I'm new on a 4-years-somehow-complicated WPF project, with basic knowledge of WPF technology and coming from web-based products.
The product always released for two clients, with different branding, below are some of the differences:
1. Images in the resources folder.
2. Change (name, target, icon) in the installer project.
3. Installer general properties > change {AddRemoveProgramsIcon , Product Name , Title}/
4. Installer UpgradeCode.
5. Update msi installer name.
6. Remove dlls from references.
7. Config. files: CommonAssemblyInfo.cs> change AssemblyTitle, AssemblyProduct
8. Search and replace in many String resources files.
So, is there a feasible way to make all - or most - of these manual steps to be done automatically? I've found some articles about Pre and Post build actions but never try that before, if it would be the suitable solution, how many points would be covered?
Thank You.
This is basically an exercise in discrete math/set theory. In a Windows Installer world you can create Merge Modules to encapsulate a collection of components. In the most simplistic example you would need three merge modules:
1) Client A Files Merge Module
2) Client B Files Merge Module
3) Common Files Merge Module
Common files can further be split up if there are multiple optional features to install. You can also split up Client A files and Client B files if they contain unique configuration data for these optional features.
It's best to also create unique EXE names (ClientA.exe and ClientB.exe ) with their own branding and icons so that when you consume them into their respective merge modules you can give them unique shortcut information. Make these EXE very thin veneers with core functionality in a common DLL (DRY: Don't Repeat Yourself)
Finally you create 2 MSI projects that are also very thin veneers. The just contain the ProductName, UpgradeCode, Feature Treee and Dialog UI's. No files as all the files are not referenced via merge modules.
If you are using a tool such as Windows Installer XML or InstallShield to generate your UI there is a way of building both MSI's out of a single project that way nothing is repeated. This gets into very advanced authoring though and requires a firm understanding of "basic" MSI authoring before delving into advanced abstractions. Also WiX supports "Fragments" and InstallShield supports "Developer Installation Manifests" but speaking strictly Windows Installer only Merge Modules is supported across all tools.