[wix-users] Upgrade Related Questions

[Jason Beck]

Edwin offers some great advise, so this is in expansion to that.

I would recommend picking up Wix 3.6: A Developers Guide to Windows
Installer XML
(https://www.amazon.com/WiX-3-6-Developers-Windows-Installer/dp/1782160426/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1508948526&sr=8-2&keywords=wix+a+developers).

Even though it's for version 3.6, most of this book is still relevant (
author a simple windows installer but I haven't found anything in the
book that's "out of date" in the book). Better yet, it has a great
opening section that describes in easy to understand terms what specific
things mean and how the Windows Installer process works.

This was how I got started in WiX, and honestly I would have still been
a little lost reading documentation to understand from a 0 knowledge
starting point how things work. This is just what worked for me. If
you're having difficulty understanding the WiX documentation/through
experementation or what's going on, pick up this book and read the first
few chapters and it might help get that jump start on Windows Installer 101.

On 10/25/2017 11:19 AM, Edwin Castro via wix-users wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 4:59 AM, Joseph L. Casale via wix-users <
> wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf
>> Of Ven H via wix-users
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 5:33 AM
>> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
>> Cc: Ven H <venh.123 at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [wix-users] Upgrade Related Questions
>>
>>> I am completely new to WiX and trying to learn it from scratch. I am
>>> now struggling with Upgrades. I am going through the Firegiant
>>> tutorials, but I am not able to understand Upgrades clearly from that.
>>> I need clear understanding of Major, Minor and Patch upgrades with
>>> clear cut examples. Can anyone please help?
>>
>> Read http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/
>> howtos/updates/major_upgrade.html
>> and https://www.firegiant.com/wix/tutorial/upgrades-and-modularization,
>> then post any specific questions.
> 
> 
> I understand the Windows Installer documentation is huge and difficult to
> read but that really is your first stop for understanding how the Windows
> Installer works.
> 
> For Patching and Upgrades in general, see
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370579.aspx
> 
> For Major Upgrades specifically, see
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa369786.aspx
> 
> Remember that WiX is just an authoring tool for creating Windows Installer
> packages. You really need to understand how Windows Installer works to use
> WiX effectively.
> 
> The root page for the Windows Installer documentation is
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/cc185688.aspx
> 
> While the examples the Windows Installer documentation are not WiX
> specific, I found them to be helpful in understanding how everything
> worked:
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa372837.aspx
> 
> "An Upgrade Example" might be helpful:
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa367564.aspx
> 
> When I was first learning, I worked through implementing the examples using
> WiX. That experience really helped me understand because I needed to
> translate what I was reading in the Windows Installer documentation into
> the equivalent syntax in WiX. I think everybody using WiX should go through
> that experience. There really is no better teacher than hands-on learning.
> 
> --
> Edwin G. Castro
> 
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