I have to write an installer which installs the main application and depending on user selection, a database (SQLServer2005) and drivers for a few smartcard readers.
I started with an "InstallScript MSI Project". I was able to define SQLServerExpress2005 as prerequisite. But how do I call the installers for the smartcard readers based on msi?
Is it not possible to call an msi within an installscript msi project?
Would I be better of using an "InstallScript Project"?
There are two mutex's in MSI. One that prevents two concurrent excecute sequences per machine and one that prevents two concurrent UI sequences in the same process.
If you don't need/want to support a silent install ( execute sequence only ) it's possible to shell out of process from within UI sequence #1 to call install #2. If you need/want ( highly reccomended ) to support a silent install then it can't be done. This is where the use of a bootstrapper comes so that you can chain MSI's together before you are inside an MSI.
The problem is the story isn't complete to support this type of relationship. This is where MSI 4.5 is trying to improve things.
