How to: Test a project and build an MSI package

Before a project goes to users, you can test it with three commands on the Projects page. Each one hands your saved project file to the starter, which installs nothing: Preview shows what the starter's windows will look like, Trial run does a dry run of a launch, and Build MSI builds the package IT uses to deploy the starter. On the Projects page, select the project and then the command. All three commands save the project first, because the starter works with the file. Each one needs the starter (see How to: Set up and start Bootstrapper Manager), and Build MSI also needs WiX.

Steps:

1. Select Preview.
2. The starter draws its progress window, with your project's logo, name, language, and color scheme, as an image (/preview progress) without actually opening the window. Windows opens the image in your default app for PNG files.

Result: You see the window exactly as users will see it during setup. The status line under the text and the progress bar are samples from the starter, not values from your project. The image is saved as wkl-configurator-preview.png in your %TEMP% folder and is replaced the next time you preview.

Check: The name, publisher, logo, and text match the fields on the Appearance page.

Steps:

1. Select Trial run (Alt+T).
2. The starter goes through a launch as if it were running on a user's computer (/whatif): it runs every check and works out what it would install where. It doesn't change anything.

3. A message titled Trial run shows the result code on the first line (0 Ok, or the code, name, and cause of the failure), followed by the plan, line by line, with this computer's paths:

   0 Ok
   version 3.2.0 (x86) into C:\Users\<account>\AppData\Local\WKL\Kasse\Frontends\3.2.0
   1 file(s) into C:\Users\<account>\AppData\Local\WKL\Kasse\Frontends\3.2.0
   ...
   1 registry key(s) below HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   shortcut C:\Users\<account>\Desktop\Kassensystem.lnk

Result: Code 0 means a launch would succeed on this computer, with the Access installation here and the source folder you can reach from here. Any other code tells you what would make the launch fail; for the codes, see Error codes of the starter (WKL Bootstrapper documentation).

Check: Compare the plan with the project's lists: every entry on the Files page appears with its source and full target, every shortcut with its path, and the last line says what the starter launches.

Steps:

1. Select Build MSI.

2. Enter a version for the package: two or three numbers, higher than the version of the package you last deployed. Otherwise, Windows Installer won't replace the old package. The package version is independent of the app's version.

   

3. Bootstrapper Manager runs the New-StarterMsi.ps1 script with the project file, the starter, and the version.

Result: A message names the package, <product ID>-<version>.msi, in the project file's folder:

IT uses the package to install the starter once for all users of a computer; for how, see How to: Roll out the starter with an MSI (WKL Bootstrapper documentation).

The package contains only the starter, the project file, and, if the project names one and it sits next to the project file, the logo. The starter fetches the application from the source folder at launch. To see the contents without installing anything or needing admin rights, extract the package:

msiexec /a C:\Lieferung\Kasse\Kasse-1.0.0.msi /qn TARGETDIR=C:\Lieferung\msi-inhalt

Result: C:\Lieferung\msi-inhalt\PFiles\WKL\<product ID> contains Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe and the project file. To verify the package with a test installation, see step 7 of Tutorial: Take an Access application from source folder to verified installation.

• The trial run checks your computer: It checks the conditions on this computer, not on a user's. If something is missing here that users have (or the other way around), the result will differ.
• Deliveries for 64-bit Office: The trial run plays through the launch in the bitness of the Access installed on your computer. Check a delivery for users with 64-bit Office on a computer with 64-bit Office: install the starter there with the MSI package, and run Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe /diagnose in the starter's folder. A first line of 0 Ok means a launch will succeed. /diagnose doesn't change anything on the computer.
• Long plans: The message shows about the first 1,000 characters, followed by “…”. To see the full plan, run the starter yourself: Wkl.Bootstrapper.exe /whatif <project file>.
• Use a full path for the source folder: The package installs the starter in Program Files (x86)\WKL\<product ID>. A relative path in the Source field no longer works from there, so enter a full path or a share before you select Build MSI.
• Rebuilding the same version: A package with the same name in the project file's folder is overwritten without warning. If you've already deployed that package, increase the version instead of rebuilding with the same one.
• MSI tool: Bootstrapper Manager uses the script named in the MsiTool setting (in the ConfiguratorSetting table); if there isn't one, it uses tools\New-StarterMsi.ps1 in the starter's folder. The script requires the WiX command-line tool wix, version 6 or later. If the build fails, the message shows the script's output.

• How to: Set the product, version, appearance, and launch target
• Troubleshooting
• The installer of the bootstrapper 2.0 (WKL Bootstrapper documentation)