tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post2188907726863715135..comments2024-03-25T00:30:02.127-07:00Comments on ISWIX: IsWiX Stretch GoalsChristopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-70610627387476496582010-08-25T23:39:32.994-07:002010-08-25T23:39:32.994-07:00For me the key feature would be support for someth...For me the key feature would be support for something other than merge modules. As it stands that is a show stopper for me.Neil Sleightholmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07489289165643020423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-7794754803516420002010-08-26T03:57:47.442-07:002010-08-26T03:57:47.442-07:00For our case, MSM's was what we needed since w...For our case, MSM's was what we needed since we were replacing InstallShield 12 MSM's while maintaining our existing InstallShield 12 Basic MSI project.<br><br>I think Merge Modules have gotten a bad rap. They are problematic if you are distributing the merge modules but if you are using them in house simply as a decentralization strategy my experience has been that they work very well. An added benefit is it makes it easy to search through an MSI and know where a particular row came from by it's GUID. When I switch to fragments and wixlibs I will miss that.<br><br>But yes, I do agree with you. IsWiX can't afford to be constrained to only merge modules. I believe the goal of my refactoring will be to split merge modules projects into at least 2 wxs files. One to define the merge module and other(s) to define componentgroups that the first one can then reference in. This way you'll have the flexibility to easily refactor existing fragment component groups in and out of merge modules and products.<br><br>I actually think once I get most of my Linq-2-XML out of the files and folders designer and into an automation layer it'll be fairly easy to implement this redesign.<br><br>Other designers such as Propeties and Custom Tables are already being written to be parent element agnostic wherever approriate.Christopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-76172985049206763422010-08-26T04:00:20.682-07:002010-08-26T04:00:20.682-07:00BTW, if anyone wanted to mock up some wxs files th...BTW, if anyone wanted to mock up some wxs files that demonstrated what a best practices approach would look like, I use them to design my linq 2 xml queries and automation interface members.Christopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-41404737753847113512010-08-26T23:23:43.943-07:002010-08-26T23:23:43.943-07:00I would vote for wixlibs over merge modules. For m...I would vote for wixlibs over merge modules. For me merge modules have too many restrictions.Neil Sleightholmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07489289165643020423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-11075028755739641022010-08-27T03:39:03.529-07:002010-08-27T03:39:03.529-07:00I understand what you are saying Neil but I have t...I understand what you are saying Neil but I have to vote to support both.<br><br>I need to be able to support people who want to interop with other tools such as InstallShield, Wise, VDPROJ. Now that might mean a mergem module project that consumes a wixlib project ( kind of like the foo_msm.wxs is the abstract interface, combined with the wixlib it becomes the foo_msm.msm concrete class ).<br><br>But integrating with InstallShield is still very important to us at my day job. But I really do want to support the other stories except for putting files in products. While some people might want to have monolithic source documents to me this does feel a bit ugly and you should seperate it out into at least one fragment even for small installs.<br><br>What do you think about that?Christopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-9991237305208234312010-08-27T03:57:33.696-07:002010-08-27T03:57:33.696-07:00I only meant wixlib as an alternative to merge mod...I only meant wixlib as an alternative to merge module. Personally I never use merge modules unless I am forced to! Most of my installs are a large collection of fragments, if I need to give code to another team then I will use a wixlib with embedded payload.Neil Sleightholmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07489289165643020423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-985159635193633235.post-18846963825453370632010-08-27T04:14:01.360-07:002010-08-27T04:14:01.360-07:00I hear you. Our environment is that we do product...I hear you. Our environment is that we do product line development where our team provides a centralized build/install service supporting three different business areas and dozens of projects with lots of sharing between them. If we didn't need MSM to work with InstallShield I think Binary WixLibs would be our choice also.<br><br>That might be in our future one day we just aren't there yet.Christopher Painterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12167478740431444267noreply@blogger.com