Customized Installers Part Two – Enter WiX

Creating a single, fully customized MSI file for this customer wasn’t too hard for me to do in house. I had all the settings they wanted in the ngClientConfig file and I had Install Shield to create the MSI. But what happens when the next customer requires this? And what happens when this customer wants the latest version of our clients? It would be up to me to create the next installer for them. There had to be a better solution.

After a lot of looking, I found WiX. WiX uses XML to design everything about an MSI – from UI to contents, its all in the XML. This means that everything about an MSI could be scripted into the XML using code… or the CIA tool I had already created.

Updating the CIA tool to use WiX also meant that I could move beyond what was offered in the ngClientConfig file for customization and give people the ability to change other files that get installed with our clients. One customer for instance wants the ability to change the icons that are used in the system tray with NewsGator Notifier… now they can change these on their own and include their own custom icons in their own installer.

Giving IT departments the ability to configure and create their own MSI installers for each product is a huge step, but of course they wanted more…