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PyXLL Installer

This project builds an MSI installer for PyXLL based add-ins.

Note: PyXLL is licensed per-user. It is your responsibility to ensure that all users using your PyXLL based add-in have a valid license. If you need to distribute your add-in outside of your organization where you cannot control usage, speak to [email protected] about a redistributable license.

The Wix Toolset is required to build MSI installers, and may be downloaded from http://wixtoolset.org/.

Much of this project is based on the Excel-DNA Wix Installer by Govert van Drimmelen.

Introduction

There are various ways to distribute a PyXLL add-in, typically:

  1. Sharing Python code on a network drive.
  2. Pulling code from a deployment server.
  3. Building an installer.

Option 1. is the simplest option as it allows your Python code to be deployed centrally, ensuring that all users see the same code at all times.

Option 2. works if you already have a mechanism for distributing Python code to client PCs. This could be by using a custom conda channel or running your own deployment server like Enthought's EDM, or your own home-grown solution.

Option 3. is useful when you need to deploy to PCs that might not have fast or reliable access to your network, and so accessing a shared drive or a deployment server is not feasible. The Python runtime can be bundled with PyXLL into a single standalone installer.

If you need to distribute PyXLL outside of your organization, please make sure you have consulted with [email protected] to ensure you have an appropriate license. PyXLL licenses are not valid for redistributing PyXLL based add-ins, and you will need a separate license.

Building a PyXLL Installer

Before starting to build your installer you need to decide the following:

  1. Do you want to include Python in your installer?
  2. Will you support 32 bit Excel, 64 bit Excel or both?

If you do not include Python in your installer, your end users will have to have the correct version of Python installed, including any dependencies not included in your installer.

If you intend to support both 32 bit Excel and 64 bit Excel (which is recommended) and you want to bundle Python in the installer (which is also recommended) you will need both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of PyXLL and Python.

The basics steps you need to follow to build an installer are:

  1. Copy your files and (optionally) your relocatable Python distributions to content.
  2. Configure your PyXLL add-in correctly.
  3. Create a new YAML config file under config.
  4. Run make_installer.py.

Content Directory Structure

Note If you are using pyxll-bake you should not include any config files in your installer. Use the baked add-ins instead of the plain pyxll.xll files, which will include your config and any baked Python modules.

The content for your installer goes in the 'content' folder in this project. The suggested directory structure is as follows:

content
|--- your_project
|     |    your_python_code  (folder)
|     |    shared_pyxll.cfg
|     |    ....
|     |
|     |--- x86
|     |    |    pyxll.xll
|     |    |    pyxll.cfg
|     |    |    logs  (folder)
|     |    |    PythonXX_x86  (folder)
|     |    |    ...
|     |
|     |--- x64
|     |    |    pyxll.xll
|     |    |    pyxll.cfg
|     |    |    logs  (folder)
|     |    |    PythonXX_x64  (folder)
|     |    |    ...

The pyxll.xll files in the x86 and x64 folders are the 32 bit and 64 bit versions respectively. Note that you can rename these files however you like to make it easier to keep track of which is which, but if you do that you also need to rename the pyxll.cfg files found next to them to match.

In the PythonXX_x86 and PythonXX_x64 folders you need a 32 bit and 64 bit relocatable Python runtime environment. conda-pack is a convenient way to create a relocatable Python environment suitable for this. See https://conda.github.io/conda-pack/ for instructions on how to use conda-pack. Note that PythonXX_x86 and PythonXX_x64 are folders, and so if using conda-pack you will need to extract the tarball it creates.

The logs folders are included as that is the default place PyXLL will log to, and if the logs folder is not included in the installer it may not be removed when uninstalled. If you intend to log elsewhere you will not need the logs folders.

If you do not require the 32 bit or 64 bit version, you can simply exclude the one you don't want.

PyXLL Configuration

Note If you are using pyxll-bake you should not include any config files in your installer. Use the baked add-ins instead of the plain pyxll.xll files, which will include your config and any baked Python modules.

Each pyxll.xll (the x86 and x64 versions) should be configured to use the Python runtime relative to the config file.

To make configuration easier it is suggested that you use an external_config as shown in the directory structure above shared between the two different versions of the add-in. This is also relative to each pyxll.cfg file.

pyxll.cfg:

[PYXLL]
external_config = ../shared_pyxll.cfg

[PYTHON]
executable = ./PythonXX_xZZ/pythonw.exe

[LOG]
path = %(YOUR_ADDIN_LOG_PATH:./logs)s

You main configuration will be in the shared_pyxll.cfg file. You can call this whatever you like, just be sure to reference it correctly in the two pyxll.cfg files. This would include any settings from your normal pyxll.cfg file.

shared_pyxll.cfg:

[PYXLL]
modules =
    your_python_module

[PYTHON]
pythonpath =
    ./your_python_code

[LOG]
verbosity = %(YOUR_ADDIN_LOG_LEVEL:info)s
file = your-addin.%(date)s.log

In both these config files the %(ENV_VAR:default)s substitution syntax has been used. This allows your end users to change certain properties, like log level and path, without having to modify any config.

Installer Configuration

The config folder contains an example configuration file. Copy this and rename it to the name of your project and edit it to your requirements.

At the very least you should set the following installer settings:

  • product_guid Set to a new GUID for your project. GUIDs can be created by various different tools, including https://www.guidgenerator.com/.

  • product_version Set this to your product version. You will need to increment this for each release you do.

  • msi_filename This is the filename of the built msi.

  • localized_product_details Set these to your own product name, description etc.

  • content.root Change this to content/your_product, which is the root folder containing your files.

Additionally, you may wish to change xll_32 and xll_64 if you have renamed your pyxll.xll files. If you only require one of these, you can remove whichever you don't need.

The resources product_icon, license_rtf, banner_bmp and dialog_bmp should all be changed before finalizing your installer to customize the appearance of the installer and to include your own license terms.

Depending on where you have installed the Wix Toolset, and what version you have, you may need to update wix.bin.

Building the Installer

The installer is built using the make_installer.py script.

Before you can run the script, install the dependencies listed in the requirements.txt file by running

conda install --file requirements.txt

Or if you are not using Anaconda use

pip install -r requirements.txt

Now you should be able to run the script. Note that you should be in the same folder as the script when you run it.

cd pyxll-installer
python ./pyxll-installer -c ./config/my_project.yaml

If successful, your installer will now be in the _build folder!

Advanced Customization and Localization

The Wix source files are in the templates folder. You can copy and edit these and update your YAML config to refer to your own templates.

If you want to support multiple languages in your installed, create localization templates based on EnglishLoc.wxl and add them to the list of localizations in your YAML config file.

Text used in the installer can be over-ridden with a CustomMessages.wxl file.