Easy MSI - A basic guide to Windows Installer

Exercise 2.1: Authoring the SIS

In this exercise you will author the Summary Information Stream of your just created blastermaster.msi package.

Open your blastermaster.msi package with InstEd. Click on Tables > Summary Info and modify the Summary Information Stream with the values as shown in table below.

SUMMARY PROPERTY	Value
Title	Installation Database
Author	Easy MSI Book Company
Subject	Blaster Master
Comments	This installer database contains the logic and data required to install Blaster Master
Keywords	Installer, Blaster Master
Platform	Intel
Languages	1033
Package Code	{E3A8910A-DA82-420E-936A-6F8E42C3A28F} (Click button to generate new GUID)
Schema	400
Security	read-only recommended
Image Type	External Tree. Long file names
Requires elevated privileges? (Checkbox)	Yes (Tick checkbox)
Code Page	1252

Exercise 2.2: Adding Features and Components

In this exercise you will use InstEd to add new features and components to your blastermaster.msi package.

First you need to author the Feature table and add the three new features "Blaster Master", "User Manual", and "Blaster Master Service" as described by the tables below:

Column	VALUE
Feature	Feature_BlasterMaster
Feature_Parent	<null>
Title	Blaster Master
Description	Core binaries to run the game.
Display	2
Level	1
Directory_	<null>
Attributes	0x0000

COLUMN	VALUE
Feature	Feature_UserManual
Feature_Parent	<null>
Title	User Manual
Description	The User Manuals as PDF.
Display	1
Level	1
Directory_	<null>
Attributes	0x0000

COLUMN	VALUE
Feature	Feature_BlasterMasterService
Feature_Parent	<null>
Title	Blaster Master Service
Description	Blaster Master Service logging to the Event Log.
Display	1
Level	1
Directory_	<null>
Attributes	0x0000

Next add the two records for the subfeatures (english and german user manals) to the Feature table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Feature	Feature_UserManual_English
Feature_Parent	Feature_UserManual
Title	English
Description	The English User Manual.
Display	2
Level	1
Directory_	<null>
Attributes	0x0000

COLUMN	VALUE
Feature	Feature_UserManual_German
Feature_Parent	Feature_UserManual
Title	German
Description	The German User Manual.
Display	2
Level	1
Directory_	<null>
Attributes	0x0000

Next add the record for the "Product Name Registry Key" to the Component table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Component	Comp_Reg_ProdName
ComponentId	<new GUID>
Directory_	TARGETDIR
Attributes	0x0004
Condition	<null>
KeyPath	<null>

Finally link the component to its feature by adding the following record to the FeatureComponents table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Feature_	Feature_BlasterMaster
Component_	Comp_Reg_ProdName

Exercise 2.3: Properties

In this exercise you will a the required properties to your blastermaster.msi package.

Add the following new records to the Property table:

PROPERTY	VALUE
ProductCode	<new GUID>
ProductVersion	1.0.0
ProductName	Blaster Master
Manufacturer	Easy MSI Book Company
UpgradeCode	<new GUID>

Then add the following new record to the Directory table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Directory	TARGETDIR
Directory_Parent	<null>
DefaultDir	SourceDir

Exercise 2.4: Installing to the Registry and AppSearch

In this exercise you will install keys to the Registry and using AppSearch for finding files, directories, components, .ini file entries, and registry values.

As a first start use AppSearch to find out if the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727 registry key exists.

Therefore add the following new record to the AppSearch table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Property	DOTNET_REGKEY
Signature_	RegLocator_DOTNET_REGKEY

Next add the following new record to the RegLocator table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Signature_	RegLocator_DOTNET_REGKEY
Root	0x002 (HKLM)
Key	SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\v2.0.50727
Name	<null>
Type	0x002 (registry value)

Now author the LaunchCondition table for making the presence of the .NET registry key a launch prerequiste for the package:

Column	VALUE
Condition	NOT DOTNET_REGKEY
Description	This package requires .NET Framework 2.0 to run.

In a next step we use AppSearch in order to find the path to notepad.exe.

Therefore first add the following new record to the AppSearch table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Property	NOTEPAD_PATH
Signature_	Signature_NOTEPAD_PATH

Then add the following record to the Signature table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Signature_	Signature_NOTEPAD_PATH
FileName	notepad.exe
MinVersion	<null>
MaxVersion	<null>
MinSize	<null>
MaxSize	<null>
MinDate	<null>
MaxDate	<null>
Languages	<null>

Then add the following record to the DrLocator table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Signature_	Signature_NOTEPAD_PATH
Parent	<null>
Path	[SystemFolder]
Depth	0

Now we use AppSearch for a component search in order to retrieve the path of InstEd.exe.

Therefore first add the following new record to the AppSearch table:

COLUMN	VALUE
Property	INSTED_PATH
Signature_	CompLocator_INSTED_PATH

Next add the following new record to the CompLocator table:

Column	VALUE
Signature_	CompLocator_INSTED_PATH
ComponentId	{578FE71F-EDB7-4A0A-A9A4-4D9877E1385D}
Type	1

Now we are writing the Product Name into the resistry. For that purpose add the following new record to the Registry table:

Column	VALUE
Registry	Reg_ProductName
Root	0x002 (HKLM)
Key	SOFTWARE\[Manufacturer]\[ProductName]
Name	ProductName
Value	[ProductName]
Component_	Comp_Reg_ProdName

Now you need to create the component for writing the AppSearch results into the registry.

Therefore add the following new record to the Component table:

COLumn	VALUE
Component	Comp_Reg_AppSearchKeys
ComponentId	<New GUID>
Directory_	TARGETDIR
Attributes	0x0004
Condition	<null>
KeyPath	<null>

Then add the just created component to the "Blaster Master" feature by authoring the FeatureComponents table:

Column	VALUE
Feature_	Feature_BlasterMaster
Component_	Comp_Reg_AppSearchKeys

Finally import the file export.reg as described in the book.

Once this is done fix the imported entries in the Registry table as follows:

Registry	Root	Key	Name	VALUE	COMPONENT
Reg_AppSearchKeys_reg00000	2	SOFTWARE\[Manufacturer]\[ProductName]	DOTNET_REGKEY	[DOTNET_REGKEY]	Comp_Reg_AppSearchKeys
Reg_AppSearchKeys_reg00001	2	SOFTWARE\[Manufacturer]\[ProductName]	NOTEPAD_PATH	[NOTEPAD_PATH]	Comp_Reg_AppSearchKeys
Reg_AppSearchKeys_reg00002	2	SOFTWARE\[Manufacturer]\[ProductName]	INSTED_PATH	[INSTED_PATH]	Comp_Reg_AppSearchKeys

Easy MSI - A basic guide to Windows Installer

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