Chapter 1. Getting Started
Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a free, open source XML markup that's used to author installation packages for Windows-based software. The underlying technology is called Windows Installer, which is the established standard for installing to any Windows operating system. Until recently, WiX was a Microsoft offering, but is now supported by the non-profit Outercurve Foundation. It is used by countless companies around the world. Microsoft uses it to deploy its own software including Microsoft Office and Visual Studio. In fact, Microsoft uses WiX for these products.
Windows Installer has many features, but how do you leverage them? How do you even know what they are? This book will help you by making you more familiar with the wide range of capabilities that are available. The good news is that WiX makes many of the arcane and difficult-to-understand aspects of the Windows Installer technology simple to use. This book will teach you the WiX syntax so that you can create a professional-grade installer that's right for you.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
Getting WiX and using it with Visual Studio
Creating your first WiX installer
Examining an installer database with Orca
Logging an installation process
Adding a simple user interface
