[wix-users] moving UI code into a fragment in separate source file

Tue Oct 3 11:11:38 PDT 2017

thanks Jason that's a nice recap, and I love this >
*"You can even do this trick for items that don't have a ref
counterpart..."*

I'd been stumped because my UI was inside these unnamed tags

<UI>
</UI>

and I hadn't twigged that I could add an Id, so didn't see how to use it in
a ref
After I added an Id it was simple

<UI Id="myui">
</UI>

with

<UIRef Id="myui">

in the main wxs

Thanks too for the book rec!
Alan

On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 2:22 PM, Jason Beck via wix-users <
wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:

> Alan,
>
> I'm newer to using WiX, so anyone who reads this and notices I say
> something incorrect, please reply with a correction so that we all
> benefit from it.
>
> You can use fragments with your components and UI. I, like you, don't
> like the idea of just using include to dump the file mentioned into your
> Project.wxs.
>
> The answer to your question is actually much easier than you might
> think. You just use a Ref counterpart to a specific tag.
>
> Lets say you have UI.wxs with your UI WiX code and Product.wxs with all
> other WiX code. In UI you will have used the <UI Id="CustomUIWizard">
> tag to define the start of your UI. How do you pull this into your main
> Product.wxs file? You use the ref counterpart. Anywhere inside of your
> <Product ...> tag, just use <UIRef ID="CustomUIWizard" />.
>
> When you reference ANY item with it's Ref Counterpart (PropertyRef,
> ComponentRef, ComponentGroupRef, etc), you will pull the WHOLE fragment
> into scope. So when you use UIRef for CustomUIWizard example above,
> everything in that fragment inside UI.wxs is pulled into the scope of
> Product.wxs.
>
> You can even do this trick for items that don't have a ref counterpart,
> like <Condition>. You could define conditions inside a fragment for
> Condition.wxs file. Since there is no ConditionRef to use to pull it
> into Product.wxs, you can "cheat" by creating a property inside
> Condition.wxs, <Property Id="ConditionReference">, and then (since
> Property has a PropertyRef counterpart) use a <PropertyRef ...> in your
> Product.wxs to pull all those conditions into scope.
>
> Again, be careful with this because everything in that fragment tag will
> be pulled into scope, so if you had one condition for ProductA.wxs and
> one condition for ProductB.wxs inside of that Condition.wxs file as a
> common location, and they were mutually exclusive, referencing ether
> condition in ProductA or ProductB would include both the conditions.
>
> I highly recommend Nick Ramirezs book WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to
> Windows Installer XML. It's an easy read and has lot's of extremely
> helpful information, and despite being for an "old" version of WiX, is
> still incredibly relevant. That's where I learned everything listed above.
>
> On 10/1/2017 1:44 PM, Alan Sinclair via wix-users wrote:
> > thanks Joseph & David .. yes I'll use <?include..>
> >
> > I'm using fragments for components with several separate source files, so
> > was stuck on that idea but couldn't figure a way to make a reference to
> the
> > overall UI section. Include will do fine.
> >
> > thanks
> > Alan
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 12:19 AM, David Watson via wix-users <
> > wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Include is for inserting code inline (usually small repeated fragments).
> >>
> >> If you want to split your code into manageable chunks just author
> several
> >> wxs files and add them to the wixproj (or command line if you build that
> >> way).
> >>
> >> Any time you make a reference across a fragment - whatever file it is
> in -
> >> the linker will link in all the relevant parts.
> >>
> >> Dave
> >>
> >>
> >> www.sdl.com
> >> SDL PLC confidential, all rights reserved. If you are not the intended
> >> recipient of this mail SDL requests and requires that you delete it
> without
> >> acting upon or copying any of its contents, and we further request that
> you
> >> advise us.
> >> SDL PLC is a public limited company registered in England and Wales.
> >> Registered number: 02675207.
> >> Registered address: Globe House, Clivemont Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire
> SL6
> >> 7DY, UK.
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On
> Behalf
> >> Of Joseph L. Casale via wix-users
> >> Sent: 01 October 2017 08:02
> >> To: 'WiX Toolset Users Mailing List' <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> >> Cc: Joseph L. Casale <jcasale at activenetwerx.com>
> >> Subject: Re: [wix-users] moving UI code into a fragment in separate
> source
> >> file
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On
> Behalf
> >> Of Alan Sinclair via wix-users
> >> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2017 10:30 PM
> >> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> >> Cc: Alan Sinclair <anadem at gmail.com>
> >> Subject: [wix-users] moving UI code into a fragment in separate source
> file
> >>
> >>> I'm going to need to extend the installer UI so want to move that code
> >>> into a separate source file, gui.wxs. I assume it will be a fragment
> >>> but how do I reference it so it's included in the MSI? (Sorry, this
> >>> feels like a really dumb question!)
> >>
> >> Use an include preprocessor, see http://wixtoolset.org/
> >> documentation/manual/v3/overview/preprocessor.html
> >> That literally inserts what's wrapped in the include element from the
> >> referenced code into the spot the PP directive exists.
> >>
> >> ____________________________________________________________________
> >> WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
> >> http://www.firegiant.com/
> >>
> >> ____________________________________________________________________
> >> WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
> >> http://www.firegiant.com/
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________________
> > WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
> http://www.firegiant.com/
> >
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
> WiX Toolset Users Mailing List provided by FireGiant
> http://www.firegiant.com/
>