What's the difference between a WiX include (.wxi file) and a WiX fragment (.wxs file)?
What are the use cases for each?
Which should be used and why?
The file extension is a convenience, the content of the file is what really matters. The distinction makes it easier to manage the difference between the actual installation (wxs files) and the properties required to create the installation (wxi files).
For example, your wxs files specify the product and its contents (which files you install) whereas you would use your wxi files to specify product version, upgrade codes, common paths, etc.
The WiX documentation provides some clear information.
Include files (.wxi)
Source files (.wxs)
Personally, I only use .wxi files to include common <?define?>s. I organize the rest of my product into many different logical groupings of Fragments. Treat Fragments like functions in your typical procedural language. Group like stuff together and don't make them too long.
One thing to be aware of is that adding a wxs file to your project implies that MSBuild will do an incremental build when you update the wxs file. Including a wxi file does not do this.
But on the other hand, MSBuild is not doing automatic builds when any of the files you're including into your msi have been updated, so you're probably not doing incremental builds anyway.
Related
I have a project that has a large number of files. Between versions of our software, new files get added and some get removed. Therefore, in automating our build process, I would like to have heat auto-generate a .wxs file (let's call it files.wxs).
But then there are certain hand-generated items, like the <product> element with its associated version and <environment> tags for environment variables that we need to set. These never change (except for the version number which increments). Right now, I have put all of that in a file named product.wxs.
How can I best combine them into one .msi? Do I need to create a <component> element inside the <product> element for each of the fragments that were auto-generated in the files.wxs file? If so, that kind of defeats the purpose of auto-generating that file. I'm hoping there is another way.
Help! Thanks, in advance.
The installer that I work on has both manual and heat generated code how ours handle it is:
A script builds the destination file structure i.e. all the files that will be installed are copied to a temp directory mimicking the structure they will have on destination machine
Heat.exe is then executed on that directory structure outputting to a file.
We then apply some transforms as we have multiple features in our installer (though if your installer is just one feature you could use a singular ComponentGroup created by Heat.exe), the transform groups the components into ComponentGroups based off the directory structure.
The manual files only reference the ComponentGroups.
If a file is added or removed the work is done on the script (if necessary, parts of script just scoop whole directories). When the installer is built a new component is automatically generated for that file and it's added to the appropriate group by the transform. No work is needed as that group is already referenced in the manual files.
I am someone with little to no experience with wix and I am trying to support Windows also for the component I am responsible for. I am trying to create merge module for a set of files that my product generates. These files exist in numerous sub directories. I was wondering how I can create a single component ID for all the files in the entire tree. I am not worried about minor upgrades as that is something I am not going to be doing. I am trying to avoid generating numerous GUIDs for each of the file.
Also is there any way I can change the name of the root directory I want the files to be installed. Currently, in our build system the files I want to install end up in a directory name "install". In the wxs file generated by heat it comes up as install. I was wondering if I could change it to the actual product name instead of "install".
Use one file per component - this avoids all sorts of problems (except .NET assemblies spanning multiple files). See the following thread: One file per component or several files per component?
Wix is a great framework for creating installers, but it has a steep learning curve. I strongly recommend you read a few sections of this great, online tutorial: https://www.firegiant.com/wix/tutorial/
If you are a "sample based tinkerer", you can find an even quicker, sample based tour in this article: http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/105638/A-quick-introduction-Create-an-MSI-installer-with
Wix is hands-on. Just focus on the samples, and focus on getting the components created and a major upgrade set up:
How to implement WiX installer upgrade? (modern, convenience way)
How to get WiX major upgrade working? (legacy way - more flexible, less convenient)
http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/howtos/updates/major_upgrade.html
Once you got that running the rest of the details fall into place by reading the documentation for whatever feature you need. Using Visual Studio / Votive with intellisense ensures that you can learn as you go with features such as shortcuts, ini files, xml files, dialogs, etc...
Another top tip is to use dark.exe (part of the Wix toolkit) to decompile existing MSI files. This yields Wix XML with code you can copy and paste into your own Wix files. I use other MSI tools to compile such MSI files, and then copy the sections I need into my Wix file - just to speed up the process of creating the Wix XML. Studying the decompiled XML is very educational - a real time saver.
UPDATE, May 2021: Some more links:
WiX Quick Start - Very long version
WiX Quick Start - Short version
If all the files are going to the same destination folder, then you can create one single COMPONENT with all the FILE within it. There is nothing stopping you to do that. You can then just create one GUID for that component. Also read these answers which talks about the advantages vs disadvantages of one component vs multiple components before you implement it: Answer1 Answer2. To Summarize:
You will have trouble with minor upgrades/repairs. If a component is
being updated, only the file designated as the KEYPATH is checked to see if
it is out of date: if it is up to date, all the others are ignored.
You'll also have difficulty if you want to add or remove files from each
component. Once released, a component is immutable (in terms of what files
are in it). The only way to update it without breaking component rules would
be to effectively remove and install the a new version of the MSI.
Understanding the component rules is key in Windows Installer and one file
per component makes the component rules easier to work with, which is why it
is the recommendation of many people here.
