Re: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file
Bob, Since I have not (yet) needed to deploy a web application, take the following with caution! Because it is an in-house application, and not intended for widespread distribution to potentially remote sites you might be able to get away with a single component (assuming no optional choices), although I don't think I would choose to do so. The DLL's (IMHO) count as executables and should be placed in separate components just in case you want/need to patch them later. Because you mention that some files will be optional, obviously those files will need to be placed into the appropriate number of components based on your choices. Be aware that to keep your life as simple as possible you may need additional components to contain any optional files that are "shared". (I.e. if file shared.aspx is required if either somepage.aspx or someotherpage.aspx are present, but both somepage.aspx and someotherpage.aspx are optional, then shared.aspx should go in one component, somepage.aspx in a second and someotherpage.aspx in a third). Remember, you can only choose to install (or not) a component. You cannot install just part of a component (i.e. an individual file). Probably the easiest way to set up what you want is with one core (required) feature (which would contain the core component(s), naturally), and several optional features (containing references to your optional components). It is perfectly acceptable to reference the same component in more than one feature. The component in question will only be installed once (if required), and will not be removed until all features referencing it are also removed. Hope this helps, Regards, Richard From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Yexley, Robert (LNG-CON) Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 1:49 PM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file Thanks for the information Richard, very helpful. It definitely gives me some things to think about, but also raised a few additional questions for me: Since I'm trying to create a web application installer, there aren't really any "executables". It's basically a collection of DLLs, .aspx files, .css files, etc. We're basically trying to provide our infrastructure group with a simplified way of deploying the application that we're creating in house to staging and production servers. So it's ultimately just going to put a bunch of files in a directory selected by the user, and then possibly even create a vdir in IIS, etc...and there will be a few files that will either be copied or not copied to the installation directory, based on a couple of simple user choices. The one other requirement I could see this having would be possibly detecting if the application has previously been installed on the machine, and if so, uninstall it first before installing the new version. So, based on that, would it make more sense to make a single component with all of the required files in it? Or an individual component for each file? __ // YEX // * C O N F I D E N T I A L I T Y N O T I C E * --- The content of this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this communication in error, be aware that forwarding it, copying it, or in any way disclosing its content to any other person, is strictly prohibited. Peek Traffic Corporation is neither liable for the contents, nor for the proper, complete and timely transmission of (the information contained in) this communication. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail immediately and delete the material from any computer. - Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
Re: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file
Thanks for the information Richard, very helpful. It definitely gives me some things to think about, but also raised a few additional questions for me: Since I'm trying to create a web application installer, there aren't really any "executables". It's basically a collection of DLLs, .aspx files, .css files, etc. We're basically trying to provide our infrastructure group with a simplified way of deploying the application that we're creating in house to staging and production servers. So it's ultimately just going to put a bunch of files in a directory selected by the user, and then possibly even create a vdir in IIS, etc...and there will be a few files that will either be copied or not copied to the installation directory, based on a couple of simple user choices. The one other requirement I could see this having would be possibly detecting if the application has previously been installed on the machine, and if so, uninstall it first before installing the new version. So, based on that, would it make more sense to make a single component with all of the required files in it? Or an individual component for each file? __ // YEX // From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:22 AM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file Bob, As far as features / components are concerned, you probably want to look at the Microsoft installer documentation. Very basically though, "Features" are what the end user sees (e.g. "Word", "Excel", etc), and have a one-to-many mapping with the "Components" (word.exe, wordsupportfile.dll, etc.). If you wish to be able to create a patch file at some point in the future, then versioning rules require that you only have one executable per component. If you have multiple executables in the same component, you can only modify them as a complete set (remembering, of course, that component rules also dictate that you change the GUID if any files are added or removed). For non-executable files which are always installed as a "package", it may be appropriate to place them in the same component. That's really a design decision for your installation and will vary depending on your specific needs. Hope this helps, Regards, Richard From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Yexley, Robert (LNG-CON) Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:09 AM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file For some reason, I'm having some trouble following the WiX Tutorial provided online. I was wondering if anyone on