Definitely interesting commentary. I'd have to say that I agree with Richard
and mostly disagree with Markus' comment - although I see where he's coming
from. My guess is that his rules are mostly born from experience and he's
chosen the most pragmatic approach that seems likely to work. It's my
understanding that nearly all custom actions are improperly written and I
really want to try to create an installation with zero CA's if possible. I'm
sure that when I get to some crazy things like deleting files and registry
values (that no installer would ever want to do <sarcasm />) I'll have to
write a CA.
I did my first MSI somewhere around 8-9 years ago and have used most of the
major installer tools from Wise, InstallShield, WiX, and MakeMSI. It's been
a good five years since I've wrestled with Windows Installer - staying away
for obvious reasons.
So now I'm rewriting one of my installations (which has always had issues)
and I'm going to try to do it "right" with WiX. So I get it to install a few
files in the right folder, and my very next step is to create a simple
stupid shortcut - and it doesn't work with an ICE48 error. Searching around
didn't really turn up much, but there was a Google hit on Rob's site - which
was down - Grrrr.
Call me old fashioned but I think that any solution should make it easy to
do what 80% of the users want. Maybe this is a bad example but who cares a
flip about advertised features. I don't see this as a feature at all. It
just complicates our lives as installer writers and it complicates the lives
of the end user too. Sure this isn't a WiX thing - it's a *feature* of
Windows Installer, but man I wish WiX made things easier for us - and it
could.
Well anyhow, I've gotta get back to my day gig now. Thanks for your
thoughts.
BTW stay in touch Siva - I may be begging you forward my resume for that
security guard gig after a few more weeks of playing with this tech. ;-)
Cheers.
On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 11:53 AM, Markus Kuehni <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Hi Chris
>
> I can only second your opinion. It's almost unbelievable, how difficult
> even the most common, primitive task is.
>
> One has this long-honed professional developer instinct that constantly
> tells you "there must be an easier way, I just have to find it". Believe me:
> in case of MSI there is none! Stop wasting your time searching for any sign
> of logic, design or even common sense.
>
> And it took me a while to realize, that WiX is only a wrapper. No
> abstraction whatsoever. So dont't blame WiX, except maybe for not making the
> "thin wrapper catch" clear from the beginning.
>
> It helps to cross the custom action / custom dialog barrier. Don't even
> try without, even if you think your application is plain vanilla!
>
> There has to be an awful lot of (pre-)historical bagagge that crippels
> MSIs "design" (to insult that word). I guess its a cross-breed between
> declarative and imperative princibles terribly gone wrong and awfully
> neglected since.
>
> Survival guide:
>
> 0. switch off your expectations
> 1. learn how to write custom actions and use them liberally
> 2. learn how to write custom dialogs and use them liberally
> 3. forget minor and small updates - use major upgrades only
> 4. realize that they only really thought of files and registry entries!
> Shortcuts,
> .ini-file entries, in some cases even directories, etc. were seemingly
> "tacked on later" and are terribly crippled because they have to somehow
> "piggy back" either on a file, directory or registry key; use the ugly hacks
> in the internet and don't waste your time searching for elegance
> 5. realize the power of properties set through custom actions
> 6. realize the power of conditions (often you can't dynamically change
> even the simplest things, like i.e. the name of a shortcut. But you can
> switch OFF one component and switch ON another - sometimes that helps)
> 6. isolate everything in your application that remains absolutely static
> once it's deployed
> 7. then only(!) setup that static part with MSI/WiX
> 8. setup everything else (such as initial configuration, initial
> databases, etc.) either with a custom action or with your application (first
> run)
> 9. expect problems - this "technology" (to insult that word too) is
> gagging for trial and error (and shot deadlines)
>
>
> Hope that helps a bit.
>
> -Mark
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *Von:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Im Auftrag von *Chris Mumford
> *Gesendet:* Montag, 12. Mai 2008 06:13
> *An:* wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> *Betreff:* [WiX-users] yep - back to being 100% frustrated
>
> Man:
>
> I can't believe how much making Windows Installer based installs suck - I
> mean really sucks! Did we just invent this technology to make us hate our
> lives?
>
> And WiX doesn't make it any easier.
>
> I'm calling it a night.
>
> Peace out man...
>
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