[wix-users] Creating a Multi-page Custom Bootstrapper UI

Tue Aug 17 19:23:26 PDT 2021

I recommend WixWPFWizardBA: https://github.com/nickguletskii/WixWPFWizardBA

I've used it in several installers. The project posted installs SQL Server
files, so it's some work to take that out.

The WPF wizard made possible a recent request by marketing to have a
rounded button with a specific color.

--Kevin

On Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 6:21 PM Bryan Dam via wix-users <
wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:

> Our UI event handlers are all in the current page's VM.  The
> BootstrapperApplication event handlers are hooked up in our Run() call.
>
> From: B Rizzy <liquidair156 at yahoo.com>
> Sent: Monday, August 16, 2021 4:31 PM
> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>;
> Bryan Dam <bryand at recastsoftware.com>
> Subject: Re: [wix-users] Creating a Multi-page Custom Bootstrapper UI
>
> Thank you for the response, Bryan! I figured out that part of my confusion
> was that I had mocked up the UI and it's view models while set as the
> startup project(to test the UI logic), so any attempt to make the
> bootstrapper view model global was failing because the Run() method was
> never the entry point of the application like it would normally be.
> Whoops!! I declared the model as 'static' like the Dispatcher so it could
> be accessed anywhere and it looks like that might work. The only issue so
> far is that I can't seem to access the State's propertyChanged event, which
> would be relevant while installing. But since the whole installation
> process should occur on a single page, I think I can handle this locally
> and update the global State when the event handlers change the local state
> (instead of vice-versa).
>
> It's good to know that option B is viable! Is the 'bootstrapper view
> model' where you put the event handlers in yours? I think that was tripping
> me up originally; if we wire up and handle the events in the boot VM, then
> for the currentPage VM to know when things fired, we'd need to subscribe to
> the events locally? Or would we wire up the events in boot VM, then handle
> them locally? My concern was the potential to miss an event if it occurred
> while a page was active that didn't handle it, but I don't think that will
> happen here. If I understand this right, DetectPackageComplete will occur
> before the View is shown (so it can decide whether to show the install or
> uninstall dialog), and the Plan, Apply and Progress should all occur on the
> actual install/uninstall page. Is that correct?
>
> Thanks again, I appreciate it!!!
>
> On Monday, August 16, 2021, 08:49:37 AM CDT, Bryan Dam <
> bryand at recastsoftware.com<mailto:bryand at recastsoftware.com>> wrote:
>
>
> FWIW: I went with option B in mine. Each wizard pane has its own view
> model to handle any UI logic but there's a shared bootstrapper view model
> that is sent in the constructor to each.  That shared view model doesn't
> hold any data; it just acts as a wrapper around Bootstrapper.Engine's
> variable and logging calls.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:
> wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org>> On Behalf Of B Rizzy via
> wix-users
> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2021 10:00 PM
> To: wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org<mailto:wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> Cc: B Rizzy <liquidair156 at yahoo.com<mailto:liquidair156 at yahoo.com>>
> Subject: [wix-users] Creating a Multi-page Custom Bootstrapper UI
>
> Hi All,
>
> I've spent the better part of a month now learning WiX to create a custom
> installer with WPF. I've been using these wonderful tutorials as a guide:
>
> Custom WiX Managed Bootstrapper Application Part 1 of Writing Your Own
> .Net-based Installer with WiX - Overview - Musing, Rants & Jumbled Thoughts
> of John M. Wright
>
> https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffrozencloud.wordpress.com%2Fcategory%2Fwix%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cbryand%40recastsoftware.com%7Ce45d48201b8b487a7daa08d95ec74ccb%7C9315bb44634846c6bd378880b87e774e%7C0%7C0%7C637645032361448463%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=b3FZqcVfwRppUH%2FrOE%2FOzZv29Go7jLyVEdeSuoVO0xQ%3D&reserved=0
> <
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> >
>
> Grow from a Newbie to Pro in Creating Installers | Syncfusion Blogs
>
> However, I've ground to a halt in my progress and exhausted Google. These
> tutorials all use a single view and viewModel whereas I want to create
> something more traditional: Intro page -> License -> Install Location ->
> Install with progress, etc. And that seems to be the big trick. This
> seemingly requires the single viewModel to be split up into page-specific
> viewModels. For instance, the uninstall command belongs in the uninstall
> VM, the progress properties and event handlers belong on the Install VM,
> etc. But then certain data (the model and InstallState) appear to need to
> be passed from VM to VM. Or, we can have the single viewModel be global so
> each page can get the data it needs at the time.
> I'm really struggling on how to actually make this work (self-taught
> C#/WPF) and was wondering if anyone had some pointers as to a/the correct
> approach? The only things I can think to do are:
>
> a) Keep everything on a single page like the tuts and simulate multiple
> pages by having all views on a single page and showing/hiding the relevant
> elements as needed.
> b) just keep passing the "WixViewModel" via the constructors from view1 to
> view2, to viewModel2, then from view2 to view3 to viewModel3, etc.
> I'm confident I could get both the above working but that would be smelly,
> smelly code. Any better suggestions?
>
> And my apologies if I'm not clear; I don't always have the language to
> describe the problem but I am happy to clarify.
>
> Thank you all for your help!!
>
> Brian
>
>
>
>
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