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

Counting package references


Some of the dependencies you install, such as SQL Server, may be used by several different software bundles. For example, you might have an application that stores customer records in the database. Later on, another piece of software is installed that stores log information in that same SQL Server instance. You may not want to remove it until all interested parties have been uninstalled. For example, uninstalling the logging piece shouldn't remove the SQL instance because the customer records software is still using it.

To solve these sorts of dependency issues, Burn provides an element for package reference counting as part of its DependencyExtension. To use it, first add a reference in your Burn project to DependenyExtension. Then, update the Wix element to contain the new namespace, as shown:

<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi" xmlns:dep="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/DependencyExtension">

Next, add a Provides element inside the ExePackage...