Hi Markus, I've been writing WiX installers for over a year now and started off relatively soon with using <DirectoryRef/>, putting solely my directory tree in one WXS (DirectoryStructure.wxs) and then having each <File/> referencing the directory ID's in that file.
This later became very valuable when we started selling one product to many customers--each customer needed a slightly unique look to their installer, but the underlying directory structure needed to be exactly the same for the application to run--so all the individual projects linked in this one directory structure. -Zach On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 11:02 AM, Markus Karg <markus.k...@gmx.net> wrote: > I disagree that structure and content are different concerns, they are the > same (or do you separate files and folders on your harddisk, too?). The > question was, why it is used in the *most simple* examples. Since it does > *not* focus on the example at hand, but instead, makes that examples overly > lengthy and complex, compared to the examples found in the WiX tutorial. In > fact, I share the WiX tutorial author's opinion that DirectoryRef shouldn't > get used unless it is *needed* (yes, these days we designers discuss topics > like 'overdesigning' and 'overarchitecturing') to not provide lots of code > overhead (which is hard to read and error-prone) -- what mostly will be the > case only if <Fragment> is used. *That's* why I asked for a reason. If it > would be optimal to *always* separate it, then it wouldn't make any sense > to > allow <File> inside of <Directory> at all, since virtually nobody will > confess that he is writing a HelloWorld.msi... ;-) > > Regards > Markus > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: IFM Lists [mailto:jkli...@ifm-services.com] > > Sent: Mittwoch, 4. November 2009 01:04 > > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Why is the WiX manual using DirectoryRef > > > > > > > did that complexity ... Why is the WiX manual separating content > > > from structure > > > > > > Markus, > > > > I am a new WiX user, but based my gut reaction as a software engineer, > > and my thin experience so far with WiX, the answer is "separation of > > concerns", which is a fancy way of saying "because it's smart to do". > > > > Once you move past the most simple of projects, separating content > > from structure allows you to maintain your sanity. :) > > > > As far as the documentation is concerned (isolated from any project), > > I like the DirectoryRef use as (1) it illustrates appropriate use but > > more importantly (2) it does keep things focused on the example at > > hand. > > > > Just my two bits. > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ------- > > 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
