I am not aware of documentation or browsing tool for Wixpdb files. If you have .NET Framework programming experience you could write a tool for that. Wixpdb files can be manipulated through the Pdb and related classes in wix.dll.
Fragments (or sections) are the smallest unit of granularity in WiX and linking and patching operate at that level. A while ago you could reference Fragments directly (through FragmentRef), but that capability was removed in favor of more structured elements like ComponentRef, PropertyRef, etc. Patch families follow the same paradigm of structured references, but they also carry the legacy of the fragment-based architecture of WiX. Just like a ComponentRef would bring all other content from the same Fragment into the final MSI, a ComponentRef in a PatchFamily would bring all other content from the same Fragment into the final MSP even if it is not referenced. -----Original Message----- From: JWalker [mailto:improvi...@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 1:15 PM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Extra Files in Patch Thank you for the response and the helpful suggestions. Is there any documentation of the internal structure of the wixpdb file (or an Orca-like tool for editing it)? Also I was wondering, what is the point of having component refs in the PatchFamily element? I originally thought they were for filtering the differences in the transform but that is evidently not the case. --- On Thu, 9/3/09, Svet Bonev <sbo...@microsoft.com> wrote: From: Svet Bonev <sbo...@microsoft.com> Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Extra Files in Patch To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Date: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 4:15 PM The granularity at which WiX v3 patching operates is a Fragment. This means that any updated files authored in that Fragment will be packaged into the patch. When you say the files have not changed, I assume you mean that you haven't changed their source code. But most likely they got new file versions and are physically different than the ones in the baseline. The default file comparer in WiX does simple byte comparison and won't detect version changes. This is pretty difficult problem to tackle. Depending on where you are in your product cycle, I see these possibilities: 1) You haven't shipped the baseline yet: - Refactor the authoring so that each Component is in its own Fragment. 2) You have shipped the baseline already: - Implement a binder extension that overrides the file comparer and has a file list or something of things that you know have or have not changed; - Write a script that would copy the unchanged baseline files on top of the upgrade files before producing the upgrade MSIs - then the default file comparer will not see the differences; - Assuming you use wixpdbs to create the patches, write a special tool that would re-fragment your components so that each of them is in its own component - you would run this tool on both the baseline wixpdb and the upgrade wixpdb before creating the transforms; - Use admin images patching instead - WiX v3 can produce patches based on admin images and the Fragment issue doesn't apply - you would need to change your build process to create admin images and then run torch on them. -----Original Message----- From: JWalker [mailto:improvi...@yahoo.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 6:54 PM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: [WiX-users] Extra Files in Patch Hi, I am using the WiX-only approach described in the wix3 chm to create patch packages. In some cases lots of extra files (files that have not changed from the baseline version) are being included in the patch, maybe hundreds. They are not referenced in the patch.wxs file, and I have no idea how or why they got there. If I view the patch in orca, I see that the PatchAdded bit has been set on the attribute column for these files but no other differences. They seem to come from the same component group as the changed files, though. This not only makes the .msp file huge, but it will overwrite files from previous patches. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
