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Chapter 22
Windows Installer and .NET Technologies
About Microsoft Windows Installer
Windows Installer Editor Reference
This chapter includes the following topics:
About Microsoft Windows Installer
About Microsoft .NET Technology
Wise products integrate closely with Microsoft Windows technologies. The installations
you create are in Microsoft Windows Installer format and are run on the destination
computer by the Windows Installer engine.
Windows Installer Editor is an authoring environment for the Microsoft Windows Installer
service. Although a comprehensive discussion of Windows Installer is not possible here,
it is important that you understand some basic concepts about Windows Installer and
how Windows Installer Editor supports it.
To create a streamlined process for installing and managing applications, Microsoft
developed the Windows Installer service. It consists of a set of guidelines, an Application
Programming Interface, and a run-time service to help make application installation and
ongoing management part of the basic Windows system services. The Windows Installer
service is not an installation-authoring tool, but rather an installation engine and rule set
for installation packages. The Windows Installer engine resides on the destination
computer, reads the installation database (.MSI), and performs the installation and any
subsequent management, such as self-repair.
Instead of an installation executable (such as setup.exe), your installation is in the form
of a database file (.MSI), which contains instructions and can also enclose installation
files. Because this database uses highly structured, uniform data tables, there is 100%
accountability of where each file is installed and a thorough log of which files belong to
which applications. As a result, individual files can readily be restored to repair damaged
applications.
Each table is dedicated to a particular type of installation information such as Class,
Components, Features, Files, Execution Sequence, and Registry. Certain logic is built in
to the Windows Installer engine, such as when to prompt for a restart, disk space
checking, and file version replacement rules. When an .MSI is opened, msiexec.exe
reads the data stored in the database and builds an internal script to follow. It then
performs the actions in the script to complete the installation.
Microsoft Windows Installer has its own help system, which contains detailed
information on every aspect of Windows Installer. Access the Windows Installer SDK
Help by selecting Help menu > Windows Installer SDK Help.
on page 494
on page 497
494
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Table of Contents
Troubleshooting
