Introduction to Wix and DTF

Windows Installer XML (WIX)

Here we will introduce Wix 3.0, which is still beta. wix is short for Windows Installer XML. It is a set of tools and specifications provided by Microsoft and is used to create installation packages in MSI format. It is also worth mentioning that Wix is one of Microsoft's few open-source software. The jobs for creating MSI include InstallShield and wise. They are both commercial.ProgramYou can also use Wix to create the installation program. Wix and these MSI tools are different:

• It is completely described in XML and generated using command lines, which is easily integrated into the development process and called through Nant and msbuild.
• Wix is open-source and highly customizable. You can do things that come with wise or InstallShield.

Microsoft's internal program packaging also uses Wix.

Deployment tools Foundation (DTF)

DTF is MSI. DLL (Windows Installer library. net packaging, DTF makes it very easy to write custom actions (CA) for the MSI installation package. before writing ca, there were only three options: C ++, VB script, and Java Script.

Currently, out-of-the-box CAs have the following:

Install/delete/move files

Create/delete/change folders

Create/delete/change shortcuts

Install/remove/start/stop Windows Services

Reboots

Install/remove ODBC drivers

Register/un-register COM/COM + applications

Register/un-register Fonts

Write/change Registry

... And so on...

This is the complete list of http://msdn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/library/aa372023 (En-US, vs.85). aspx.

Windows Installer cannot fully cover all scenarios. We can customize the CA to meet the requirements. DTF can use the language C #/VB. NET supported by. Net to write ca.

Wix 3.0 is developed based on DTF. Although version 3.0 is still in beta stage, version 3.0 also supports vs2008 project templates.