LINK
The root directory name can be changed by modifying the "Name" property for the DIRECTORY element.
I'm developer on a big system (>100 Projects in Solution, >100 000 LOC, > 10 Services, ...) and did the installation of this system in the past with wix and it worked fine. Now I need a way to patch (Minor Upgrade) parts of the system and run into several issues.
My Current Wix Setup is as following:
I have VS2010 and Wix3.6 Toolset and TFS2012 to Build the whole thing and get an installer
I'm using a Setup Library Project Type per Service
I'm using exactly one Setup Project to bundle things together and get one installer for the whole system.
It's not possible to change this setup.
The Setup Library Projects are set up as following:
I use the heat-directory msbuild task to generate the components and files and I'm using preprocessor variables to modify the file paths.
I need to modify the file paths because it must be possible to build an installer on the local developer system and to build the installer on the tfs build system which is different in folder structures.
The TFS uses always the same directory to compile subsequent versions of the software and moves the output after successful compilation to a unique folder structure.
Now I need a patch.
I created the Patch.wxs and called candle and light for it. I called torch to get the difference file. And finally want to create the patch with pyro.
Everything worked fine with a simple testproject, but on the big system
Pyro has the problem that it can't find the files to install.
Through my setup (see above), I must use preprocessor variables and have a full qualified path in my wix output (for example: C:\builds\myproduct\prodct.exe as file source). After moving the TFS output to another location this path is not valid anymore. I tried to use -bt and -bu switches for pyro, but this does only work for relative paths or for named bindpaths.
Now I wanted to change my wix project setup to use named bindpaths rather than preprocessor variables, but it seems that this is not possible.
heat can only use preprocessor variables or wixvariables but it seems not to be possible to use bindpath variables. heat provides a switch -wixvar which should create binder variables instead of preprocessor variables but I does exactly nothing.
Now I tried do use no wix and no preprocessor variables in heat and tell light per -bu -bt switches where to find the files. But if I do not set a preprocessor variable the resulting files look like Sources\product.exe. I can't get rid of this Sources. I know that I can transform all the xml with xslt and remove the Sources but thats a workaround which I would only implement if no other solution is possible. This would also mean that there is a problem in the wix toolchain.
It looks like pyro does only support bindpath variables and heat does only support preprocessor and wix variables. This seems to be really crazy, because how should they work together?
How can I create a patch if I use lit, light, candle, heat, torch and pyro and if the original build paths have changed (which is very common on a build system) and the file paths are created with heat and therefore be fixed or preprocessor or wix variables?
As you've found heat wasn't designed to be used in the patching scenario. It was only in recent versions of the WiX toolset that the generated GUIDs got to a point where there was even a chance that heat could successfully build output that would be patchable. Still need to do work there to make patching where heat is used work well.
Ultimately, I believe the answer is to simplify the "original source" problem. It is challenging to get all the bindpaths set up correctly and that makes patching, which is a hard problem, even harder. We've kicked around a few ideas but nothing has come together yet.
You could always use admin image based patching. It's slower but can be easier to get the "original source" and "target" laid out. That path does lose filtering though.
Basically, we need to do a bit more work in patching scenarios to make it much easier.
PS: "Source" in the path for a File/#Source attribute is an alias for the "default bindpath". You can use bindpaths there.
I would like to add into project some files that shouldn't be compiled. I mean mainly text files with for example notes, concepts, comments etc.
I realized that it is possible only at module level. But it is not very convenient. I'd rather prefer to keep them on project level. Is it possible in any way?
And if not:
I have another idea: to create special module, name it for example "other_stuff", do not create src directory and put files there. Is it ok? I'm afraid of potential compilation problems when one of modules is artificial, with no sources but still has sdk assigned (it is probably impossible to leave module without sdk assigned).
While generating artifacts you can add any file into your artifact. Also, in modules you can have folders not declared as source, and they will not be compiled.
We are looking to OEM our product complete with separate install paths, exe names, ect...
But of course we want to minimize the amount of maintenance overhead we need to maintain the product.
I know of course that we can re-use the fragment files, and map them to different directories with the product.wxs file. But is it a good idea to do that as we will be reusing GUIDs fro the files.
Now those files will be exactly the same files, but it maybe that they are being installed in different directories.
If anyone could point to some good resources for managing multiple OEM installers with WIX, I'd be very appreciative.
It's ok to reuse ComponentID's in multiple Product contexts. This is basically what merge modules do all the time when consumed by multiple products.
Yes, you can use fragments for code reuse. Here is an old blog article on the subject:
Using the WIX Toolset for Distributed Development
Basically you want to come up with a way of defining your Directory element in your product wxs and then using DirectoryRef elements in your asset fragements. Also your Asset fragments will have Fragment elements and ComponentGroup elements. Then in your Product wxs you can use ComponentGroupRef elements nested under Feature elements to pull the components into your feature.
A couple of rules...
1) You have to pass all the wxs files to candle for the compiler to resolve the symbols.
2) Once you ref something from a fragment ( FragmentRef, ComponentRef, ComponentGroupRef... ) every thing from the fragment gets included. E.g. fragments are atomic and sealed just like merge modules.