Hi I think your proposal would do. I also played around with the VS Bootstrapper and i find it does its job quite well. Having msi file not embedded in the bootstrapper is something I can live with. I probably stick to it if I find a way to call the different localized msi files, depending on the os language. However, this is another question and I might pose it in another post if I dont find a solution.
Thanks anyway ________________________________________ Von: Blair [os...@live.com] Gesendet: Freitag, 16. Juli 2010 03:58 An: 'General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset.' Betreff: Re: [WiX-users] Best practice to include customer/user specific files (also when using a bootstrapper) SourceDir is set by Windows Installer and is a "private" session property, so no bootstrapper can easily change it to something different than the folder the MSI is "run from". You could try using a bootstrapper that passes a property with a value corresponding to its current directory (or adding similar code to a bootstrapper to which you have source code). Alternately, use a release mechanism such that you embed the FOLDER_WITH_USER_SPECIFIC_FILES into your bootstrapper along with the MSI. -----Original Message----- From: daniel.knoep...@noser.com [mailto:daniel.knoep...@noser.com] Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 7:09 AM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Best practice to include customer/user specific files (also when using a bootstrapper) Hi Some parts of our application are very customer/user specific. For example, there will be a varying number of files in the appData-folder depending on the installation. The approach i have used so far is having a custom action copying these files. . An example installation package could look like this. It is important the the msi and the other files reside in the same folder! Application.msi FOLDER_WITH_USER_SPECIFIC_FILES (These files change per customer, impossible to compile them into the msi) Via the SourceDir Property I then manage to copy the files into the desired folder. This works well so far, although I am not entirely happy about it as the declarative approach of windows installer is undermined. However, with my limited wix knowledge, this is the only solution a can see. Unfortunately, our application has some prerequisites (.NET framework, crystal reports...) and therefore needs to have a bootstraper containing all prerequisites and the msi file, that takes care of installing them. The bootstrapper i have tried (dotNetInstaller), copies the msi to a temp folder and as a consequence, the msi and the installation-specific files no longer reside in the same folder. The SourceDir points then to the wrong directory and the the user specific files cannot be copied. My questions are now: - Are there any better, well-proven approaches, that stick to the msi declarative approach - Is there a solution to the bootstrapper problem? Are there (free) bootstrappers, that embedd all files and trigger the msi installation with the SourceDir property pointing to the directory of the bootstrapper? It would then look like this: Bootstrapper.exe FOLDER_WITH_USER_SPECIFIC_FILES (These files change per customer, impossible to compile them into the msi, or Bootstrapper) Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance. Dan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
