As described in the introduction to building installation package bundles, every bundle requires a bootstrapper application DLL to drive the Burn engine. Custom bootstrapper applications can be created but require the developer to write native or managed code. Therefore, the WiX toolset provides a standard bootstrapper application that developers can use and customize in particular ways.
There are several variants of the WiX Standard Bootstrapper Application.
To use the WiX Standard Bootstrapper Application, a <BootstrapperApplicationRef> element must reference one of the above identifiers. The following example uses the bootstrapper application that displays the license:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"> <Bundle> <BootstrapperApplicationRef Id="WixStandardBootstrapperApplication.RtfLicense" /> <Chain> </Chain> </Bundle> </Wix>
HyperlinkLargeTheme, HyperlinkSidebarTheme, and RtfLargeTheme can optionally display the bundle version on the welcome page:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi" xmlns:bal="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/BalExtension"> <Bundle> <BootstrapperApplicationRef Id="WixStandardBootstrapperApplication.RtfLicense"> <bal:WixStandardBootstrapperApplication LicenseFile="path\to\license.rtf" ShowVersion="yes" /> </BootstrapperApplicationRef> <Chain> </Chain> </Bundle> </Wix>
When building the bundle, the WixBalExtension must be provided. If the above code was in a file called "example.wxs", the following steps would create an "example.exe" bundle:
candle.exe example.wxs -ext WixBalExtension
light.exe example.wixobj -ext WixBalExtension
The following topics provide information about how to customize the WiX Standard Bootstrapper Application: