nathan@pieces
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jul 15, 2021 7:20 pm

One Installer for Two Independent Applications

Thu Jul 15, 2021 8:27 pm

I have two applications that I want to be installed through one installer, whether that is a chained process or an all-in-one experience.

Currently, both applications are bundled into an MSIX package and then AppInstaller files are then created for each package. It is heavily desired that the two applications can independently update themselves as I want to be able to ship them independently as well as ship them in a combined installer, hence an AppInstaller file for each MSIX package.

How would I be able to do this or is this even possible to do?

If this isn't possible with the MSIX format, what sort of package format should I choose and how can I get them to both update themselves?

What I am able to do currently with Advanced Installer is build an msi installer that launches a .bat script that opens both AppInstaller files bundled in the msi installer, but I can't get it to work sequentially, meaning that I want one AppInstaller file to launch, the users installs it, then after that completes it opens the next AppInstaller file, the user installs it, then after both are installed the installation process ends.

Getting it to work sequentially like that is one thing, but if there's a way to silently install both applications targeting each AppInstaller file that would be even better as a user would then only see one installation window that handles it all.

Any help or advice on how to achieve this experience would be much appreciated - Thanks

Catalin
Posts: 6509
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: One Installer for Two Independent Applications

Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:42 pm

Hello Nathan and welcome to our forums,
What I am able to do currently with Advanced Installer is build an msi installer that launches a .bat script that opens both AppInstaller files bundled in the msi installer, but I can't get it to work sequentially
Instead of launching both appinstallers from the same .BAT file, you could create separate custom actions for each package, each custom action having the "Wait for custom action to finish before proceeding" option checked.

Regarding the auto update, please have a look over the following article which describes the steps required to achieve what you need:

Enable auto-updates for your MSIX packages without publishing your apps in the Microsoft Store

I have tested the above with the following options:
updateMSIX.png
updateMSIX.png (96.29KiB)Viewed 6168 times

and the upgrade is done silently when the application is launched - if the appinstaller (with a higher version) and the MSIX are in the specified locaiton.

Hope this helps!

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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