If the non-transformed instance of the product is installed, the Upgrade table will never be evaluated because the FindRelatedProducts action skips itself for maintenance mode operations. To some degree I'm surprised that what you are doing for installation even works. That isn't the way it is advertised (or advised) to be used and I doubt it would be supported if some change in a future version of MSI breaks it.
The supported approach is to use a custom bootstrapper always. If I were you, the bootsrapper would start by checking the installation status of the ProductCodes associated with the 5 instances you support and would then show the dialog. It would then put together the properties for Windows Installer based on the user's instance selection. -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Garman [mailto:gar...@scadaware.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 11:35 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Custom Action to go into Modify Mode Hi, Thanks for your interest guys, I'll try to explain a bit better... @Blair: "Do the transforms change UpgradeCode?"...no. So my msi installs application 'Foo'. I want be able to have up to 5 instances (for example) of Foo on one machine (these should all be in the context of the machine, not per user and this requirement is beyond my control). Currently I can specify at the command line the following (apologies if the exact syntax is off, I typing from memory): To install a new instance... msiexec /i foo.msi MSINEWINSTANCE=1 TRANSFORMS=:foo_inst1 To modify an existing instance... msiexec /i foo.msi TRANSFORMS=:foo_inst1 To upgrade an existing instance... msiexec /i foo.msi TRANSFORMS=:foo_inst1 REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus This is all great, and works with a bootstrapper I have created. However, my ideal situation is to eliminate the bootstrapper but also not have to type in all the extra command line arguements. So my question is, can something like the following sequence be made to work with a CA (vb.net) that executes as early as possible. 1) msiexec /i foo.msi (or just double click foo.msi) 2) CA checks registry (custom bookkeeping entries) to see what instances are installed and shows a list to the user (popup) 3) if the user clicks the 'install new instance' button, TRANSFORMS is set to the next available id, MSINEWINSTANCE is set to 1, and install happens 3) if the user selects an existing instance from the list and clicks the 'modify instance' button, TRANSFORMS is set to the appropriate id and the installer goes into maintenance (modify/repair/uninstall) mode 3) if the user selects an existing instance that is an older version and clicks the 'upgrade instance' button, TRANSFORMS is set, REINSTALL is set, REINSTALLMODE is set, and the upgrade happens So far, the only part that I can make work as described is the installation of a new instance. If a bootstrapper is the only way to accomplish what I'm after, then so be it, but it seems like some of described nature might be possible. I just don't know the inner workings well enough to whether it's possible. Thanks, Kevin On Tue, 2010-01-26 at 00:25 -0800, Blair wrote: > Your transforms change your UpgradeCode? > > > > > On Mon, 2010-01-25 at 18:16 -0700, Richard wrote: > In article <1264193852.10007.0.ca...@garman-linux>, > Kevin Garman <gar...@scadaware.com> writes: > > > I have a multi-instance (transforms) installer and [...] > > What exactly do you mean by this? What do the transforms do? > > Its my experience that if you want to manipulate a base MSI with > transforms that you have to do this with a bootstrapper. By the time > the MSI is executing, its already too late. > > This is how InstallSUCK provides localization of the MSI using their > language transforms. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Kevin Garman [mailto:gar...@scadaware.com] > Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 6:10 AM > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Custom Action to go into Modify Mode > > Well, what I tried was a CA that ran before FindRelatedProducts. This > CA prompted for and set the TRANSFORMS variable in hopes that when the > FindRelatedProducts executed it would find the instance already > installed and go into maintenance mode. In my test however (maybe it > was flawed), it seemed that the new value for TRANSFORMS wasn't being > used for the product lookup. > > Any thoughts? > > Thanks, > Kevin > > > > On Fri, 2010-01-22 at 14:49 -0800, Blair wrote: > > > You would need some sort of action that runs after the selection that will > > determine if the selected instance is installed. Whether that is > > FindRelatedProducts or some CA you write... > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Kevin Garman [mailto:gar...@scadaware.com] > > Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 12:58 PM > > To: wix-users > > Subject: [WiX-users] Custom Action to go into Modify Mode > > > > Hi, > > > > >From my testing, it seems this may not be possible, but I thought I'd > > see if anyone can give me a definitive answer. > > > > I have a multi-instance (transforms) installer and when I double-click > > the msi, I want to have a custom action pop a window up prompting for a > > transform id. After I type a valid id in and click ok, the installer > > would then install that instance---this much seems to work. However, if > > the instance already is installed, I would like to go (after the prompt) > > to the 'Modify/Maintenance' mode of the installer > > (Modify/Reinstall/Uninstall) to modify the chosen instance. > > > > Is this possible? If so, what do I need to make it happen? > > > > Thanks much, > > Kevin > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > > Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the > > world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for > > Conference > > attendees to learn about information security's most important issues > > through > > interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established > companies. > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > > Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the > > world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for > Conference > > attendees to learn about information security's most important issues > through > > interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established > companies. > > http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the > world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for > Conference > attendees to learn about information security's most important issues > through > interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established companies. > http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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
