Managed Bootstrapper initializing progress indicator

Question

Our Bootstrapper consuming Burn is of 70MB, containing Net Framework 4, VC Runtimes and two more pre-requisites + Product.msi itself. Whenever we execute it from a network location, it took much longer time to execute (last time it was almost 40 seconds . We suspect that such delay is due to extraction of files in local Temp folder before displaying its first UI.

So can we override some event in Managed Bootstrapper to show some message or progress bar while it is initializing itself?
Or
How to display a progress bar while extracting packages whenever we execute Burn exe package?

Thanks a bunch...

Answer 1

Assuming you're using a custom managed bootstrapper application, there's not a way to show a progress bar during the extracting phase. However, you can show a static splash screen. To do this, you'll need to add a bitmap (.bmp) file to your bootstrapper project with a Content build action and Copy to Output Folder set to one of the copy options.

Then, in your bundle.wxs file, include a SplashScreenSourceFile attribute:

<Bundle Name="My Cool Product"
      Version="1.0.0"
      UpgradeCode="FD485C49-1234-5678-4321-FCCC03EA3967"
      SplashScreenSourceFile="splash.bmp" >

Then, in your UI code, once you're ready to show the UI window, make sure to call Engine.CloseSplashScreen(); to hide the splash image.