Creating a chained installation using Visual Studio

Question

I have created a Windows Forms C# application. But I am facing problems in creating a setup for my application.

My problem is

1. I want to install the prerequisites as a chain of installers with a common progress bar.

   1. .NET Framework 3.5
   2. SQL Server Express Edition SP2 (optional, that is, install only if SQL Server is not installed)
   3. Crystal Reports redistributable package.

All these prerequisites must be embedded in the setup file. I have created a bootstrapper to install the SQL Server Express Edition if it not already installed.

1. After installation, it should update the exe.config file with the connection string datasource with the SQL Server Express Edition instance.

Answer 1

You can get WiX 3 to bootstrap prerequisites quite easily. Here is an explanation showing how to do it for .NET 3.5 and Windows Installer.

You should be able to use the same principle for SQL Server Express Edition and Crystal Reports.