Hey Bryan, For the complications that you face and the possible points of failure I would say that MSI would be the right choice in its ability to handle installations as a transaction (install, rollback, uninstall, commit). This might help you maintain a stable system state. Your install/uinstall should be A.C.I.D.
That being said there is a learning curve to getting involved in MSI. The WIX toolset goes out of its way to make that curve smaller and handle some of the "gotchas" along the way. However, it is still up to you to understand the Windows Installer API and its limitations. In the coming months the WIX toolset is going to be releasing a bootstrapper as well. This would be something for you to add to the pros for using WIX. Although it is not out yet, and there are others, make sure that you choose wisely in which bootstrapper you use if you can't wait until "Burn" comes out. Thanks, Brian Rogers "Intelligence removes complexity." - Me http://icumove.spaces.live.com On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 6:36 PM, Stefan Sinnige <s...@vasco.com> wrote: > One thing we came across: > > We had trouble with Windows Installer (not just WiX) when calling an MSI > from another MSI, stating that a Windows Installer was already running. > > We opted for a simple MFC executable that would then invoke the MSI's > using msiexec instead. > > Stefan > > -----Original Message----- > From: bryan costanich [mailto:br...@corp.tixsmart.com] > Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 11:24 AM > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [WiX-users] noob/strategy questions > > Hi all! > I'm evaluating WiX for use in a project. I have some pretty hairy > installation requirements, and i'm trying to figure out if WiX is the > right > tool for the job. > > I need to create an install that does a number of things: > -> install various other packaged software (MySQL, SQLExpress, etc.), > these > come in the form of msi and exe files that i can make silent via command > line arguments > -> install my own software (in the form of an .exe + a bunch of dlls) > -> do a bunch of custom configuration tasks (that i can take care of > with a > dll call or whatever, will include modifying files, creating/modifying > databases, etc.) > > some of this is fairly easy, for example, i could just use windows > installer > and point it at my application project to figure out dependencies and > create > an msi that would install it, it's dlls, etc. however, some of the > other > stuff is less easy. i could, potentially use windows installer to do the > third task as well by defining custom actions. > > however, to make this even more complicated the installer needs to run > full > screen and use custom branding. > > also, this install package can/will be called by the software it > installs > (as an auto-update), needs to wait for the application to shut down, > then > install (potentially restart), and re-launch the application. > > finally, everything needs to be packaged into one exe (or at least an > exe > and one .msi). > > so, with all that said, would WiX even be useful here? a lot of this > will > have to be custom dialogs and such. > > at a minimum, could i use WiX to link together the bootstrapper + an msi > that contained a bunch of custom dialogs and .net classes that do all > the > actual lifting? > > thanks all for your input. > > -b > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ------ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
