I am new to Wix, but I have done something similar myself. My opinion is to take that huge feature and identify the various component "groups" (related functionality). Create a separate .wxs file for each such group of components and move them into that. Create in each file a single Feature element with those components (with the attribute Display set to "hidden" as you don't want these in the feature tree).
Back in the main *.wxs file, in your Feature element, simply add a FeatureRef element that refers to the Feature of your component group in the other file(s). While not on the same scale as your project I do this for my product for an IE add-on. I have carved out a separate .wxs file that deals with installing new search providers, that contains all the Properties, Components and Features, etc. specific to this. The Features also include the necessary conditional logic for whether or not to install, or whether this is an All Users or Current Users install. All of the specific feature elements are under a single named Feature within my SearchProviders.wxs file. Then back in my main Product.wxs file I simply add a FeatureRef element identifying the SearchProvider Feature into my main Feature. I am doing this with Visual Studio 2008 and Wix 3.0, so the compiling and linking of all the file is done automatically, but this should be fairly straightforward to figure out. I would also point out that breaking this up into a number of logically related components/features in separate .wxs file should also make your project more maintainable... Andreas -----Original Message----- From: Curtis Jewell [mailto:lists.wix-us...@csjewell.fastmail.us] Sent: August-30-09 5:58 AM To: discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: [WiX-users] Too large a feature - How do I split it down? Right now, I have a 3600+ component feature, and I'd like to know how to split it up into subfeatures that do not show up on a feature tree. (when that gets added in - I'm not using it right now. Here's how it looks right now: <Feature Id='Complete' Title='Strawberry Perl 5.10.1.0 Beta 1' Description='The complete package.' Level='1'> <ComponentRef Id='C_A12B5135_7579_30CB_93B5_89BEAC99BB18' /> <!-- 3600 ComponentRef's later --> <ComponentRef Id='C_FC5B3A59_5637_329F_8A85_6197BCA7E83F' /> </Feature> --Curtis -- Curtis Jewell swords...@csjewell.fastmail.us %DCL-E-MEM-BAD, bad memory -VMS-F-PDGERS, pudding between the ears [I use PC-Alpine, which deliberately does not display colors and pictures in HTML mail] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- 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
