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by sanqui 811 days ago
I wasn't able to figure it out. The docs [1] have absolutely no information or overview on how the tool works, or how you should get started with creating a simple installer. Besides setup instructions, it only has details on individual sub components, beginning with with "Burn bundles". All linked tutorials are for previous versions of WiX. Is the expected workflow that I read a v3 tutorial and then read the "v4 for v3 users" article (which immediately leaves me discouraged with "A lot about WiX has changed between v3 and v4"), or that I immediately purchase enterprise support?

[1]: https://wixtoolset.org/docs/

2 comments

My favourite page is "Specifying source files" [0], which seems like an important thing for an installer, but all this page contains is:

> To be written. To volunteer, leave a comment at the related issue on GitHub.

If you start with Visual Studio, create a project with their (free) plugin, and configure Heat [1], you might get a working installer.

[0]: https://wixtoolset.org/docs/tools/payloads/

[1]: https://wixtoolset.org/docs/tools/heat/

I used to use WiX for simple app deployments (create Programs File folder, dump assets) and Windows Services. The v3 documentation is decent for this. https://wixtoolset.org/docs/v3/ I’m not sure what development in the MSI world necessitates a radical change in how WiX functions, but apparently that is the case.

orca.exe from one of the older Win SDKs can really help with your understanding of the MSI format, which helps when building for WiX.