[wix-devs] Bal.wixext BA x64/ARM64 support

[Sean Hall]

I've run into a problem replacing the BootstrapperApplicationRef with a
custom element. There's no way for the extension to support child Payload
or PayloadGroupRef elements without parsing them itself. Should I add
something to ParseHelper to parse the custom element's children as if
they're children of a BootstrapperApplication element? Or should I add the
ability to associate a Payload or PayloadGroup with the UX container?
Something else?

On Sat, Jun 27, 2020 at 1:37 AM Rob Mensching <rob at firegiant.com> wrote:

> That sounds very likely. I haven't been in BAs much for quite a while now
> so none of it is fresh in mind.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Sean
> Hall via wix-devs
> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2020 4:33 PM
> To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> Cc: Sean Hall <r.sean.hall at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [wix-devs] Bal.wixext BA x64/ARM64 support
>
> It sounds like there should be a custom element, or probably multiple -
> one for each built-in BA. If no one has any ideas about how it should be,
> then I think this is going to be one of those times where you have to
> implement it to see how it should be designed.
>
> On Fri, Jun 26, 2020 at 2:12 AM Bob Arnson via wix-devs <
> wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:
>
> > +1. The extension can be smarter about knowing the platform being
> > +compiled
> > for. The "native" element maybe not so much.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of
> > Rob Mensching via wix-devs
> > Sent: Thursday, 25 June, 2020 11:23
> > To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> > Cc: Rob Mensching <rob at firegiant.com>
> > Subject: Re: [wix-devs] Bal.wixext BA x64/ARM64 support
> >
> > The bulk of the design effort for Burn in WiX v3.x went into the engine.
> > The development experience was definitely second. In fact, when we
> > started, bundles were created by a separate tool, not the candle/light
> pipeline.
> >
> > Managed code came even later and again the focus was spent on just
> > making the interaction with the engine work. The development
> > experience was definitely second.
> >
> > Same for wixstdba.
> >
> > So, don't necessarily lean on history here. If the experience can best
> > be improved by enhancing Bal.wixext then that is absolutely the best
> > way to do it. We didn't have Bal.wixext for a long time and, IMHO,
> > underutilized in the name of expediency many times (Burn development
> > got pretty hectic for a while at the end).
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of
> > Sean Hall via wix-devs
> > Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2020 3:16 AM
> > To: WiX Toolset Developer Mailing List <wix-devs at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> > Cc: Sean Hall <r.sean.hall at gmail.com>
> > Subject: [wix-devs] Bal.wixext BA x64/ARM64 support
> >
> > How do we want to do this? In the extension custom actions, there's a
> > custom element like NativeImage in NetFx. Its compiler calls
> > ParseHelper.CreateCustomActionReference which picks the right Id based
> > on the architecture being compiled.
> >
> > For the BAs, there is no custom element. The user would manually have
> > to set the BootstrapperApplicationRef Id based on which architecture
> > they're compiling for.
> >
> > Do we want to create a new element to abstract this away? Should we
> > repurpose the
> > WixStandardBootstrapperApplication/WixManagedBootstrapperApplicationHo
> > st elements for this? It seems like the Bal extension was originally
> > put together with the goal to write as little C# code as possible.
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