[wix-users] Patch Creation Steps

[Ven H]

Thanks a lot, Jacob. But I have a requirement to build patches since only a
couple of fixes / changes in files may have to be pushed. Also, I am trying
to learn Patch from the following links.

http://petermarcu.blogspot.in/2007/06/wix-building-patch-using-new-patch_29.html

http://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/patching/wix_patching.html

It looks like Patch works only if the file (Sample.txt in this case), is
inside the Version (1.0 or 1.1) folder. What if it is nested inside another
folder inside the version folder or if it is inside a different folder.
Then it is throwing Object reference error during the Pyro command
invocation. It will be great if anyone who has already implemented Patches
successfully can also provide their inputs. I have also tried with
different values for Patch Classification like Update, Service Pack, Hotfix
and so on. But the behavior seems to be the same. There seems to be very
less documentation on this. Also, I am wondering how to implement scenarios
like Hotfix. If Patch is the answer, then yes, I have to get it working to
push a couple of fixes, rather than taking the Major Upgrade route. I am
not sure if this is a bug in Pyro / Torch, but somehow, I have been
struggling a lot to get this working. My customer's MSI will have many
files which are in predefined folders already. If they just want to deploy
any one file (or two), then I am not sure how I can get it working. There
only seem to be samples out there (with a single Sample text file and 2
versions) and no real world examples.

The error is given below including the Stack Trace.

pyro.exe : error PYRO0001 : Object reference not set to an instance of an
object.

Exception Type: System.NullReferenceException

Stack Trace:
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.MediaRow.get_LastSequence()
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Patch.AttachTransforms(ArrayList
transforms)
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Tools.Pyro.Run(String[] args) in
C:\build\work\eca3d12b\wix3\src\tools\pyro\py
ro.cs:line 201

Unhandled Exception: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not
set to an instance of an object.
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.MediaRow.get_LastSequence()
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Patch.AttachTransforms(ArrayList
transforms)
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Tools.Pyro.Run(String[] args) in
C:\build\work\eca3d12b\wix3\src\tools\pyro\py
ro.cs:line 250
   at Microsoft.Tools.WindowsInstallerXml.Tools.Pyro.Main(String[] args) in
C:\build\work\eca3d12b\wix3\src\tools\pyro\p
yro.cs:line 92

It will be great, if anyone can please help me with this. I have been
struggling with this for so many days without any success.

Regards,
Venkatesh

On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 11:23 PM, Hoover, Jacob <Jacob.Hoover at greenheck.com>
wrote:

> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1405100/change-my-
> component-guid-in-wix
>
> https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32142191/remove-or-
> rename-files-during-minor-updatewix-3-9-patch
>
> If you don't have a solid understanding of Windows Installer, you should
> stick to major upgrades, auto-generated component ID's, and follow best
> practices.
>
> https://www.joyofsetup.com/2008/12/30/paying-for-upgrades/
>
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/
> bb204770(v=vs.85).aspx
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf
> Of Ven H via wix-users
> Sent: Friday, December 1, 2017 11:22 AM
> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> Cc: Ven H <venh.123 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [wix-users] Patch Creation Steps
>
> Hi,
>
> I am really sorry to be asking this question again, as I am new to WiX and
> I am not getting much help with Patch creation. I am currently following
> the below link to create a Patch.
>
> http://petermarcu.blogspot.in/2007/06/wix-building-patch-
> using-new-patch_29.html
>
>  If I follow it exactly like, <File Id="SampleFile" Name="Sample.txt"
> Source=".\$(var.Version)\Sample.txt" />, the patch gets created. So,
> basically, in this case, the Sample.txt file has to be inside 1.0 and 1.1
> with different content for the patch to get created. In my case, I cannot
> strictly follow this approach. My Sample.txt could be in a different folder
> with different content (say, Test/Sample.txt for version 1.0 and
> TestPatch/Sample.txt for version 1.1). But in this case, the Pyro command
> throws Object Reference error. I am finding it really difficult to debug
> this. So, are there any predefined folder structures to be followed for
> enabling patch creation? Please help.
>
>
> Regards,
> Venkatesh
>
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