[wix-users] Create and further maintain .CONFIG configuration files

[Tigran Galoyan]

Hi Phill,

That's a good advice and I'll definitely apply it to my case.

Thanks,
Tigran



On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 9:49 AM, Phill Hogland <phill.hogland at rimage.com>
wrote:

> My bundles/msi packages install a number of apps with .config files.  I
> use XmlConfig.  (I believe that XmlFile is an older implementation with
> more limited functionality in some scenarios.)  But I also push back on the
> application designer so that the application manages the per-user details.
> My bundles/MSIs are all per-machine, so the 'default' .config is installed
> to a per-machine location, using early scheduling of REP in Major Upgrade
> MSI, meaning that the default is removed and that new or different elements
> or values are easily managed in the setup authoring using XmlConfig.
>
>
> The application is then responsible for copying values from the default
> .config to a per-user or appData .config and migrating any schema changes
> resulting from a Major Upgrade change to the application.  And on uninstall
> per-user data is never uninstalled as the setup is not aware of it.  By
> separating the per-user and per-machine concerns the management process is
> simplified.
>
>
> I had one developer who took over an application project where this
> separation was implemented and functioning.  He took it all out of the
> application and started writing user data back into the 'default' .config.
> Then when he realized the problems he started complaining about the setup.
>  I pushed back with information to help him understand the reason for
> separating per-user and per-machine concerns.  I think the old wix-users
> nabble forum had a number of posts that were helpful on this issue.  I
> don't recall which blogger I should give credit to for the above advice,
> but Heath provides good advice here:
>
>
> https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/heaths/2006/12/21/
> installation-guidelines-for-user-editable-configuration/
>
> Installation Guidelines for User-editable Configuration ...<
> https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/heaths/2006/12/
> 21/installation-guidelines-for-user-editable-configuration/>
> blogs.msdn.microsoft.com
> A common problem with installations is user-editable files and registry
> keys. Configuration of this nature is a problem for every installer
> technology, but ...
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> on behalf of
> Tigran Galoyan <tigran.galoyan at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 7, 2017 1:48:43 PM
> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List
> Subject: [wix-users] Create and further maintain .CONFIG configuration
> files
>
> Hi,
>
> This time I confronted with a task to create and maintain configuration
> files. I was hoping to find the same easy and complete functionality to
> deal with .config files as I do with INI, however, it turned
> out configuration files are not easy manageable ones.
>
> The task is to copy the default .config file if it doesn't exist on the
> customers PC. The file should not be deleted from the target PC on
> uninstall. The Permanent="yes" of the parent Component element takes care
> of this. However, from time to time I may want to modify the .config file
> by adding new element with new attributes, updating the value of the
> existing element or the value of its attribute, or delete an existing
> element or its attribute. Overwriting the whole file is not an option since
> the customer might have customized the .config file, so I only may need to
> push new but default updates to the customer's .config file. As .config
> files are XML files then I tested lots of scenario using the XmlConfig and
> XmlFile elements from Utility extension lib. However, it's like a
> nightmare, many things don't work or if possibly work then not the way as I
> expect.
>
> Anyone can help me out with it, any suggestions how to take care of
> implementing it. Perhaps, there are better ways to cover all required
> functionality to work with .config files?
>
> Another option I wanted to try is not to provide a source initial default
> configuration file, rather, like for INIs I wanted to generate the .config
> file right on the customer PC during the install by having only XmlConfig
> and XmlFile declarations under my Component element, however, I fail on
> creating even the first root element.
>
> Any thoughts, any ideas?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Tigran
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
> WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
> http://www.firegiant.com/
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
> WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
> http://www.firegiant.com/
>