Windows App

A Windows app is a stub binary, allow with a collection of folders taht contain the Python code for the app and the Python runtime libraries.

Briefcase uses the WiX Toolset to build an MSI installer for a Windows App. WiX, in turn, requires that .NET Framework 3.5 is enabled. To ensure .NET Framework 3.5 is enabled:

  1. Open the Windows Control Panel

  2. Traverse to Programs -> Programs and Features

  3. Select “Turn Windows features On or Off”

  4. Ensure that “.NET framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)” is selected.

Icon format

Windows apps installers use multiformat .ico icons; these icons should contain images in the following sizes:

  • 16x16

  • 32x32

  • 48x48

  • 64x64

  • 256x256

Splash Image format

Windows Apps do not support splash screens or installer images.

Application configuration

The following options can be added to the tool.briefcase.app.<appname>.windows section of your pyproject.toml file.

system_installer

Controls whether the app will be installed as a per-user or per-machine app. Per-machine apps are “system” apps, and require admin permissions to run the installer; however, they are installed once and shared between all users on a computer.

If true the installer will attempt to install the app as a per-machine app, available to all users. If false, the installer will install as a per-user app. If undefined the installer will ask the user for their preference.

version_triple

Python and Briefcase allow any valid PEP440 version number as a version specifier. However, MSI installers require a strict integer triple version number. Many PEP440-compliant version numbers, such as “1.2”, “1.2.3b3”, and “1.2.3.4”, are invalid for MSI installers.

Briefcase will attempt to convert your version into a valid MSI value by extracting the first three parts of the main series version number (excluding pre, post and dev version indicators), padding with zeros if necessary:

  • 1.2 becomes 1.2.0

  • 1.2b4 becomes 1.2.0

  • 1.2.3b3 becomes 1.2.3

  • 1.2.3.4 becomes 1.2.3.

However, if you need to override this default value, you can define version_triple in your app settings. If provided, this value will be used in the MSI configuration file instead of the auto-generated value.