http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa368007.aspx
“ComponentId A string GUID unique to this component, version, and language. Note that the letters of these GUIDs must be uppercase. Utilities such as GUIDGEN can generate GUIDs containing lowercase letters. The lowercase letters must be changed to uppercase to make these valid component code GUIDs. If this column is null the installer does not register the component and the component cannot be removed or repaired by the installer. This might be intentionally done if the component is only needed during the installation, such as a custom action that cleans up temporary files or removes an old product. It may also be useful when copying data files to a user's computer that do not need to be registered.” Components with a null ComponentId are only installed during initial installs/major upgrades and are otherwise “forgotten”. Thus, patches, minor updates, removals, etc. its as if they were never in the MSI. IIRC they also cannot be added by enabling a feature in a “change/modify” operation. Also documented in ICE92. Your files could be used that way if you will never need to do minor upgrades/patches/repairs involving those files. Otherwise the binary table would probably be a better bet. Blair From: Sean Farrow Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:36 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Hi Phil, The compile is done at install time--after the file is copied by executing a dos application.! Is there any documentation regarding giving the component a null guid, what exactly does this do or perhaps not do maybe the right question to ask? Cheers Sean. -----Original Message----- From: Phil Wilson [mailto:phildgwil...@gmail.com] Sent: 20 January 2014 23:09 To: General discussion about the WiX toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] best way to handle su8pporting files You can put the file in the Binary table (maybe encrypted) and stream it out yourself, decrypting it. Or you can install it (encrypted) but give the component a null guid so that it is not registered, and can therefore be removed with a custom action or some other method after its been used. Without knowing when you're doing that compile (at install time? Some indeterminate time after it?) it's tricky to recommend anything specific. You won't be able to make the file secure because (as far as I know) the compiler probably can't read encrypted files, so it would have to be plain text for a brief time even if you shipped it encrypted and decrypted it for the compile process. There is no way to hide it in the MSI file because they are very transparent, but you could encrypt it so it couldn't easily be deciphered using something like Orca. Phil Wilson On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 5:55 AM, Sean Farrow <sean.far...@seanfarrow.co.uk> wrote: > Hi, > Yes, it is because of the integration. The compile process needs to be done > on the target machine. > Cheers > Sean. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Wesley Manning [mailto:wmann...@dynagen.ca] > Sent: 20 January 2014 13:18 > To: General discussion about the WiX toolset. > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] best way to handle su8pporting files > > Why can't you just compile the source code beforehand and place the binary in > the installer? It's because of the integration; you are compiling both > together? Usually you can compile your software into an intermediate library > that the user can use and compile with their software. Any change on doing > that? > > -----Original Message----- > From: Sean Farrow [mailto:sean.far...@seanfarrow.co.uk] > Sent: January-19-14 7:16 AM > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: [WiX-users] best way to handle su8pporting files > Importance: High > > Hi All, > I'm in a situation where I'm doing some work for a client integrating some > software we have written in to a piece of software they use. > They haven't paid for the source, so leaving this behind is not an option. > What I need to do is to copy the source file to the target machine, compile > this file and then remove the source file leaving the compiled binary. > Given that RemoveFiles comes before InstallFiles in the InstallExecute > sequence what is the best way of doing this? > Is there a mechanism for some form of support files in windows installer that > are copied to the users machine but not actually installed? > Any help appreciated. > Cheers > Sean. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. > Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For Critical > Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. > Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. > Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For Critical > Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. > Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. > Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For > Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. > Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CenturyLink Cloud: The Leader in Enterprise Cloud Services. Learn Why More Businesses Are Choosing CenturyLink Cloud For Critical Workloads, Development Environments & Everything In Between. Get a Quote or Start a Free Trial Today. http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=119420431&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
