Is the creation of a zip file, out of the structure of folders and files, possible in WIX?

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Here is what I am dealing with. I have a WIX project, that outputs a MSI file. This works like a charm.

I got a new requirement, that I need to analyse in order to figure out how to approach it. As the new requirement is, I need to get as output, a ZIP file, that contains the files and folders as described in the WIX project...

I searched for the "ZIP" keyword on the official documentation, but did not have any luck in finding something helpful...Maybe some of you guys have an idea?

Obviously, I could use other tools to perform this, like maven and the maven assembly plugin, but that would cause maintenance issues, as there would be 2 different projects, 2 different technologies, and since the files and directories structure is quite big, this could cause issues like one developer modifying a project, and forgetting about the other..

So yeah...difficult question...any input would be welcomed :)

Thx

zip wix
2 Answers

Administrative Installation: Windows Installer / MSI features a built-in capability to extract all files and make a "network installation point" (a network location where installation can be kicked off from to install on all workstations on the network - ensures all source files are available for repair operations and patching). This is called an administrative installation - in plain terms a glorified file extraction mechanism.

Given the availability of the administrative installation, is a ZIP file really necessary? I suppose you could zip up the extracted admin image? Note that any files that need to go to system, shared or userprofile folders may cause issues and prevent successful launching of your application from the extraction folder (obvious, just mentioning).

Command Line: Try it, from a cmd.exe command prompt (see above link for more details):

msiexec.exe /a MySetup.msi
user_1291300

You could set the Compressed="no" attribute of the Package element to create an uncompressed layout. The result could be easily zipped (excluding the *.msi file) by running any of the freely available command-line zippers (e. g. 7za.exe of 7-zip).

Note: File elements can override the Compressed attribute of the package.

user_75712580
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