If all you're going to do is exec a bunch of batch files and vbscripts then the InnoSetup executable is probably a *far* better idea. Those scripting platforms are not the way to go to create a robust installation.
However, if you were to integrate fully with the Windows Installer (which is admittedly more work and requires a lot more understanding) then you'd get functionality like rollback, error reporting, patching, resource sharing, publishing/assigning. You'd also end up with a far less complex installer... once you got the declarative parts all in place. It is too bad that the WiX toolset doesn't come with Ini file manipulation extension already. I think many people must create private one off solutions and never consider contributing back to the WiX toolset so no one ever has to implement that again. Back in 2001 I wrote custom actions for configuring IIS, SQL, users, file shares. I contributed them to the WiX toolset and for over a decade others have benefited with all the functionality I described above (rollback, patching, resource sharing, etc) by just adding a few lines of XML. We've had some contributions since (Bob did gaming extension and internet shortcut, and Fredrik gave us COM+ and MSMQ) but there are many more opportunities for people to contribute and make each other's future lives much better. So, anyway, the answer is you'd end up with a far more robust installer by doing as the others suggested. It will take more work up front because no one has contributed the Ini custom actions already. If you wanted to do the work and get Ini custom actions created, feel free to jump on the wix-d...@lists.sourceforge.net mailing list. That's where people the below were pointing you. Or you could just hack it and deal with the issues you'll probably see. In that case, I encourage you to test install, install rollback, uninstall, uninstall rollback, repair, repair rollback, and major upgrade. There are probably more scenarios to think about but I don't tend to remember them all since I try to write the custom actions as the Windows Installer SDK recommends and then it all just works together. By the way, these recommendations aren't unique to the Windows Installer. They're applicable to any installation technology you use. It's just people using the Windows Installer tend to expect all those fundamental scenarios to work so the bar is a bit higher. That's why corporations tend to standardize on the Windows Installer. The Windows Installer makes their life easier. That seems fair to me. Hopefully, there are (many, manymore people installing your software than there are building it... which means saving the customer problems by taking on the work in development is a good trade (economically speaking). On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 9:59 PM, Walter Dexter <wfdex...@gmail.com> wrote: > I totally understand what you're saying. But... > > As far as I can tell, I'm going to have to do custom actions to do a bunch > of the stuff that Inno does easily. Like updating an INI file or running a > program. > > If I move everything out of Inno to WiX that an MSI can do natively - which > appears to really just be registry settings, files and directories - what > do I lose by keeping the stuff that has to be a custom action inside an > Inno and treating that Inno as a single custom action? > > What I gain is that I have an Inno setup that I know already works, and > when it gives troubles, I have an environment that lets me do some > interactive debugging. > > If I write a C# custom action DLL (which seems like a lot of work) all it's > going to do is a bunch of "Exec" commands to run other installers, batch > files and VBScripts. > > I'm fairly MSI and WiX naive. That's why I'm asking - I just totally don't > understand what I gain by doing it "right" with a DLL for custom actions > versus delivering an executable that does the stuff I want to do that > happens to have been created with Inno Setup. > > Honestly, your response didn't add much to my understanding, but I'm sure > it's more me than you. > > > On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 7:36 PM, Christopher Painter <chr...@iswix.com > >wrote: > > > IMO it's crazy. You have to ask yourself WHY Windows Installer is the > > corporate standard in the first place. MSI is transactional, > declarative, > > rich in meta data and transformable with standardized behaviors. You lose > > all of that when you choose to use it merely as a glorified ZIP and do > > everything else out of process. > > > > ---------------------------------------- > > From: "Walter Dexter" <wfdex...@gmail.com> > > Sent: Monday, October 14, 2013 7:21 PM > > To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." > > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > > Subject: [WiX-users] What is the downside to this? > > > > I'm working on transitioning from Inno Setup to WiX due to corporate > > standards. > > > > I have some Inno that are fairly complex, running programs, setting INI > > values, registry settings, etc. > > > > If I set the Inno to not make itself uninstallable, I could just move the > > files out of it to an MSI, include the action-only Inno in the MSI, and > > run > > it as a custom action. The MSI would install files and the embedded Inno > > would do the other stuff. > > > > Does that make any sense at all? Is it inspired or crazy? > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > > October Webinars: Code for Performance > > Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. > > Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most > > from > > the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > > > > > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60135031&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > October Webinars: Code for Performance > > Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. > > Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most > > from > > the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > > > > > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60135031&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > > _______________________________________________ > > WiX-users mailing list > > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > October Webinars: Code for Performance > Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. > Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most > from > the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60135031&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ October Webinars: Code for Performance Free Intel webinars can help you accelerate application performance. Explore tips for MPI, OpenMP, advanced profiling, and more. Get the most from the latest Intel processors and coprocessors. See abstracts and register > http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=60135031&iu=/4140/ostg.clktrk _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
