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

[Sean Hall]

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/WixManagedBootstrapperApplicationHost
> 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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