WIX - Creating Shortcut to desktop for an existing file on the filesystem

Question

I've been tasked with creating some shortcuts to the desktop when our app installs. Most of these shortcuts belong to our own app and its deployed files but a couple belong to other executables that already exist on the target system (such as Sharepoint Central Admin).

For the shortcuts I need to deply for our own app I think an unadvertised shortcut is the way to go? I have the following code for one of my shortcuts..

<Directory Id="DesktopFolder" Name="Desktop" />
<Shortcut Id="DesktopShortcut" Directory="DesktopFolder" Advertise="yes" Name="Solution Manager" Icon="SolutionManager.exe">
      <Icon Id="IntuitionSolutionManager.exe" SourceFile="$(var.SolutionManagerRootFolder)SolutionManager.exe" />
</Shortcut>

I am confused however about creating shortcuts to apps that already exist on the system. In particular I want to create a shortcut to the Sharepoint Central Admin and place it on the desktop. The existing Sharepoint Central Admin shortcut in start menu has the following target...

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN\psconfigui.exe" -cmd showcentraladmin

How do I go about creating a shortcut for this on the desktop? Also how do I pass it the arguments (-cmd showcentraladmin).

Answer 1

The Shortcut/@Target attribute is formatted. That means you can provide a path in via a Property using the "[PROPERTY_ID]" syntax. A FileSearch element could be used to find the executable you want to point at and assign it to a Property.

The command-line arguments an be provided via the Shortcut/@AQrgumetns attribute.