How to create Installer for a .NetCore project?

Question

I recently moved my winform project from.NetFramework to.NetCore3.0.

My earlier project had WiX installer support for building a nice and clean installer. But, now i don't see any such support for.NetCore3.0. Also, WiX installer project is no more compatible in VS2019. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer 1

WiX has an extension for VS2019. (I contributed it.)

When you create a WiX setup project in VS it asks you what version of .NET to use. This question isn't actually relevant and has no effect on the project generated. It's just part of the VS2019 project template system and isn't hidden.

I have an FOSS solution called IsWiX that makes creating this type of installer super easy. You can see how it works by looking at the desktop tutorial found at:

https://www.github.com/iswix-llc/iswix-tutorials

The only real difference between .NET Framework and .NET Core is you have a lot more choices in how to build your project. This means you might no longer author an AppSearch/LaunchCondition and/or create a bootstrapper to install .NET Framework. You might instead deploy a private copy of the framework with your application or you might create a single self contained executable. You have more choices here. But WiX, IsWiX and MSI still all work great here.