I've been trying to import an obfuscated project (with Dotfuscator) into an existing WIX installer package, but I can't figure out where to start. Currently the WIX project just has a reference to the application project. But when I pipe the application project into Dotfuscator, I am unable to add a reference to the Dotfuscator project. I'm unaware of any other way to add a project to WIX.
I have the Dotfuscator pro edition.
Just as in other .NET project types, WiX supports project references and direct file references. In fact, the WiX projects and the application projects could be in two different solutions. You could build your app, obfusacate and then build your WiX solution and pick up the obfusacated assemblies.
In other words, this is more of a build issue then it is a WiX issue.
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I have a dll project which I need to install into the GAC, on our Production machines.
(I wish I didn't have to use the GAC but SSIS insists)
gacutil.exe is not available on the target machines and using "Enterprise.Services" from PowerShell does not work (I don't know why)
My understanding is I should created a msi installer project.
However after installing the Setup and Deploy Extension to Visual Studio (2015 soon to be 2017), I discovered those projects cannot be built by our Build Server because it uses MSBuild, and MSBuild can't build vdproj project files.
What is the correct way, using a CI build pipeline (MSBuild), to create build artifacts, which can install dlls to the GAC, of a Production Environment?
Note: there are several partial answers on SO, but I could not find any, which were up to date/answer my whole question. Please keep that in mind when answering.
You need to break this down into several user stories. You aren't finding partial answers, you are finding actual answers for specific questions. What you ask is more like an epic.
In general I would create an MSI using Windows Installer XML. WiX/MSI can install files to the GAC without using GACUTIL. If you use the WiX Visual Studio extension "Votive" you can create a .SLN / .WIXPROJ / .WXS that can be built using MSBuild. You can then put this into a source control system such as Git/TFVC/Subversion and use a build system such as VSTS V.Next Build, XAML Build, Concourse, Jenkins to automation the pipeline to build the MSI.
I'm very new to WiX based applications, and I need to create an MSI file where it has to check for .NET Framework 4.0 and SQL Server 2008. If they are not installed, I have to get them installed first and then have to install my application's EXE file and one more VBScript agent. It must be done like when you install WiX 3.7 setup (if we double click the setup file, it will show a UI as shown below!
Where do I start? Is there any step-by-step guide to develop this kind of application?
You'll need the following projects. They can be created from project templates in Visual Studio. Each of them would probably have separate tutorials that you might find with a Web search.
A WiX Setup project to build an .msi. The source files for such a project declare a WiX/Product. It could have conditions that check for .Net Framework4.0 and SQL Server 2008. If a check fails, installation of the .msi will fail, which is all that can be done in an .msi. The project would include your application .exe as a Component.
A WiX Bootstrapper project to build an .exe. The source files for such a project declare a WiX/Bundle. In the bundle is a Chain of installers, which would include .Net Framework4.0, SQL Server 2008, your .msi, and your VBScript Agent.
A WPF Library project to provide a BootstrapperApplication implementation with a custom UI for the bootstrapper project.
Your best bet is to consult the documentation, the WiX source code and various tutorials. Keep in the mind that tutorials might be out-of-date--in most cases WiX has gotten simpler with each version.
I am currently making an Outlook addin in Visual Studio 2012,
i create an Installer for my project, but in order for my addin to work on my clients computers i also need to add the SharePoint Foundation (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21786) dll’s,
but when I try to add them from my C:\Windows\assembly folder to the WiX msi base installer Project\References - (by right clicking and pressing add Reference), I get the following error “A reference to [filepath] could not be added. Please make sure that the file is accessible, and that it is a valid WiX reference.“
Do you know what I can do ?
thanks a lot for your help!
You need to add the files to Product.wxs - see http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/wix_learning.htm . You only add .wixlib and other projects via references.
Another approach would be to use a WiX 3.7 Bootstrapper project. The bootstrapper engine is often called "Burn" so you might see that in discussions.
A bootstrapper project allows you to install dependencies using their own installers, such as the "SharePoint Foundation 2010 Client Object Model Redistributable" you linked to. A nice example of a bootstrapper is the WiX 3.7 installer itself but most projects can be much simpler.
Installing dependencies using vendor provided installers has the advantage of avoiding having to re-implement any necessary logic yourself and allows them to managed and upgraded by the user.
I've had some trouble getting WiX projects to build on build servers. One of the pain points has been that my WiX projects are referencing libraries in c:\program files... and the build process calls executables in the same path. This is a bummer because I have to install WiX toolkit in order to get my project to build.
What's the best way to eliminate this headache by having all build tools local to the project being built?
Is there a nuget package that does this? (At the time of writing it appears not, but I wanted to verify.) Package Restore capability would be nice because then I don't have to include the (many) WiX files in git.
If not, what do I need to download from WiX? What do I need to modify so that the compiler knows where to find the binaries to build WiX projects?
You can download just the WiX Binaries .zip from http://wixtoolset.org/releases/ then you can modify your wixproj file and update the <WixToolPath></WixToolPath> element to point to your WixBinaries
The WiX documentation has an article that explains how: Integrating Wix Projects into your Daily Builds
There is an unofficial nuget package at WiX.Toolset.
However, note that this seems to only be applicable to the setup project itself (i.e. it cannot be used to fetch wix binaries for e.g. a class library assembly).
I've adopted a Visual Studio solution that contains a number WiX projects. We build the solution from an MsBuild script to generate the product's installer msi.
The problem I'm experiencing is that if I build (and don't rebuild), even if exe's and dll's get updated that need to be put in the installer, the WiX build system doesn't seem to detect this and skips building the installer as it thinks it's already up to date.
How do I work out what the dependencies are that are needed to build a WiX project, and how do I tell the Wix build system to watch out for them changing so it knows to build instead of skip?
Thanks.
This facility was added to WiX 3.6 with little fanfare - in the WiX 3.6 release notes it simply says ".wixproj MSBuild projects support incremental build."
The WiX MSBuild targets don't currently support payloads as inputs into the build process, so nothing tells MSBuild that the WiX targets need to be called. Feel free to file a feature request at wix.sf.net; a couple of us have been talking about ways to do it.
If you can include the projects that create the exe's and dll's into the solution containing the wix projects, you can add project references from the wix projects to the appropriate application projects. Then wix should properly perform incremental builds.
I configure my wix projects to only be included in the release configuration so that the apps can be quickly built and run without creating the install in the debug configuration.