Create a .msi file for go program

#windows #go #bash #productivity

Hi everyone, long time no write anything, but I had a lot of projects and stresses to study, but now, we'll create a .msi file for go program

Pre-requisites

go is installed
wixtoolset it's very important

What's we'll use?

Package go-msi helps to generate MSI package for a Go project.

installation

by go

go get github.com/mh-cbon/go-msi

by Chocolatey

choco install go-msi

for more, visit https://mh-cbon.github.io/go-msi/#install

ok, now let's create a simple go file msi.go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
  fmt.Println("Gen MSI File")
}

build it

go build

wix.json

to create a .msi file, we need wix.json

{
  "product": "YOUR_PRODUCT_NAME",
  "company": "YOUR_COMPANY_NAME",
  "license": "LICENSE",
  "upgrade-code": "",
  "files": {
    "guid": "",
    "items": [
      "path/to/msi.exe",
    ]
  },
  "env": {
    "guid": "",
    "vars": [
      {
        "name": "PATH",
        "value": "[INSTALLDIR]",
        "permanent": "no",
        "system": "no",
        "action": "set",
        "part": "last"
      }
    ]
  },
  "shortcuts": {},
  "choco": {
    "description": "YOUR_DESC",
    "project-url": "YOUR_PROJECT_URL",
    "tags": "TAGS YOU NEED",
    "license-url": "YOUR_LICENSE_URL"
  }
}

our guid props are empty, run this command

go-msi set-guid

Create Interfaces

we'll create three user interfaces

License Agreement Page
WiX UI
Product Page

now create three files

LicenseAgreementDlg_HK.wsx
product.wsx
WixUI_HK.wsx

download these files here

put these files in folder, like templates folder

Generate

go-msi make --msi YOUR_PRODUCT_NAME.msi --version YOUR_VERSION -s ./path/to/*.wsx

now you can test your msi file

👋

Top comments (4)

psteffensen • Nov 15 '21

Thank you for this tutorial. It works!

What can I do if I want to run one of my exe files during or after the install?

psteffensen • Nov 15 '21 • Edited

I got it working. I got help from this: wixtoolset.org/documentation/manua...

So the end of product.wxs looks like this now:

   <UI>
        <!-- Define the installer UI -->
        <UIRef Id="WixUI_HK" />
        <Publish Dialog="ExitDialog"
            Control="Finish"
            Event="DoAction"
            Value="LaunchApplication">WIXUI_EXITDIALOGOPTIONALCHECKBOX = 1 and NOT Installed
        </Publish>
    </UI>

    <Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INSTALLDIR" />
    <Property Id="WIXUI_EXITDIALOGOPTIONALCHECKBOXTEXT" Value="Install Measurement Server Service" />
    <Property Id="WIXUI_EXITDIALOGOPTIONALCHECKBOX" Value="1"/>

    <!-- this should help to propagate env var changes -->
    <CustomActionRef Id="WixBroadcastEnvironmentChange" />

     <Property Id="WixShellExecTarget" Value="[#ApplicationFile1]" />
     <CustomAction Id="LaunchApplication"
         BinaryKey="WixCA"
         DllEntry="WixShellExec"
         Impersonate="yes" />

</Product>