Well, there really isn't a standard way to solve this... My approach would be
to try to validate the output instead of generating the input. Two approaches I
have considered myself in the past are:
1. Make sure the setup step is part of the test harness and that you are
running it on a regular basis. That way you will catch the error in case a file
is left out. This is something I recommend doing in any case though.
2. Write a validation script that runs as part of the build scripts that
verifies that all files you expect to be part of the MSI are actually there.
This would be similar to checking for ICE's from a conceptual perspective.
Whatever fits your environment really. Just think twice before trying to auto
generate the WiX source.
From: Christopher Brandt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 9:05 PM
To: Fredrik Grohn
Cc: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Packaging Website Files
Thanks. That too is adding to my reticence to generate the WiX code.
So what are my practical options?
On 4/1/07, Fredrik Grohn < [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote:
The problem with auto generating WiX source code like that is that you very
easily end up breaking the component rules. Each file should belong to its own
component, and the GUID of the component must remain identical as long as the
file has the same name and target location. Solving this in an automated
fashion quickly becomes a very complex task.
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [mailto:[EMAIL
PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] On Behalf Of Christopher Brandt
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 9:18 PM
To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net<mailto:wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net>
Subject: [WiX-users] Packaging Website Files
I'm not clear on the best practice for packaging up large groups of files, such
as a website. I understand that the wix file needs to have each file
individually listed. But how do you achieve this practically, especially with a
website? Adding the installer project to the website solution and then asking
developers to keep the installer's file listing up to date manually seems very
error prone. It seems very likely that files will not get added and the
addition will not be missed until we're testing in QA.
I'm looking for a more solid approach that keeps the installer in sync with the
source projects its associated to. Visual Studio deployment projects (vdproj)
allow you to capture all output from a specific project. Are there any wix
plug-ins for VS that do the same thing? I've also read that some people
generate their wix files at build time using scripts. I could do this, but I'm
a bit concerned about the added complexity to my build system (it would be less
obvious to new developers how certain files got picked up by the installer).
Any insights on best practices would be appreciated.
Christopher
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