You have your choice of manually supplying the information or using a tool to extract it.
To understand WiX (from an authoring point of view) it helps to remember/realize that MSIs are databases that describe a set of states for the computer to be in, and a Windows Installer transaction consists of the Windows Installer service determining the difference between the current state and the desired state, and then scripting and performing the actions needed to transition the computer to that desired state. Since it is a database, and since databases can be modeled with XML, and since XML can be much more source-code-control friendly than binary files, an XML schema has been developed to express MSI databases that has evolved into the current WiX schema (Windows Installer XML is how WiX got its name). The C/C++ development model which allows for distributed development was also employed, and as such there are source files (.wxs), include files (.wxi), object (intermediate) and pdb (.wixpdb) and other related file formats, and various tools used to both compile/link/bind Windows Installer files (.msi, .msp, .mst) and to generate WiX sources (whether from decompiling WI files or from extracting information from files/directories/etc.). Further the tools can be extended to improve integration with your build environments/work-flow processes and/or to provide added convenience to authoring constructs/actions that better support your scenarios (be they web app installation or OracleDB population). Kind of like the way that C++ gives you most of the power of the platform and doesn't prevent you from hanging yourself with that power, WiX does the same. It does try to encourage and educate best practices (with varying degrees of success) and doesn't try to hide the platform from the developer (like more "visual" tools tend to do in every platform they support), but it has always been anticipated and encouraged that others will supply add-ons to WiX to better meet the needs of the community (similar to the model of the Visual Studio third-party add-ons that add power and productivity to users of that IDE/environment). -----Original Message----- From: Matt Walker [mailto:matt.wal...@synergis.com] Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 5:44 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] FW: InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware 9 I will check out WiX, but briefly, and this may have been touched on, how does WiX populate these tables for both libraries and assemblies? Some of this I'm sure will be clearer when I take a look, but does it extract reg information upon a files add to the installation or is there some extraction that needs to be done on the part of the install developer then import into the WiX install template? Thanks all for the information so far!! -----Original Message----- From: Blair [mailto:os...@live.com] Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:46 PM To: chr...@deploymentengineering.com; 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' Subject: Re: [WiX-users] FW: InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware 9 WiX allows the use of either the COM tables or the Registry table and exposes both easily enough, but the default preference in the toolset is for the Registry tables. -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Painter [mailto:chr...@deploymentengineering.com] Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:51 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] FW: InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware 9 The biggest difference between InstallShield and WiX in registration ( assuming you follow best practices and don't use SelfReg / CA's ) is the use of the registry tables in WiX versus certain COM tables in InstallShield. Both tools have the capability to extract COM from dll's and it's a bit of a spooky process with both sometimes. For me I have the ability to use a number of extraction tools and profiling tools when it doesn't work to ultimately get the right answer on what the COM should be and from there I can author that information in either tool. All said, they are both good but I like WiX a little bit better in it's use of the registry table. Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves attention? E-Mail Me --- On Thu, 11/12/09, Matt Walker <matt.wal...@synergis.com> wrote: > From: Matt Walker <matt.wal...@synergis.com> > Subject: [WiX-users] FW: InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware 9 > To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009, 12:38 PM > One of the big issues I've had with > InstallShield and other products is > proper registration of files. Most of the time this > area was OK, but > there were times when one or two files would not register > causing me to > create Custom Actions to do so. > > How would this be handled in WiX and is it reliable? > > *** > > I wonder what conversion time would be like to switch to > WiX after being > used to InstallShield/Wise for all these years. > > I'm planning a rebuild of all of our installs regardless of > the product > selected anyway, but I wonder what the WiX learning curve > is like. > > What are some of the requirements or necessities for > becoming an adept > WiX user? > > *** > > What about Web and IIS Stuff - go to go/easy with WiX? > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matt Walker > Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 1:18 PM > To: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML > toolset.' > Subject: RE: [WiX-users] InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware > 9 > > Is there any kind of UI with WiX? I like > InstallShield because it takes > care of he nuts and bolts for you yet allows tweaking where > needed. > > Is WiX scripting based or should you be a heavy duty > developer to use > it? > > I guess I can download and take a look. > > Any further info on this or the IS 2010 Vs IA 9 comparison > is more than > welcomed. > > Thanks! > > -----Original Message----- > From: Brian Simoneau [mailto:bsimon...@freedomscientific.com] > > Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 12:06 PM > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware > 9 > > My company was using InstallShield before switching to > WiX. I have > never used InstallAware, but the only advice I can give is > to use WiX. > It's free and can do anything that the commercial products > do, sometimes > better. > > -Brian Simoneau > > -----Original Message----- > From: Matt Walker [mailto:matt.wal...@synergis.com] > > Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 9:10 AM > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [WiX-users] InstallShield 2010 vs InstallAware 9 > > Hi All, > > > > I'm new to the group and was pointed here by an individual > from whom > I've received valuable assistance on many .NET, install > related topics > over the past several years. I know this is a Wix > users group, but I'm > hoping someone can give me some insight, guidance, etc. > > > > We as a company are looking to switch our install build > product. The > company whose product we use has undergone several company > takeovers/changes recently and it doesn't look like the > development > effort is there for this particular product. > > > > We've been focusing on InstallShield 2010 and InstallAware > 9. I've used > InstallShield products in the past and never really had any > major > problems to speak of. IS seemed fairly easy to use > and suited all of > our needs. This seems to be the case with > InstallShield 2010. > > > > InstallAware is a tool of a different kind as it appears to > be primarily > script based but does have a Visual interface as > well. It might be > because I could be subconsciously hooked on InstallShield, > but > InstallAware seems cumbersome to me. I guess that may > also be that I'm > just not used to their way of doing things. > Conversion for us would > take a larger amount of time with this product, but if it > works and is > stable, that really won't matter much to me. > > > > What I've heard and from what I already knew, they are both > major > players with InstallShield having a longer lifespan so > far. I've been > told that InstallAware claims to be on the cutting edge, > but their > installs at times display weird behavior. > > > > I'm trying to find an individual(s) that has used both or > similar > products for a compare and contrast of sorts. What > are the pros and > cons? Early on, > > > > Of course price will be a factor for us, but I just want to > be sure > after making a selection I don't miss major advantages of > the product > that is left behind by our decision. > > > > Please help if you can. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ------ > Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal > Reports 2008 > 30-Day > trial. Simplify your report design, integration and > deployment - and > focus on > what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's > new with > Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ------ > Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal > Reports 2008 > 30-Day > trial. Simplify your report design, integration and > deployment - and > focus on > what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's > new with > Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal > Reports 2008 30-Day > trial. Simplify your report design, integration and > deployment - and focus on > what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's > new with > Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
