Whenever I used vb custom actions they were small and easy to troubleshoot.
Matt Walker Installation Development 200 Kelly Road | Quakertown, PA 18951 Phone: +1 215.529.9900, x192 | 800.836.5440 Fax: +1 215.536.9249 http://www.synergissoftware.com/ Adept Engineering Document Management & Workflow This message (and any associated files) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential, subject to copyright or constitutes a trade secret. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination, copying or distribution of this message, or files associated with this message, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Messages sent to and from us may be monitored. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. Therefore, we do not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions that are present in this message, or any attachment, that have arisen as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required, please request a hard-copy version. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. -----Original Message----- From: Wendell Joost [mailto:wende...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 2:06 PM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Interviewing an installation developer Have you ever tried to step through a VB CA in a debugger? Wendell On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 10:59 AM, Matt Walker <matt.wal...@synergis.com> wrote: > Why are Custom Actions in VBScript a warning sign? > > -----Original Message----- > From: MikeR [mailto:michael.ru...@gmail.com] > Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 1:44 PM > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Interviewing an installation developer > > > The excerise of writing a simple install would probably be fine, though > I'm > not sure it is necessary. I do agree that knowing the nuts and bolts of > Windows Installer is key and knowing what tables/actions do what is > critical. The one potential problem I could see with having them author > a > small install on the spot is tool knowledge. Knowing Windows Installer > itself is more important than knowing WiX, InstallShield, Wise, > InstallAware, etc. Learning the concepts and best practices around > Windows > Installer is more difficult than learning how to use any particular > tool. > > I would be sure to inquire about common issues with Windows Installer > where > people run into trouble or aspects of Windows Installer that are not > intuitive and would require some real hands-on experience to know off > the > top of your head. Here is a short list of things I'd ask about. > > 1. Windows Installer component rules, feature/component structure > 2. How Windows Installer handles upgrades and patches, making sure they > know > how FindRelatedProducts and RemoveExistingProducts actions and the > Upgrade > table work. Understanding how MSPs and therefore MSTs work to augment > MSIs, > etc. This relates back to #1 because if you don't follow proper > component > rules you frequently get burned when it comes time to upgrade/patch. > 3. Understanding the general sequencing of how an MSI installs, knowing > when > to schedule custom actions in immediate/deferred mode and understanding > when > you should be making system changes and what property access is > available, > use of CustomActionData, commit/rollback actions, etc. > 4. Also when it comes to custom actions the only good methods are C++ > DLLs > or DTF with C#. If you expect this person to write the custom actions > for > your installs they are going to need at least some basic programming > skills > in one of these two languages because anything beyond the most basic of > installs is going to require custom action work. If your candidate is a > proponent of writing custom actions in VBScript/Javascript take that as > a > warning sign. > > There's probably some other problematic areas escaping me at the moment > but > those are the big ones. I worked in Wise's tech support back when > Windows > Installer was starting to take over Windows setup development and from > my > experience there I can assure you that the three key areas where people > ran > into problems with Windows Installer were upgrades, custom actions and > following proper component rules. If a candidate has a solid > understanding > of those areas and can speak about them intelligently that's a very > strong > starting point. > > -- > View this message in context: > http://n2.nabble.com/Interviewing-an-installation-developer-tp4455420p44 > 55848.html > Sent from the wix-users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ------ > The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation > Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the > business > Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term > contracts > Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call > away. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > The Planet: dedicated and managed hosting, cloud storage, colocation > Stay online with enterprise data centers and the best network in the business > Choose flexible plans and management services without long-term contracts > Personal 24x7 support from experience hosting pros just a phone call away. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/theplanet-com > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > -- "Some people come visit Europe and are really let down when they find out it's not like a credit-card commercial; others really get into meeting all the quirky people and careening along narrow mountain roads in rickety cabs driven by suicidal, gap-toothed Carpathians. 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