Book Image

WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML

Book Image

WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML

Overview of this book

The cryptic science of Windows Installer can seem far off from the practical task of simply getting something installed. Luckily, we have WiX to simplify the matter. WiX is an XML markup, distributed with an open-source compiler and linker, used to produce a Windows Installer package. It is used by Microsoft and by countless other companies around the world to simplify deployments. "WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML" promises a friendly welcome into the world of Windows Installer. Starting off with a simple, practical example and continuing on with increasingly advanced scenarios, the reader will have a well-rounded education by book's end. With the help of this book, you'll understand your installer better, create it in less time, and save money in the process. No one really wants to devote a lifetime to understanding how to create a hassle-free installer. Learn to build a sophisticated deployment solution targeting the Windows platform in no time with this hands-on practical guide. Here we speed you through the basics and zoom right into the advanced. You'll get comfortable with components, features, conditions and actions. By the end, you'll be boasting your latest deployment victories at the local pub. Once you've finished "WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML", you'll realize just how powerful and awesome an installer can really be.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Restricting the install by the operating system


A final attribute to consider is Condition. You'll set this to a conditional statement that, should it evaluate to false, the system will display an error dialog and abort the installation. The dialog's text is unchangeable and looks like the following screenshot:

Because the condition is evaluated early on, you can only use built-in variables listed at the following URL:

http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/bundle_built_in_variables.htm

However, because you can't change the error message, and the error message always says that the program requires a newer version of Windows, you should really only be checking the operating system version. A variable fit for this purpose is VersionNT. Compare it to an OS version number, formatted as a decimal preceded by v. For example, Windows 7 is Version 6.1. The following example checks that the operating system is Windows 7:

<Bundle Name="Awesome Software"
        Condition="VersionNT = v6.1"
     ...