[wix-users] Auto Dependencies

[Tyler Engelhardt]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to working with .NET, working in an enterprise environment, and
creating Windows Services / installers seems to be the most convoluted
thing every by Microsoft when it comes to .NET development. Even creating a
Windows Service for a NodeJS app is 10x easier.

Anyway, I've learned how to create an installer and service for a .NET Core
application using WiX. The only problem is trying to manage all of the
dependencies. Even for a basic Worker Service application, there are over
50 files. I saw a post on how to use the <HeatDirectory> component after
unloading the project, but this doesn't seem to work. What suggestions do
you have? I'm trying to make an installer that's easy to manage and auto
creates services so I can have this deployed to over 50 VMs.

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <HeatDirectory
      OutputFile="$(ProjectDir)\ProductInstallFiles.wxs"
      Directory="..\WorkerService1"
      ComponentGroupName="ProductFilesComponentGroup"
      DirectoryRefId="INSTALLLOCATION"
      AutogenerateGuids="true"
      PreprocessorVariable="var.WorkerService1.ProjectDir"
      SuppressRegistry="true"
      SuppressRootDirectory="true"
      ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)"
      NoLogo="true" />
  </Target>

I'm using WiX 3.11.2 and VS Code 2019.

Thank you!