Yes, it is possible. You could put it in the Binary table and extract it out using a custom action. However, you have to extract it from an immediate action (not a deferred action). You could try passing it as a stream to the deferred action from a companion custom action (I saw this one recently) if it doesn't actually have to touch the disk in the "temporary extraction directory".
Of course, you can't delta-file patch binary table entries, as those entries are always "full-file" changes in the patch's transforms. For that, you will need to use the File table (and thus, the Component table). Since you want that component to not "repair" itself whenever your application is repaired via advertisement (assuming you allow that kind of thing) you would need to either isolate that component in its own feature or make it transitive and carefully design its condition (I haven't thought that one all the way through yet, there are probably holes in it). -----Original Message----- From: Lian Jiang [mailto:lji...@microsoft.com] Sent: Saturday, August 15, 2009 8:45 PM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: [WiX-users] Can an installer use a file (extracted to the temparory file extraction directory) but not actually install it? Hi, I have a driver file mydriver.sys which will be installed to c:\windows\system32. What I am doing is: Step 1: install mydriver.sys to c:\program files\myapp; Step 2: a custom action install this driver file to c:\windows\systems. Therefore, after installation, mydriver.sys exists in two locations mentioned above, which is confusing. I want to remove the one in c:\program files\myapp to clear the confusion. Candidate solutions include: Solution 1: make this file hidden in step 1. Solution 2: after Step 2, use a custom action to delete this file under %PROGRAMFILES%. Solution 3: Do not install this file in Step 1 at all. Instead, just extract it to the temporary file extraction directory, and the driver installation custom action directly installs this driver file from the temporary extraction directory. After installation, this driver file is deleted together with the temporary extraction directory. To me solution 3 is cleaner than 1 and 2. But is it possible? For example, is it possible to pack a file and extract it to temporary directory but not install it? Is it possible to access the temporary directory directly from a custom action? I know solution 3 may go into the wild a little but am interested having some discussion. Appreciate any insight. Thanks Lian ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with Crystal Reports now. http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
