WIX Bundle Installer, choose packages to install

Question

I have 5 installers some that might need to be installed on the same machine and others else where. Each has its own set of custom UI for user input, Setting up config options for the installed application.

I need the user to be able to pick which installers they want to run from the full installer. Something like how you choose features in the standard installer. However I still need these to be separate installers if the user prefers to just grab the needed msi.

Is there a way to add custom ui steps to the bootstrap installer like you would other wix project types?

Answer 1

The standard WIX Bootstrapper Application (WixStdBA) does not support this, you will have to customize the standard application code to acheive what you are looking for.

Instead of editing the stdba, you can take a look at the WIXEXTBA project in codeplex: WIXEXTBA. This project has already included some of the features that you are looking for.

To edit the standard BA at a high level you have to follow these steps:

InstallCondition attribute can be used to control whether a package should be installed:

<MsiPackage Id='MsiName' InstallCondition='RadioButton' SourceFile='\msiname.msi' />

Define your "RadioButton" variable:

<Variable Name='RadioButton` Value='1' Persisted='yes' />

Now define a relationship for your RadioButton to UI in the wixstdba. You can do this by overriding the Theme file and adding radiobutton to the Options page that use RadioButton as the @Id of the control.