will have everything you need to use winsxs/fusion--save one major problem: to
place files into \windows\winsxs you have to be running from a .msi installer.
The the days of xcopy and regsvr32 are officially over.
I've found three ways to do a winsxs intall: one relies on InstallShield
totally, the other mixes both InstallShield and WIX, and the last uses
just WIX.
[If you are starting a new installer, just use WIX by itself...]
What you need to understand that we are converting your library into an
assembly. There are .net assemblies that go in the global assemblies cache, and
win32 assemblies that go in the native assemblies cache.
Method 1: Just InstallShield:
Step 1:
Open your project [or create a new one...] in any recent version of
Installshield.
Step 2:
Use the file/folder assistant to add your .dll
[A side effect of this is that installshield will create a component for you.
You can make a component and populate it yourself if your an advanced user.]
Step 3:
You component will already have your dll, now you need to add your security
cabinet and manifest.
Step 4:
In the Advance Settings of the component, right-click on the Assembly node and
select "New .Win32 Assembly".
Step 5:
After selecting the Win32 Assembly node, examine the properties. You'll see that
your .MANIFEST file has automatically been selected as the Manifest file.
Step 6:
Set the Name, Type, and Version properties. These values must be copied exactly
as they appear in the assembly manifest. If your assembly contains other
properties, you may add them by clicking on the last row of the property list
for your assembly. [eg, publicKeyToken, processorArchitecture, Language, etc.]
This is all fine and dandy if you use InstallShield manually.
Every time you cut a release and you change the assembly's version you are
going to have to come back into this prompt and enter the new version
information.
If you use an automated build process with InstallShield's COM Automation
Interface: this won't work.
Face it, InstallShield sucks these days. For the cost, other than adding win7
support--the new version doesn't seem to be worth it. The vast majority of what
it does is simply a wrapper on top of the existing windows installer api. It
does add "InstallScript"--but its so easy to write c# [or even c++] custom
actions that do the same thing. Your paying for the GUI, and the trialware
extensions if you use them.
WIX is free, well documented, and quite elegant.
I've got too much stuff in my InstallShield projects to move over
to WIX at the moment so I'm stuck at least partially with InstallShield.
[If you need to know more about windows installer/msi's: I strongly recommend
the book "The definitive guide to Windows Installer" by "Phil Wilson." With
this book and WIX [Windows Installer XML] you can do anything that you can
with InstallShield without the overhead.]
The issue is InstallShield's COM/Automation interface does not provide a
mechanism to update the values of the win32 assembly [or anything off the
advanced tab.] The nussiance is that they don't even NEED this information--the
windows installer architecture will extract it manually.
The the solution is to use WIX to make a merge module: and reference
the merge module in InstallShield!
Method 2: InstallShield + WIX
Step 1:
Go through your installer and remove all your win32 assemblies.
Step 2:
Create a new WIX merge module project.
Step 3:
Populate your wxs with data, locate this:
After that add:
Source="\Assembly1\Release\Assembly1.dll" KeyPath="yes" Vital="yes" /> Source="\Assembly1\Release\Assembly1.dll.manifest" Vital="yes" /> Source="\Assembly1\Release\Assembly1.dll.cat" Vital="yes" /> Add one of these for each of your assemblies. The guid is in registry format
and is used to identify the component for install/uninstall, so use visual
studio to generate a new one for each of your compoenents.
When you compile your XML--it will produce a merge module that you can copy
to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Merge Modules and it will be available
to InstallShield.
NOTE: You can use this same syntax if you make a pure WIX installer .msi
to install into \windows\winsxs.
You should be good to go!
NOTE: Remember, on Vista/7 or higher: to install to \windows\winsxs
your assembly must be signed with a 2048bit cert. Otherwise it will fail
with a cryptical HRESULT. Look at my prior entry about how to obtain
a proper cert from Verisign.
