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

The DirectoryRef element


In the previous chapter, you saw that to define which directories to copy your files into, you use Directory elements. These take an Id value and, if it's a new directory that you're creating, a Name attribute. You can use any of the built-in IDs to reference one of the common Windows directories. For example, suppose we wanted to add an XML configuration file for our software to the %PROGRAMDATA% folder. We'd add a reference to it using the built-in CommonAppDataFolder property as Directory Id:

<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
   <Directory Id="CommonAppDataFolder">
      <Directory Id="MyCommonAppDataFolder" 
                 Name="Awesome Software" />
   </Directory>
</Directory>

Here we are placing a new folder called Awesome Software inside the %PROGRAMDATA% folder. The new folder gets a Name attribute to label it. The Id attribute is up to us and uniquely identifies the directory in the MSI database. To add a file to...