[wix-users] Strategies for handling Beta installer

[Todd Hoatson]

We have a product which has already been released in many versions over the
years.  The current release is 9.0.  Soon we want to put out a 9.1 Beta
version.  Here are some requirements:

A.  9.1 Beta installer will not uninstall 9.0
B.  9.1 full release installer will  uninstall 9.0
C.  9.1 full release installer will  uninstall 9.1 Beta

So we're wondering what an effective strategy would be for satisfying these
criteria.

I assume that we keep the same UpgradeCode, but change the ProductCode
between 9.0 and 9.1.  But how do we deal with the Beta version?  How do we
get the full release to uninstall both 9.0 and the Beta?

One thought we had was to run a custom action in the 9.1 full release which
could check the registry for the existence of the 9.1 Beta.  If found, we
could run its uninstaller.  (This would be in addition to the more
automated process for uninstalling 9.0.)  But can we run such a custom
action in the InstallExecuteSequence...?

Another thought was to ensure that the 9.1 full release and the 9.1 Beta
would install to the same folder, so the full release files would simply
overwrite the Beta files.  This would seem to leave junk in the registry,
so we would likely need to write a custom action to clean that up.

Neither of these strategies seems like a wonderful way to go...  Is there a
better/cleaner way to do this?

thanks,
Todd Hoatson
Mobile: 763-291-3312
Email:   todd.hoatson at gmail.com
www.linkedin.com/in/toddhoatson