the list might happen to have a sample of a WiX source file for installing an ASP.NET web application that they wouldn't mind sharing. I really feel like if I could look at a good sample file it would be more clear how I need to approach this. More than anything, I'm having trouble understanding the relationships between "components" and "features", and whether or not to install each of my binaries for the app individually in its own component, or just one component with all of the binaries I need in it, etc. It seems to me like the tutorial and the help documentation provided with the toolkit has a lot of "you can do it like this or like this or like this", but not any "this is the best/right way to do X". I just need to create an installer for a web app that will provide the user with some options. Any advice or samples would be greatly appreciated. __ // YEX // // Bob Yexley // Contractor / Software Engineer [Extreme Consulting] // LexisNexis - Risk & Information Analytics Group (RIAG) // 937.865.6800 ext. 58655 // [EMAIL PROTECTED] * C O N F I D E N T I A L I T Y N O T I C E * --- The content of this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this communication in error, be aware that forwarding it, copying it, or in any way disclosing its content to any other person, is strictly prohibited. Peek Traffic Corporation is neither liable for the contents, nor for the proper, complete and timely transmission of (the information contained in) this communication. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail immediately and delete the material from any computer. - Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll
Re: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file
Bob, As far as features / components are concerned, you probably want to look at the Microsoft installer documentation. Very basically though, "Features" are what the end user sees (e.g. "Word", "Excel", etc), and have a one-to-many mapping with the "Components" (word.exe, wordsupportfile.dll, etc.). If you wish to be able to create a patch file at some point in the future, then versioning rules require that you only have one executable per component. If you have multiple executables in the same component, you can only modify them as a complete set (remembering, of course, that component rules also dictate that you change the GUID if any files are added or removed). For non-executable files which are always installed as a "package", it may be appropriate to place them in the same component. That's really a design decision for your installation and will vary depending on your specific needs. Hope this helps, Regards, Richard From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Yexley, Robert (LNG-CON) Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:09 AM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file For some reason, I'm having some trouble following the WiX Tutorial provided online. I was wondering if anyone on the list might happen to have a sample of a WiX source file for installing an ASP.NET web application that they wouldn't mind sharing. I really feel like if I could look at a good sample file it would be more clear how I need to approach this. More than anything, I'm having trouble understanding the relationships between "components" and "features", and whether or not to install each of my binaries for the app individually in its own component, or just one component with all of the binaries I need in it, etc. It seems to me like the tutorial and the help documentation provided with the toolkit has a lot of "you can do it like this or like this or like this", but not any "this is the best/right way to do X". I just need to create an installer for a web app that will provide the user with some options. Any advice or samples would be greatly appreciated. __ // YEX // // Bob Yexley // Contractor / Software Engineer [Extreme Consulting] // LexisNexis - Risk & Information Analytics Group (RIAG) // 937.865.6800 ext. 58655 // [EMAIL PROTECTED] * C O N F I D E N T I A L I T Y N O T I C E * --- The content of this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this communication in error, be aware that forwarding it, copying it, or in any way disclosing its content to any other person, is strictly prohibited. Peek Traffic Corporation is neither liable for the contents, nor for the proper, complete and timely transmission of (the information contained in) this communication. If you have received this communication in error, please notify the author by replying to this e-mail immediately and delete the material from any computer. - Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
[WiX-users] Sample web application wxs file
For some reason, I'm having some trouble following the WiX Tutorial provided online. I was wondering if anyone on the list might happen to have a sample of a WiX source file for installing an ASP.NET web application that they wouldn't mind sharing. I really feel like if I could look at a good sample file it would be more clear how I need to approach this. More than anything, I'm having trouble understanding the relationships between "components" and "features", and whether or not to install each of my binaries for the app individually in its own component, or just one component with all of the binaries I need in it, etc. It seems to me like the tutorial and the help documentation provided with the toolkit has a lot of "you can do it like this or like this or like this", but not any "this is the best/right way to do X". I just need to create an installer for a web app that will provide the user with some options. Any advice or samples would be greatly appreciated. __ // YEX // // Bob Yexley // Contractor / Software Engineer [Extreme Consulting] // LexisNexis - Risk & Information Analytics Group (RIAG) // 937.865.6800 ext. 58655 // [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Take Surveys. Earn Cash. Influence the Future of IT Join SourceForge.net's Techsay panel and you'll get the chance to share your opinions on IT & business topics through brief surveys-and earn cash http://www.techsay.com/default.php?page=join.php&p=sourceforge&CID=DEVDEV___ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
