A BA is code in your control that interacts with the engine. As such, you have full control over the UI and full control over the process. As for WixStdBA, it's a lean and mean BA, so it doesn't have a lot of the feature rich environment you might be looking for. There are no "custom actions" and limited UI modifications that can be done with WixStdBA. Neil had originally ran with WixExtBA, but has recently back ported what he could as new themes to WixStdBA as well as BA functions.
So in short: 1) Yes. Both WixStdBA and the Wix installer itself are examples of BA's. The former is C++ and the latter is C#. 2) WixStdBA has localization built in. I don't know if the Wix BA has it, but if not you can certainly write it. When it all comes down to it, you'll need to look at your installer requirements. If you are already going to need .Net installed for the final application, there is a lot more eye candy and infrastructure there for you to build your BA from. If your goal is the smallest possible installer, or your destination application doesn't need the .Net framework, then I'd suggest studying WidStdBA and Neil's contributions (WixExtBA). If you decide to extend upon the existing codebase, join wix-dev's and attend some weekly meetings. From my personal experience, Rob/Bob/Neil/Etc are all more than willing to help evolve an idea if it can be done in such a way that helps us all. Jacob -----Original Message----- From: Dan Watson [mailto:dan.wat...@outlook.com] Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 5:20 PM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Help with BA Programming As a new late comer to Wix Bootstrapper programming -- but familiar with MSI side of things -- I am not making much progress I'd hoped I would. Perhaps I was making some wrong assumptions about the Bootstrapper programming. I have gone through the online documentation and I can follow what is described there but I need more. 1) Is it possible to implement Custom Dialogs in BA to collect user inputs as is the case with MSI? For DisplayInternalUI to be set to "no" for better user experience I am assuming that the equivalent must be done in BA. If this is possible, can you please direct me to some examples if any? My search didn't turn up much. 2) How about localized strings? Does this work in exactly the same way as for MSI (say, add localised string file to project as Strings-en-us.wxl and refer to defined strings therein as "!(loc.DefinedLocalizedString)") ? If a different approach how is it done for BA? Is it perhaps I should explore more of MBA rather than BA if the latter has limitations? Dan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn Graph Databases - Download FREE O'Reilly Book "Graph Databases" is the definitive new guide to graph databases and their applications. Written by three acclaimed leaders in the field, this first edition is now available. Download your free book today! http://p.sf.net/sfu/13534_NeoTech _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Learn Graph Databases - Download FREE O'Reilly Book "Graph Databases" is the definitive new guide to graph databases and their applications. Written by three acclaimed leaders in the field, this first edition is now available. Download your free book today! http://p.sf.net/sfu/13534_NeoTech _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
