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

Custom properties


You'll often need to define and set custom properties to hold your install time data. In the following sections, we will explore the meaning of WiX properties and how best to use them. I should say that properties are not just a feature of WiX, but are innate to Windows Installer itself. So, additional information about them can be found in the Windows Installer documentation.

Declaring and setting properties

To declare a property, add a Property element to your WiX markup. A Property element only needs two attributes: Id and Value. The Id attribute sets the name of the property, and the Value attribute sets the data contained inside. The following example creates a new property called myProperty and sets its value to the string my value. Note that this can go anywhere inside the Product element.

<Property Id="myProperty"
          Value="my value" />

Id should begin with either a letter or underscore and consist of only lower and uppercase letters, numbers, underscores...