IIRC from looking at the sources, in msbuild, using wix.targets, an msbuild task called wixtasks calls each of the executables by opening a new AppDomain. Thus the command-lines "passed in" can be of almost unlimited length.
Each of the wix toolset executables accepts a "response file" as a parameter where you supply parameters a line at a time (same as the C/C++ tools). I recall this being documented somewhere in the wix.chm file... -----Original Message----- From: Dave Kolb [mailto:d...@dotnetcodeslingers.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 1:20 PM To: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' Subject: Re: [WiX-users] How does a votive project pass variables to candle? Nevermind on this question. I created a dummy project and looked at the output window and saw that they really are all -d options: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Installer XML v3\bin\candle.exe -dabc=xyz -dhello=456 -d"DevEnvDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\\" -d"SolutionDir=C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CmdMan\\" -dSolutionExt=.sln -dSolutionFileName=CmdMan.sln -dSolutionName=CmdMan -d"SolutionPath=C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CmdMan\CmdMan.sln" -dConfiguration=Release -dOutDir=bin\Release\ -dPlatform=x86 -d"ProjectDir=C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CmdMan\XTestWixProject\\" -dProjectExt=.wixproj -dProjectFileName=XTestWixProject.wixproj -dProjectName=XTestWixProject -d"ProjectPath=C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CmdMan\XTestWixProject\XTestWixProject.wixproj" -d"TargetDir=C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CmdMan\XTestWixProject\bin\Release\\" -dTargetExt=.msi -dTargetFileName=XTestWixProject.msi -dTargetName=XTestWixProject -d"TargetPath=C:\Users\Dave\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\CmdMan\XTestWixProject\bin\Release\XTestWixProject.msi" -out obj\Release\Product.wixobj -arch x86 Product.wxs From: Dave Kolb [mailto:d...@dotnetcodeslingers.com] Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 4:04 PM To: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' Subject: How does a votive project pass variables to candle? I tried looking at the wix.targets but do not understand msbuild adequately. Are the many var.Projectname.xxx and var.Solutionxxx variables passed in on the command line with -d or are they written to a .wxi file or does candle take special input for variable somehow besides the -d option? Seems unlikely a command line could be built with all those -d variables without exceeding the allowed length. The reason I ask is that I have a Powershell script that I am using to build all my .msi files for all my modules for both x86 and x64 and would like to simulate passing in the project variables. It runs candle via cmd.exe so I think I would be subject to a command line length limitation. Thanks, Dave __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4507 (20091014) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
