1 - not possible using Windows Installer. You need to use a bootstrapper to sequence installation of multiple products.
2 - Sounds simple enough. 3 - Someone else with experience of installing & configuring SQL databases with WiX will need to answer as I've never had to do this myself (as yet). 4 - again sounds simple enough. Checking for pre-req's without actually bootstrapping them is easy in Windows Installer, simply create the appropriate LaunchConditions. WiX makes it even easier for those apps as it has standard Properties written which automatically do all the checking for you so you can simply use the property (.NET certainly does as I use it, SQL Server probably does too). Asking for database name, user name, password etc are all very easily done using Windows Installer UI. WiX provides some standard UI's which you can modify without much hassle to add extra dialogs for requests such as this. Again I haven't written an installer for an SQL database so others may be able to give better advice here. Personally I think doing all your application installation using Windows Installer is a good way to go about it especially if you want your app to be easily distributed through large organisations. You also get to leverage things like Repairing, Patching & Upgrading with a very minimum of effort. Bootstrapping the pre-reqs along with your MSI using something like dotnetinstaller gives you an easy way to make a single package for individual users to install everything they need to run your application. Good Luck. P.S. WiX is not Windows Installer, it just makes packages for it. Palbinder Sandher Software Deployment & IT Administrator T: +44 (0) 141 945 8500 F: +44 (0) 141 945 8501 http://www.iesve.com **Design, Simulate + Innovate with the <Virtual Environment>** Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited. Registered in Scotland No. SC151456 Registered Office - Helix Building, West Of Scotland Science Park, Glasgow G20 0SP Email Disclaimer -----Original Message----- From: James Powers [mailto:jaypowers_...@yahoo.com] Sent: 05 April 2010 21:19 To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Investigating use of WiX Hi Everyone, I'm a newbie here, so thank you all in advance for your patience and understanding. I'm investigating whether or not I want to use WiX to build my setup/deployment project for my application. I have read through the tutorial and explored the WiX sourceforge site already, but now I'd like to hear from practitioners some advice. Here is what I'm trying to do: In a single MSI file (or, in a single easy step for my end users)... 1) Install pre-requisites for my application (if they don't exist) - .NET 3.5 framework - Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 2) Install my main application primary output - .EXE file - .DLL file - A couple other folders with misc. files 3) Programmatically setup my database - Figure out what the SQL instance name is - Create new SQL Databases - Create new SQL Stored Procedures - Create new SQL user w/appropriate access 4) Write new registry values - Write SQL instance name from Step 3 - Write SQL user name and encrypted password from Step 3 My biggest question is whether or not I should embark on this adventure with WiX. I have two main options: 1) I could simply state my application pre-requisites are .NET framework 3.5 and SQL Server Express 2008. If I just stated those were my pre-requisites, I wouldn't have to worry about installing them. I could check to see if they exist and display an error if they don't. With this option, I could also simply ask for the SQL Server instance name, the user account, and the password when my application loads for the first time. I would leave it into the hands of the user to make sure SQL Server was installed. I don't particularly like this option because it makes it harder on my end user. 2) I could try to figure all this out with WiX. Or some other technology for that matter. My biggest concern here is how to take control of the setup program and specify my database name, user account, and password. I need to know what the credentials are so I can run my database table and stored procedure creation scripts. So if I go this option, I don't know if I need to know the SQL Server SA password so I can then create my SQL User, tables, and stored procedures. And if I do, how do I figure that out? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------ Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download Intel® Parallel Studio Eval Try the new software tools for yourself. Speed compiling, find bugs proactively, and fine-tune applications for parallel performance. See why Intel Parallel Studio got high marks during beta. http://p.sf.net/sfu/intel-sw-dev _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
