Deploying and Installing Software with FAKE Wix Module
If you often ship software to customers, it might be comfortable for you to install it using setups rather than manually deploying. FAKE provides you with support for creating MSI setups using the WiX Toolset.
Minimal working example
Target "BuildWiXSetup" (fun _ ->
// This defines, which files should be collected when running bulkComponentCreation
let fileFilter = fun (file : FileInfo) ->
if file.Extension = ".dll" || file.Extension = ".exe" || file.Extension = ".config" then
true
else
false
// Collect Files which should be shipped. Pass directory with your deployment output for deployDir
// along with the targeted architecture.
let components = bulkComponentCreation fileFilter (DirectoryInfo deployDir) Architecture.X86
// Collect component references for usage in features
let componentRefs = components |> Seq.map(fun comp -> comp.ToComponentRef())
let completeFeature = generateFeatureElement (fun f ->
{f with
Id = "Complete"
Title = "Complete Feature"
Level = 1
Description = "Installs all features"
Components = componentRefs
Display = Expand
})
// Generates a predefined WiX template with placeholders which will be replaced in "FillInWiXScript"
generateWiXScript "SetupTemplate.wxs"
let WiXUIMondo = generateUIRef (fun f ->
{f with
Id = "WixUI_Mondo"
})
let WiXUIError = generateUIRef (fun f ->
{f with
Id = "WixUI_ErrorProgressText"
})
let MajorUpgrade = generateMajorUpgradeVersion(
fun f ->
{f with
Schedule = MajorUpgradeSchedule.AfterInstallExecute
DowngradeErrorMessage = "A later version is already installed, exiting."
})
FillInWiXTemplate "" (fun f ->
{f with
// Guid which should be generated on every build
ProductCode = Guid.NewGuid()
ProductName = "Test Setup"
Description = "Description of Test Setup"
ProductLanguage = 1033
ProductVersion = "1.0.0"
ProductPublisher = "YouOrYourCompany"
// Set fixed upgrade guid, this should never change for this project!
UpgradeGuid = WixProductUpgradeGuid
MajorUpgrade = [MajorUpgrade]
UIRefs = [WiXUIMondo; WiXUIError]
ProgramFilesFolder = ProgramFiles32
Components = components
BuildNumber = "Build number"
Features = [completeFeature]
})
// run the WiX tools
WiX (fun p -> {p with ToolDirectory = WiXPath})
setupFileName
@".\SetupTemplate.wxs"
)
Further possibilities
Besides just plainly shipping those files as setup you can also use the custom action and custom action execution
elements to execute various commands before or after certain events during the installation.
This gives you the possibility to for example install, uninstall, start or stop certain services when you need to.
If your software is for example running as a service at your customer's side, you would need to manually stop and start
the services on upgrades.
WiX knows the ServiceControl element for starting, stopping and removing services. You attach it to components.
If a component's files change and it has a Service Control element, the service that is referred to will be started,
stopped or uninstalled, just as you defined it.
You can use the attachServiceToControlComponents function for attaching service controls to components. You would only
have to slightly change the above example:
Example
let serviceControl = generateServiceControl(fun f -> {f with
Id = "PickAnId"
Name = "QualifiedNameOfYourService"
Start = InstallUninstall.Install
Stop = InstallUninstall.Both
Remove = InstallUninstall.Uninstall})
// This defines, that all executable files should be tagged with the service control element
let componentSelector = fun (comp : WiXComponent) -> comp.Files |> Seq.exists(fun file -> file.Name.EndsWith(".exe"))
let components = attachServiceControlToComponents
(bulkComponentCreation (fun file ->
if file.Extension = ".dll" || file.Extension = ".exe" || file.Extension = ".config" then
true
else
false) (DirectoryInfo deployDir))
componentSelector
[serviceControl]
Registry
If you need your installer to modify the registry, you can achieve this by creating a component containing RegistryKey
and RegistryValue elements. A RegistryKey can have further keys and values nested as children.
Example
First, define the desired registry layout and add it to a new component:
let registryDefinition = generateRegistryKey (fun f -> {f with
Root = Some WiXRegistryRootType.HKCU
Key = "Some key name"
Values = [
generateRegistryValue(fun v ->
{v with
Name = "Something"
Type = WiXRegistryValueType.Integer
Value = "1"
})
]
Keys = [
//Could nest more keys here
]
})
let regComponent = C (generateComponent (fun c -> {c with
Id = "RegistryEntries"
RegistryKeys = [registryDefinition]
}))
This component needs to be attached to the TARGETDIR directory. This effectively means the registry entries should be installed to the target user's machine. For this we will use a DirectoryRef pointing to TARGETDIR.
let targetDirRef = generateDirectoryRef (fun r -> {r with
Id = "TARGETDIR"
Components = [regComponent]
})
The directory reference should be included in the DirectoryRefs sequence when calling FillInWixTemplate, and a reference to regComponent should be added to the relevant feature.
let componentRefs = (Seq.append components [regComponent]) |> Seq.map(fun comp -> comp.ToComponentRef())
let completeFeature = generateFeatureElement (fun f ->
{f with
Id = "Complete"
Title = "Complete Feature"
Level = 1
Description = "Installs all features"
Components = componentRefs
Display = Expand
})
FillInWiXTemplate "" (fun f ->
{f with
// Guid which should be generated on every build
ProductCode = Guid.NewGuid()
ProductName = "Test Setup"
Description = "Description of Test Setup"
ProductLanguage = 1033
ProductVersion = "1.0.0"
ProductPublisher = "YouOrYourCompany"
// Set fixed upgrade guid, this should never change for this project!
UpgradeGuid = WixProductUpgradeGuid
MajorUpgrade = [MajorUpgrade]
UIRefs = [WiXUIMondo; WiXUIError]
ProgramFilesFolder = ProgramFiles32
Components = components
BuildNumber = "Build number"
Features = [completeFeature]
DirectoryRefs = [targetDirRef]
})