Let WiX harvest the libraries from the local file system at build time?

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

Hi all,

the problem is as following: We got a WiX installer, to which we have added the dependent libraries as Resources. Since these libraries are Qt libraries (located at c:\Qt\5.2.1\msvc2012\lib) and all developers have these installed at the same locations it would be a major efficiency gain if WiX could harvest these libraries directly from a specific folder on the local file system, e.g. we just tell it the path from where it shall grab all the files instead of adding each library separately ( and needing to replace each of them in case we decide to upgrade Qt ). Has anyone ever done this, or tried to get WiX to harvest and include all files from a specific folder in the installer?

Posted 28-Mar-14 4:27am

Marco Bertschi

Add a Solution

Comments

Mehdi Gholam 28-Mar-14 10:37am

Generally I would put all my dependencies in a folder like "Library" and create an installer from that folder (on a build machine) which I can control and know when I have updated components (and tested that work) instead of loading from developer machine folders which might not be the correct version.

Marco Bertschi 28-Mar-14 10:52am

Yes, we got a build server which will do the work for us. But the question remains, how can I harvest these libraries from the file system instead adding them to the solution?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 28-Mar-14 15:01pm

It looks like in practice you can only harvest at the point of creation code, before build, at least if you integrate WiX with MSBuild (which is a very good thing to do). I heard of some plans of developing of more advanced MSBuild Task for harvesting during build, but never saw such things working. Maybe it is available now, but not sure...
—SA

Marco Bertschi 6-Jun-14 14:53pm

Hi Sergey,

a belated follow-up:
I tried to realize this with a PowerShell Script triggering the WiX candle, heat and light with the correct parameters. Candle and Heat work, but light needs a hand-written file which tells which files go where on the target system.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 6-Jun-14 18:35pm

Here we go... still the step prior to build... I'm actually quite fine with that.
Thank you for your information.
—SA

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)