Add External DLL to WIX project

Question

I'm trying to build an install with Wix in VS 2012, but I am unable to add "external" references

i have my project FirmwareUpload which is the thing I want to install with References to our company's framework. And FirmwareUploadSetup which is my installer project. I Added references in this project to my other project and create the XML :

<ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
  <Component Id="MainEXE">
    <!-- TODO: Insert files, registry keys, and other resources here. -->
    <File Source="$(var.FirmwareUpload.TargetPath)">
      <Shortcut Id="startmenuFWU10" Directory="ProgramMenuDir" Name="Firmware Upload 1.0"
                WorkingDirectory="INSTALLDIR" Advertise="yes" />
      <Shortcut Id="desktopFWU10" Directory="DesktopFolder" Name="Firmware Upload 1.0"
                WorkingDirectory="INSTALLDIR" Advertise="yes" />
    </File>

  </Component>
  <Component Id="AstuFMS">
    <File Source="$(var.Astus.FMS.TargetPath)" Name="Astus.FMS.dll" ShortName="AF" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="AstusServerBusinessLogic">
    <File Source="$(var.Astus.Server.BusinessLogic.TargetPath)" Name="Astus.Server.BusinessLogic.dll"
          ShortName="ASBL" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="ETL">
    <File Source="$(var.ETLElectronique.TargetPath)" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="ETLBusiness">
    <File Source="$(var.ETLElectronique.Business.TargetPath)" Name="ETLElectronique.Business.dll" ShortName="EB" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="ETLCommon">
    <File Source="$(var.ETLElectronique.Common.TargetPath)" Name="ETLElectronique.Common.dll" ShortName="EC" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="ETLData">
    <File Source="$(var.ETLElectronique.Data.TargetPath)" Name="ETLElectronique.Data.dll" ShortName="ED" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="ETLNet">
    <File Source="$(var.ETLElectronique.Net.TargetPath)" Name="ETLElectronique.Net.dll" ShortName="EN" />
  </Component>
  <Component Id="ETLWindows">
    <File Source="$(var.ETLElectronique.Windows.TargetPath)" Name="ETLElectronique.Windows.dll" ShortName="EW" />
  </Component>
</ComponentGroup>

this works !! when i execute the installer I get these files in my directory. But there are other files required for the software to run (Example: log4net.dll)

When I compile my "FirmwareUpload" project I get the log4net.dll (and many others). So I need these DLL in my install for the program to run once installed.

Worked by doing :

 <ComponentGroup Id="DocumentationComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" Source="C:\fms\hotfix\v42x\V6\Utilitaire\FirmwareUpload\FirmwareUpload\bin\Debug">
      <Component Id="log4net">
        <File Name="log4net.dll" />
      </Component>
      <Component Id="Astus.Device.Configuration">
        <File Name="Astus.Device.Configuration.dll" />
      </Component>
      <Component Id="Astus.Device">
        <File Name="Astus.Device.dll" />
      </Component>
      <Component Id="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common">
        <File Name="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common.dll" />
      </Component>
      <Component Id="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data">
        <File Name="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Data.dll" />
      </Component>
      <Component Id="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling">
        <File Name="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.dll" />
      </Component>
      <Component Id="Microsoft.Practices.ObjectBuilder">
        <File Name="Microsoft.Practices.ObjectBuilder.dll" />
      </Component>
    </ComponentGroup>

But is there a less "hardcoded" way ?

Answer 1

You can use heat (the "Harvest Tool") to scan a folder and generate the xml required to include files in that folder.

See http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/heat.htm