C#, wpf, Visual Studio 2010, Windows XP/7, standard setup project

Question

I have created a installtion Setup project in my main project in orderto create a .msi file which could be download and installed but I have the following questions.

1. How do I make the installtion process remove the old installation, as it works now the installation file complains that an (older) version of the program is already installed and this one needs to be removed first (if the user have already installed the program once).

2. How can I create a "http link" in the applications menu folder ? I would like to, during the installation, create a menu item in the applications menu folder which start the (default) internet browser and go to the url I have specified.

3. Is there a good guide how to add new dialog boxes to a setup project ? I want to the installation to be in "two modes", "quick" and "advanced", where the quick one install the application wit hdefault values but the advanced one will ask the user for two folders which the user select.

4. The setu project creates tw files XXXX.msi and a setup.exe, what is the setup.exe needed for? is it for those machines that do not have some sort of software installed that can not read .msi files ?

5. Is there soem documentation of which [xxxx] tags are aviable, like [Author], [ApplicationName] etc. ? So I do not have to hardcode ceartain stuff in the Setup project file.

/Stefan

Answer 1

How do I make the installtion process remove the old installation

In your setup project Properties pane use the following settings:

• set RemovePreviousVersions attribute to "True"
• increase the Version value
• generate a new ProductCode

This way Windows Installer will automatically use the major upgrade mechanism to remove older versions of your product.

How can I create a "http link" in the applications menu folder ?

Visual Studio doesn't support a shortcut to URL. A solution is to use a custom action to create the shortcut.

Is there a good guide how to add new dialog boxes to a setup project ?

Visual Studio is very limited when it comes to creating a custom installation UI. Perhaps this tutorial will help: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/install/vsSetupCustomDialogs.aspx

Most setup packages which have a custom UI are created with other setup authoring tools.

The setu project creates tw files XXXX.msi and a setup.exe, what is the setup.exe needed for?

The EXE bootstrapper handles your package prerequisites:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/77z6b8tz(VS.80).aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429(VS.80).aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429.aspx

Is there soem documentation of which [xxxx] tags are aviable, like [Author], [ApplicationName] etc. ?

Yes, the Windows Installer property reference.