Dynamically include files in MSI setup

Question

I am trying to deploy a bunch of files in a directory in my MSI setup. As the files will change frequently I don't want to add the files directly but rather have a way of automatically including all files from within a directory and deploy them to a certain location.

I am using a Visual Studio Setup Project.

Anybody know how/if this is possible?

Answer 1

I solved the problem by a workaround:

• Add a build action of packaging entire directory (could be filtered) to a ZIP file.
• Add a reference to an empty ZIP file to deployment project.
• Add a custom action to deployment project to extract the ZIP to destination folder.

It's simple and stable.

Answer 2

I did this in NSIS by generating part of my NSIS script in Perl and having a master script which included the dynamic script.

Short answer: it's definitely possible.

Answer 3

select the folder path and pass to this method.It will create the msi file in the order in which folder hierarchy exists.

public class InstallData { public void GetWixData(string SourcePath) { try { WixEntity[] weDir = new WixEntity[0]; weDir = BuildDirInfo(SourcePath, weDir);

            var project = new Project("My Product", new Dir("MyDB", weDir), new ManagedAction("MyAction"))
            {
                GUID = Guid.NewGuid(),
                UI = WUI.WixUI_InstallDir,
                Manufacturer = "xxx Inc.",

            };



            try
            {



                Compiler.BuildMsi(project, Application.StartupPath);
            }

            catch (Exception ex)
            {
            }

        }

        catch (Exception Ex)
        {

        }
    }


    private WixEntity[] BuildDirInfo(string sRootDir, WixEntity[] weDir)
    {
        DirectoryInfo RootDirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(sRootDir);
        if (RootDirInfo.Exists)
        {
            DirectoryInfo[] DirInfo = RootDirInfo.GetDirectories();
            List<string> lMainDirs = new List<string>();
            foreach (DirectoryInfo DirInfoSub in DirInfo)
                lMainDirs.Add(DirInfoSub.FullName);
            int cnt = lMainDirs.Count;
            weDir = new WixEntity[cnt + 1];
            if (cnt == 0)
                weDir[0] = new DirFiles(RootDirInfo.FullName + @"\*.*");
            else
            {
                weDir[cnt] = new DirFiles(RootDirInfo.FullName + @"\*.*");
                for (int i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
                {
                    DirectoryInfo RootSubDirInfo = new DirectoryInfo(lMainDirs[i]);
                    if (!RootSubDirInfo.Exists)
                        continue;
                    WixEntity[] weSubDir = new WixEntity[0];
                    weSubDir = BuildDirInfo(RootSubDirInfo.FullName, weSubDir);
                    weDir[i] = new Dir(RootSubDirInfo.Name, weSubDir);
                }
            }
        }


        return weDir;
    }
}

public class CustomActions { [CustomAction] public static ActionResult MyAction(Session session) { MessageBox.Show("Hello World!", "Embedded Managed CA"); session.Log("Begin MyAction Hello World");

       return ActionResult.Success;
   }

}

Answer 4

Using what????

WiX? InstallShield? Visual Studio? WISE? InstallAware? MSI Factory? Some other Windows Installer tool?

• InstallShield - yes. Add a 'dynamic folder' to your setup.
• WiX - kind of. Use heat to generate (partial) WiX sources before calling candle/light.