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WiX Cookbook

By : Nicholas Matthew Ramirez

3.5 (10)

WiX Cookbook

3.5 (10)

By: Nicholas Matthew Ramirez

Overview of this book

WiX is a dialect of XML used to make installers for Windows. Its declarative style avoids the complexity and limitations of procedural code, providing you with everything you need to package up an entire application into a single MSI file. This book gives you a good overview of WiX's capabilities to develop your own installer packages with functionalities beyond those available in Windows Installer. In the recipes of this book, you will see ways in which WiX can cut down on your installation time and help you streamline your deployment processes. You will see how to make customized installer UIs, write custom actions, create shortcuts, and also set your application as the default for a file type.

Preface

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

1. Organizing and Building WiX Projects

1. Organizing and Building WiX Projects

Introduction

Installing WiX and creating a new project in Visual Studio 2013

Referencing the output of a .NET console application in a WiX project by using a preprocessor variable

Separating a portion of WIX markup into its own library

Compiling a WiX installer on a build machine using MSBuild

Building a WiX installer from the command line

2. Installing Files and Directories

2. Installing Files and Directories

Introduction

Installing directories onto the target computer

Adding a file to a directory

Installing a 64-bit executable file to Program Files

Including one component or another depending on the condition

Using the heat.exe tool to generate components

3. File and Folder Permissions

3. File and Folder Permissions

Introduction

Changing the permissions on a folder for a user

Changing the permissions on a file for a user

Marking a file as read only

Creating a file share

Setting the default program for a file type

4. Shortcuts

4. Shortcuts

Introduction

Adding an application shortcut to the Start menu

Adding an icon to a shortcut

Placing a shortcut on the desktop

Creating a shortcut to a folder

Creating an advertised shortcut that installs a feature on demand

5. Editing XML Files during Installation

5. Editing XML Files during Installation

Introduction

Adding a new element to an XML file during installation

Setting the value of an attribute on an XML element

Inserting inner text into an XML element

Adding an XML element only if it does not already exist

Removing an XML element

6. Custom Actions

6. Custom Actions

Introduction

Creating a C# custom action and referencing it in your project

Passing information entered by a user to a deferred custom action

Preventing custom action data from being displayed in the install log

Running an executable as a custom action without showing a console window by using CAQuietExec

Testing rollback custom actions with WixFailWhenDeferred

7. Installing Wizards

7. Installing Wizards

Introduction

Adding a wizard to guide users through the installation

Changing the logo images and default license agreement text of the wizard

Customizing the wizard by adding a new dialog window to it

Deciding which dialog to show next depending on the user's choices

Setting a property based on user input

8. Users and Groups

8. Users and Groups

Introduction

Creating a local user

Adding a new user to a new group

Adding a new user to an existing group

Adding an existing user to a new group

Adding a new user with the log on as a service security setting

9. Handling Prerequisites

9. Handling Prerequisites

Introduction

Stopping the installation with a launch condition

Installing only to supported versions of Windows

Redistributing the .NET Framework with a bootstrapper

Executing either a 64-bit or 32-bit MSI depending on the user's operating system

Downloading resources from the Web with a web installer

10. Installing Websites

10. Installing Websites

Introduction

Spinning up a new application pool in IIS

Adding a website to IIS that runs under your app pool

Creating a virtual directory

Adding a web application to IIS

Setting up a website to use SSL

11. Linking to the Web

11. Linking to the Web

Introduction

Adding a hyperlink control to a wizard dialog

Opening an installed HTML file after a successful installation

Launching a web page when a user uninstalls our software

Installing a shortcut that opens a web page

Updating programs and features to show a link to our company's website

12. Installing SQL Server Databases

12. Installing SQL Server Databases

Introduction

Installing a SQL Server instance with a bootstrapper

Adding a database to a SQL Server instance

Creating a table within a SQL Server database

Inserting data into a database table

Creating an ODBC data source for a SQL Server instance

13. Admin Tasks

13. Admin Tasks

Introduction

Setting an environment variable

Creating a scheduled task

Defining a new event source for the Windows event viewer

Registering a performance counter

Adding an exception to Windows Firewall

Index

Index

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Adding a database to a SQL Server instance

Once we have an instance of SQL Server running on the end user's computer, the next step is to add a database to it. This will give us a place to store our application's data. With WiX, we can define a new database in a declarative style rather than with an external SQL script.

Getting ready

Create a new setup project and name it NewDatabaseInstaller.

How to do it...

The following steps show how to create a new database with the SqlDatabase element:

Add SqlExtension to the project by right-clicking on the References node in Solution Explorer and selecting OK after navigating to Add Reference... | Browse | WixSqlExtension.dll | Add.

Add the SqlExtension namespace to the Wix element:

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

Add a Component element that has KeyPath set to yes:

<ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" 
                Directory...

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