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

Adding a user interface


Although you'll eventually want to add your own dialogs to gather information from the user that's important for your own application, you may want to use one of WiX's built-in dialog sequences in the meantime. All of them are stored in an assembly called WixUIExtension.dll. You can add a reference to this file with Visual Studio's Add a Reference screen. The file exists in WiX's Program Files folder. You may have to navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.6\bin.

Once you've added the new reference, add the following line to your WiX source file. It doesn't matter exactly where, as long as it's a child to the Product element:

<UIRef Id="WixUI_Minimal" />

This will insert the Minimal dialog set into your installation sequence. It shows a single dialog screen containing a license agreement and an Install button. Feel free to try any of the other dialog sets. Just replace WixUI_Minimal, with one of the other names in the UIRef element. WixUI_Advanced and WixUI_InstallDir require some further setup to really work properly. You can try out the following attributes:

  • WixUI_Advanced

  • WixUI_FeatureTree

  • WixUI_InstallDir

  • WixUI_Mondo

We will explore these standard dialogs in more detail later and also explain how to create your own.