Hi All,

I have anexecutablesetup.exewith a bunch of files accompanying it. What I need to do, is to embed it into a single package (I don't have sources for the other setup project, so I can't simply rebuild that installer into one package). Basically what I need, is a self-extracting archive that launches "setup.exe" after extraction and cleans after itself (I'm aware that my approach violates a bunch of good practices, but single-file installer is a must-have for me).

For nowI'musing an .msi built froma Setup Project in Visual Studio'08:I simplyadded custom actions for install and uninstall which launch setup.exe with appropriate switches. The problem is - now, upon installing, I have 2 entries in "Add/Remove programs", another folder with setup files that are no longer needed, etc.

That's why I'd like to customize my .msi a little to make it a simple wrapper - not exactly a full installer. What I expect of this installer is to:

1) Extract underlying setup.exe (and other needed files) to a temporary location
2) Run setup.exe with the command lineparameters as provided to wrapping MSI (show only a progressbar while extracting, or no GUI at all)
3) Leave no trace in the system(that is: do not create an entry in Add/Remove Programs, remove temporary installation dir and so on.
None of these files would be ever needed, as extracted setup will install to user-selected location and have its own uninstall routines.
In simple words: I'd like the app to cleanly "uninstall" itselfright after installing (only custom action result shall persist).


I've switched to WIX Toolkit, since AFAIK creating such a setup with MS VStudio Setup Project is not possible. What I already have is an GUI-less installer that extracts its content files to temp dir and launches setup.exe as a custom action.


Questions I have:

1. How to pass multiple commandline switches to setup.exe?

2. How to delete destination directory upon execution of setup.exe?.I tried a VBS script (as below) - It's not willing to work ;)

3. What to do to remove any trace of previous install? (for now 2nd run lanuches uninstall, as the wrapper app is already installed - need to clean remaining registry entries etc)



Thanks in advance

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
  <Product>
    <Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" />
    <Media Id="1" Cabinet="MyInstaller.cab" EmbedCab="yes" />
    <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
      <Directory Id="TempFolder">
        <Directory Id='INSTALLLOCATION' Name='MyInstaller'>
          <!--COMPONENTS HERE-->
        </Directory>
      </Directory>
    </Directory>
    <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Level="1">
      <!--COMPONENT REFS HERE-->
    </Feature>
    <CustomAction Id="LaunchSetup" FileKey="setup.exe" ExeCommand="[SETUPPARAMS]" Execute="immediate" Return="ignore" HideTarget="no" Impersonate="yes"  />
    <Binary Id='RemoveUnpackDir.vbs' SourceFile='RemoveUnpackDir.vbs' />
    <CustomAction Id="RemoveUnpackDir" BinaryKey="RemoveUnpackDir.vbs" VBScriptCall="RemoveUnpackDir" Return="check"/>
    <InstallExecuteSequence>
      <Custom Action='LaunchSetup' After='InstallFiles'></Custom>
      <Custom Action='RemoveUnpackDir' After='LaunchSetup'></Custom>      
    </InstallExecuteSequence>
  </Product>
</Wix>

'RemoveUnpackDir.vbs script
Function RemoveUnpackDir()  
    RemoveUnpackDir = 3
    Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
    oFSO.GetFolder(Session.Property("INSTALLLOCATION")).Delete(True) 
    RemoveUnpackDir = 1 'return success
End Function

If you have any problem with Microsoft product, please feel free to tell me.

Sincerely,
Kira Qian