All you need to do is set the components Transitive attribute to Yes and give it an inner element of Condition and give it a no-op expression that always evaluates to false like 1=0 or GoToHell=666. The component still has to have the same file elements ( components are immutable ) so the files have to exist... even if they are just 0 bytes in size.
Conceptually it's easy. The harder part is keeping track of the collection of files from build to build and then walking the install source to make sure you do the above modifications to the correct elements. Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves attention? E-Mail Me --- On Tue, 12/30/08, John Robbins <j...@wintellect.com> wrote: > From: John Robbins <j...@wintellect.com> > Subject: RE: [WiX-users] WIX 3 - Suggestions > To: "chr...@deploymentengineering.com" <chr...@deploymentengineering.com>, > "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 11:04 AM > Christopher, > > Can you show me an example of what the before and after > would look like in WiX format? If you can, I'll get this > added to my Paraffin tool. > > John > Wintellect > http://www.wintellect.com > 877-968-5528 > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Christopher Painter > [mailto:chr...@deploymentengineering.com] > >Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 11:25 PM > >To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML > toolset. > >Subject: Re: [WiX-users] WIX 3 - Suggestions > > > >MSI does a handful of things very well at the expense > of just about > >everything else. They'll never say it's a > flaw, they'll just say > >that's how it works. > > > >The reality is the upgrade/component rules are a PITA > and require great > >discipline to implement. I guess that's why Rob > posted a thread the > >other day saying that they choose Major Upgrades for > WiX since they > >don't follow the component rules on a daily basis. > ( This has basically > >been my philosophy for the last 5 years ... aka Major > Upgrades "Don't" > >suck ). > > > >In the times that I've choosen to support minor > upgrades, I wrote an > >MSbuild task for TFS that reads an xml file that > contains a list of > >deprecated components. For each file, it creates a 0 > byte file ( since > >the upstream build doesn't generate it anymore ) > and then updates the > >installer source to mark the component as transitive > and assign it a no- > >op condition. > > > >It's a pain, but it does work. > > > >--- On Tue, 12/30/08, John Robbins > <j...@wintellect.com> wrote: > > > >> From: John Robbins <j...@wintellect.com> > >> Subject: Re: [WiX-users] WIX 3 - Suggestions > >> To: "General discussion for Windows Installer > XML toolset." <wix- > >us...@lists.sourceforge.net> > >> Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 12:46 AM > >> My Paraffin tool does keep the same GUIDs for the > files when > >> you run it repeatedly. For the itch I was trying > to scratch > >> was for projects that were always adding files not > removing > >> files. > >> > >> As Bob points out, removing files is the problem. > I've > >> found two discussions that talk about removing > files. The > >> first is here: > >> > http://trentm.com/blog/archives/2007/05/29/wix-and-msp/. The > >> idea is you replace the <File> element with > a > >> <RemoveFile> like the following: > >> > >> <Component Id='AnotherFile' > >> > >> > Guid='C7D97EA9-83DF-4B07-8E38-D10A30F70FD2'> > >> <RemoveFile Id='RemoveFile' > >> On='install' > Name='NewFile.txt'/> > >> </Component> > >> > >> In my installers, I'm using patches to upgrade > and the > >> above trick does work. > >> > >> The second is discussed here: > >> > >http://geekswithblogs.net/Vagmi.Mudumbai/archive/2006/06/11/81426.aspx, > >> which involves some interesting jujitsu of > transitive bit on > >> the component and create a zero byte file. I > don't even > >> know how to express that in WiX format. :) > >> > >> Not being much of an installer guru (I'm still > at the > >> stare in confused stage) I've wondered if > either of > >> these are both good ideas. If so, I could add the > >> appropriate option to Paraffin to handle the > removed file > >> case. > >> > >> If there are no good solutions for the removed > files > >> problem does that mean that there's a flaw in > the > >> installer technology? > >> > >> John > >> Wintellect > >> http://www.wintellect.com > >> 877-968-5528 > >> > >> > >> >-----Original Message----- > >> >From: Bob Arnson [mailto:b...@joyofsetup.com] > >> >Sent: Monday, December 29, 2008 7:04 PM > >> >To: General discussion for Windows Installer > XML > >> toolset. > >> >Subject: Re: [WiX-users] WIX 3 - Suggestions > >> > > >> >Rob Mensching wrote: > >> >> For Components with one file each... > maybe. > >> It's the closest we've > >> >come. Still experimental (one reason it > isn't > >> documented well). > >> >> > >> > > >> >It breaks down whenever files are removed, > which is a > >> problem especially > >> >for Web apps. > >> > > >> >-- > >> >sig://boB > >> >http://joyofsetup.com/ > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > >--- > >> >------ > >> > >_______________________________________________ > >> >WiX-users mailing list > >> >WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> > >https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > >> > >> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >-------- > >> _______________________________________________ > >> WiX-users mailing list > >> WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >------ > >_______________________________________________ > >WiX-users mailing list > >WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > >https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
