What happens in 3.x as compared to 2.0 is the following: the extension DLLs contain, as .net embedded resources, a “bound” wixlib that itself contains the <Binary> tags referring to the CA DLL(s) which are further bound inside of the wixlib itself. Simply by referencing the embedded Binary tag the fragment from the embedded wixlib that contains the <Binary> is included in your linking which places the DLL into the MSIs Binary table, from which it is then made available for your use during installation and maintenance transactions. The extension dll itself can’t be used during transactions, only during the build.
It should not be necessary to write your own <Binary> element to use any of the WiX-supplied extensions. At most, a <BinaryRef> would be appropriate, but only if/when the instructions for that extension indicate that is needed. Here are the instructions for using the QAQuietExec supplied with 3.x: http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/qtexec.htm. Remember that casing is significant in Windows Installer (and that includes WiX). When upgrading from 2.0 to 3.x, you should be able to use the WixCop.exe utility supplied in the toolset to help you transition the schema changes along with some of the structural changes such as this one. We feel it is more convenient to have just one WiX extension DLL that “contains” everything needed for its consumption, instead of the trifecta of extension dll, ca dll, and wixlib that was required to be present during builds in 2.0. This feature also makes distribution of third-party extension dlls easier (although it requires more build-knowledge) for the 3.x toolset vs. the 2.0 experience. It also makes the toolset more stable because the extension dll’s code can depend on knowing that the ca and wixlib are always present and haven’t likely been corrupted or lost. If you are using tutorials or example code designed for 2.0, you will need to upgrade those examples. From: Kagiso Seboni [mailto:kagisoseb...@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, June 28, 2010 11:10 AM To: Blair Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Fw: EnterpriseSMS Wix Installation Basically i cannot find the wixca.dll anywhere on the hard disk even upon successful installation of the Windows Installer XML v3.5 This is the report you'd requested: which includes some of the compilation errors i've been getting whenever trying the specify the path to the binary file wixca.dll which is apparently part of the WixUtilExtension.dll <report-redacted-due-to-verbosity/> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
