[wix-users] Bundles: Where to start?

[Tyler Gustafson]

Just when I think I might have gotten near the top of the WiX learning curve I decide to check out bundles.

My company currently has a bunch of MSIs which they install one after another using a .bat file but I'm new here and I'm trying to fix things. Step one was to clean up all the screwy things their installers were doing and step two was to pave the way for patches.

I originally thought I might do away with the multiple MSIs and just make one installer with features to represent each of their current projects but apparently they had something similar in the past and it was too large for them to want to copy over the network. I figured delta patches might get around that issue but apparently most of their upgrade cases are old customers jumping major versions.

Now I'm looking at bundles and I would specifically like to create something using downloadable MSIs which can start by asking the user which features they would like and then only download the corresponding MSIs. I would also like the bootstrapper to have "change" functionality to allow the user to modify which "features" they have installed. This could potentially involve downloading a new MSI which they didn't install the first time through.

>From what I can tell, the bare bones WiX Standard Bootstrapper Application really is pretty limited in what you get out of the box and doesn't come close to the functionality I'm looking for.

I am wondering if anyone out there has a hidden gem of a tutorial or some source code to get me started in the right direction. So far the best tutorial I've come across is 3 years old but is at least something:
http://www.wrightfully.com/part-1-of-writing-your-own-net-based-installer-with-wix-overview/

Thanks for reading!
Tyler