Include MajorVersion etc in filename (OutputName) when building MSI file (wix project)

Question

In my Defines.wxi I have:

<?define MajorVersion="1" ?>
<?define MinorVersion="08" ?>
<?define BuildVersion="11" ?>

In my MyProject.Setup.wixproj I have:

<OutputName>MyProject</OutputName>
<OutputType>Package</OutputType>

Is it possible to include the version variables in the filename somehow, so that my file can be named MyProject.1.08.11.msi?

This didn't work (no such variable is defined):

<OutputName>MyProject-$(MajorVersion)</OutputName>
<OutputType>Package</OutputType>

This didn't work (no such variable is defined):

<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
    <Copy SourceFiles="$(OutputPath)$(OutputName).msi" DestinationFiles="C:\$(OutputName)-$(MajorVersion).msi" />
</Target>

It seems very clear to me that $(MajorVersion) is not the correct way of fetching the definition from the Defines.wxi file. What is?

---

Update

I tried to put this in MyProject.Setup.wixproj:

<InstallerMajorVersion>7</InstallerMajorVersion>
<InstallerMinorVersion>7</InstallerMinorVersion>
<InstallerBuildNumber>7</InstallerBuildNumber>

...

<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
    <IntermediateOutputPath>obj\$(Configuration)\</IntermediateOutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>PrebuildPath=..\..\obj\prebuild\web\;InstallerMajorVersion=$(InstallerMajorVersion);InstallerMinorVersion=$(InstallerMinorVersion);InstallerBuildNumber=$(InstallerBuildNumber)</DefineConstants>
</PropertyGroup>

And this in Defines.wxi:

<?define MajorVersion="$(var.InstallerMajorVersion)" ?>
<?define MinorVersion="$(var.InstallerMinorVersion)" ?>
<?define BuildVersion="$(var.InstallerBuildNumber)" ?>
<?define Revision="0" ?>
<?define VersionNumber="$(var.InstallerMajorVersion).$(var.InstallerMinorVersion).$(var.InstallerBuildNumber)" ?>

Didn't work either. Got these error messages:

• The Product/@Version attribute's value, '..', is not a valid version. Legal version values should look like 'x.x.x.x' where x is an integer from 0 to 65534.
• The Product/@Version attribute was not found; it is required.

Answer 1

This common task should be simplified in future versions of WiX!

This solution combines @Wimmel's and this post. It draws the version from a target .exe, and otherwise does not store version numbers in files; it doesn't rename the output file in post-build. But, it is necessary to update the property ProjectDefineConstants, from which the candle arguments are derived (in wix.targets). Otherwise, updating only the TargetPath property does not change the inputs to candle.exe.

*.wixproj:

<Import Project="$(WixTargetsPath)" />
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  <!-- Read the version from the to-be-installed .exe -->
  <GetAssemblyIdentity AssemblyFiles="path.to.primary.exe">
    <Output TaskParameter="Assemblies" ItemName="AsmInfo" />
  </GetAssemblyIdentity>

  <!-- Create the MSBuild property $(VersionNumber) -->
  <CreateProperty Value="%(AsmInfo.Version)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="VersionNumber" />
  </CreateProperty>

  <!-- Create the WiX preprocessor variable $(var.VersionNumber) -->
  <CreateProperty Value="$(DefineConstants);VersionNumber=$(VersionNumber)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="DefineConstants" />
  </CreateProperty>

  <!-- Update the MSBuild properties $(TargetName), etc. -->
  <CreateProperty Value="$(SolutionName)-$(Platform)-$(VersionNumber)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="TargetName" />
  </CreateProperty>
  <CreateProperty Value="$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="TargetFileName" />
  </CreateProperty>
  <CreateProperty Value="$(TargetName)$(TargetPdbExt)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="TargetPdbName" />
  </CreateProperty>
  <CreateProperty Value="$(TargetDir)$(TargetFileName)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="TargetPath" />
  </CreateProperty>
  <CreateProperty Value="$(TargetPdbDir)$(TargetPdbName)">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="TargetPdbPath" />
  </CreateProperty>

  <!-- Update the MSBuild property from which candle.exe args are derived -->
  <CreateProperty Value="
    Configuration=$(ConfigurationName);
    OutDir=$(OutDir);
    Platform=$(PlatformName);
    ProjectDir=$(ProjectDir);
    ProjectExt=$(ProjectExt);
    ProjectFileName=$(ProjectFileName);
    ProjectName=$(ProjectName);
    ProjectPath=$(ProjectPath);
    TargetDir=$(TargetDir);
    TargetExt=$(TargetExt);
    TargetFileName=$(TargetFileName);
    TargetName=$(TargetName);
    TargetPath=$(TargetPath);
  ">
    <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="ProjectDefineConstants" />
  </CreateProperty>
</Target>

*.wxs

<Product Id="*" Version="$(var.VersionNumber)" ... >
  ...
</Product>

Answer 2

This is what I ended up with, and it works!

Setup.Version.proj

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <InstallerMajorVersion>55</InstallerMajorVersion>
        <InstallerMinorVersion>66</InstallerMinorVersion>
    <InstallerBuildVersion>$(BuildNumber)</InstallerBuildVersion>
        <InstallerBuildVersion Condition="$(InstallerBuildVersion) == ''">0</InstallerBuildVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

MyProject.Setup.wixproj

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="Setup.Version.proj" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputName>MyProject_$(InstallerMajorVersion)_$(InstallerMinorVersion)_$(InstallerBuildVersion)</OutputName>
    <OutputType>Package</OutputType>
    <DefineConstants>InstallerMajorVersion=$(InstallerMajorVersion);InstallerMinorVersion=$(InstallerMinorVersion);InstallerBuildVersion=$(InstallerBuildVersion)</DefineConstants>
    ...

Defines.wxi

<?define MajorVersion="$(var.InstallerMajorVersion)" ?>
<?define MinorVersion="$(var.InstallerMinorVersion)" ?>
<?define BuildVersion="$(var.InstallerBuildVersion)" ?>