Somebody is going to have to provide the site-specific information. The question is how do you want to specify it. Are you in a position to provide a small subset of your client a MSI package that has already been transformed? If not, then the client will need to be responsible for customizing the data.
One option is to use transforms which requires knowledge of the creation _and_ execution of transforms. Another option might be to build a custom action that can read the data out of a file (XML, INI, what-have-you). In this case the client needs to be able to compose the file correctly and they'll still need to specify the file so that the MSI can find it... Or perhaps the MSI looks in a specific place and contains reasonable defaults if it doesn't find the file. The last option is that the client interacts with the MSI UI to provide the data. If you have a bootstrapper then your bootstrapper can help setup data for execution but the content of the data still needs to be provided by the client. Double clicking without interaction implies that all the defaults used by the package apply to the target. I don't think there's a way to pass in custom data without the client putting some effort whether it is interacting with a UI, composing a file, or generating a transform. Edwin G. Castro Software Developer - Staff Digital Channels Fiserv Office: 503-746-0643 Fax: 503-617-0291 www.fiserv.com Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail > -----Original Message----- > From: David Cramlet [mailto:decram...@gmail.com] > Sent: Monday, March 19, 2012 4:04 PM > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] User-Friendly Site-Specific Installation > > Hi Edwin, Dirk, and All, > > Those are some interesting ideas to ponder. But I also think I should clarify > my situation. In my case, the issue isn't so much with creating the site- > specific transforms. That task is performed by support staff proficient with > the tools, and we have other reasons to have the transforms handy. > > Rather the issue is with applying the transform; when the installer and > appropriate transform are handed to the "end user" groups. (As I mentioned > previously, even this isn't a problem if the group is familiar with assigning > software via GPO, since they can just pick the transform file as part of the > policy.) However, where we run into problems is with groups where IT has > limited experience with large-scale deployment. > > They really want to just "double-click the MSI and move on". The idea of > using a command-line, or (bafflingly) even a batch file, makes them... > grouchy. (Almost as much as when they decide to skip the transform and > have to answer the installer's questions via UI on each of however-many > workstations.) > > Thank you for your thoughts, > David Cramlet > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF email is sponsosred by: > Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d- > msazure _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF email is sponsosred by: Try Windows Azure free for 90 days Click Here http://p.sf.net/sfu/sfd2d-msazure _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
