describing how to do this.
Thanks in advance.
There is no migration path; MSI UI is declarative using the MSI UI tables and Burn supports arbitrary code in a bootstrapper application. If you have any logic in your UI customizations, you'd have to write a custom bootstrapper application to get that in a bundle.
Is it any way in WIX to detect that a third-party application with a specified upgrade code is installed and what is it's installation folder? I can suggest a custom action is required, but what exactly to do in such custom action? Is it possible to detect such things in VBS custom action?
It really depends on the application. Most applications publish a registry key that can be used to detect them. In that case you just need a RegistrySearch element, no custom actions necessary. If the application was installed via MSI, sometimes a ComponentSearch is better.
You can use dotNetInstaller for configure it very well. With the help of registry search you can easily find out that the program is installed or not(Use product version / Product name for additional check)