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

Wed Jul 8 05:50:25 PDT 2020

I created a WIP for this at
https://wixtoolset.org/development/wips/6209-multi-architecture-bal/. We
need to decide how to expose the UX container in authoring.

On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 8:11 AM Sean Hall <r.sean.hall at gmail.com> wrote:

> Creating symbols isn't what I was looking for, I want the extension to be
> able to get Core to take over the compilation such that all children of the
> custom element are compiled as if they were children of a
> BootstrapperApplicationRef. Basically I want an extension to be able to
> declare that this element is a customized BootstrapperApplicationRef where
> the extension provides the Id, but it will probably also have custom
> attributes for that element as well. Because of the need to set the Id on
> the BootstrapperApplicationRef, I don't see how custom attributes for
> BootstrapperApplicationRef could accomplish the same thing.
>
> Today, Payloads and PayloadGroups under a Bundle are treated as loose
> files for the bundle. If you could specify BootstrapperApplication="yes"
> that could work. Or even create new elements, like BAPayload/BAPayloadGroup
> or BootstrapperApplicationPayload/BootstrapperApplicationPayloadGroup.
>
> On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 3:27 AM Rob Mensching <rob at firegiant.com> wrote:
>
>> It does seem reasonable to have mechanism to add Payload symbols the same
>> way registry key symbols can be added.
>>
>> Alternatively, could the required data be added with custom attributes on
>> the BootstrapperApplicationRef? (That might not be pretty enough)
>>
>> Exposing the UXContainer might be interesting as well but nothing comes
>> to mind right away that would look good.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: wix-devs <wix-devs-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> On Behalf Of Sean
>> Hall via wix-devs
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2020 12:01 AM
>> 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
>>
>> 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/WixManagedBootstrapperApplication
>> > > Ho 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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