[wix-users] Issues with Component with Auto Generated GUID

Fri Mar 23 10:23:28 PDT 2018

Component GUID auto generation should be stable, meaning the same GUID
should be generated, if the keypath is "stable". Without stability, then
auto generation wouldn't work properly in upgrades.

You are in a bad place. The decision on whether the non-keypath resources
are installed or not depends on whether the keypath resource has a newer
version and will get installed. *All* decisions are made based on the
keypath. The only way to avoid overwriting the config is to not update the
keypath (presumably the exe) which kind of defeats the upgrade...

Chris provided one possible way to avoid this kind of problem in the
future. His suggestion is accepted as best practice by setup experts.

On how dig yourself out of your current predicament... You'll need to get
creative.

First, I'd advocate for best practices and work toward changing the
application so that the installer installs (and manages) a "template"
config and the application is responsible for creating an instance of the
config (in %ProgramData% since %ProgramFiles% is supposed to be read-only)
that which can be modified by sysadmins. The application will also need to
be responsible for migrating data. In other words, if a schema change
occurs between version 1 and version 3 of the config, then the application
will need to have a mechanism for applying those changes (diff) without
loosing user settings.

Second, (this is where creativity comes into play) you'll need to
transition the current installation into one where resources appear in the
correct components. You might still decide to keep the exe and the template
config in the same component since the schema of the template config,
presumably, doesn't change without a change to the exe. Perhaps you decide
that having exe and config in separate components makes more sense. In any
case, if you decide to change the current 4-file component in anyway, then
you'll need to ensure the new components have different GUIDs *AND* you
*MUST* use a MarjorUpgrade scheduled afterInstallInitialize. That means the
new component for the original keypath *must* have a different GUID which
will probably need to be hard-coded as opposed to auto-generated since the
auto-generation would likely still produce the same GUID. The specifics
here will depend on your strategy and you're strategy will depend on how
you are able to change the application *and* installer.

If your efforts to improve (correct really) the application design fails,
then your only option left might be to write custom actions to
1. backup current config
2. allow installer to overwrite current config
3. migrate user data from backup config to real config

Of course, you'll need to take rollback in to account (that means some
combination of install rollback, uninstall rollback, repair rollback,
upgrade rollback) as well and how all of these custom actions need to be
conditioned appropriately to make sure they run at the appropriate times.

Note, the code for migrating user data gets written (slightly differently)
regardless of whether the application does this or whether the installer
does this. The execution environment for MSI installers is limited so you
really don't want this code in the installer simply because the developers
were ignorant of the need for that functionality in the application itself.

<rant audience="universe">
Setup development really *must* be a conversation with application
development. Generally speaking application developers (or product owners)
do not have enough understanding of setup concerns to make good decisions
on their own. In my opinion, it is the responsibility of setup developers
to educate and guide application developers (and product owners) in the
same way that QA professionals have a responsibility to educate and guide
application developers (and product owners) in how to bake in testability
and quality rather than trying to bolt it on after the fact.
</rant>

--
Edwin G. Castro

On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 9:54 AM, Ven H via wix-users <
wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org> wrote:

> Thanks a lot for the details, Chris. But unfortunately, this is the current
> state of affairs. So, it would be really great, if you could please let me
> know if there is any way to achieve what I am looking for.
>
> Regards,
> Venkatesh
>
> On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 7:31 PM, Christopher Painter <chrpai at iswix.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Having multiple files in a single component isn't an automatic component
> > rule violation.   However grouping an .exe and .exe.config in one
> component
> > may or may not give you the desired  file overwriting behavior as the
> > decision will be based on the keyfile which presumably is the .exe file.
> >
> > https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/
> > aa370561(v=vs.85).aspx
> >
> > For config files, I prefer to have one file that is "owned' by the
> > installer (stock can always overwrite and will never contain user data )
> > and one file created by the application that contains the user data.
>  The
> > installer can't harm what it doesn't know about.   If you are coding in
> > .NET,  the framework has a pattern to easily support this.   The main
> > config file can reference the  custom (override) config file and
> seamlessly
> > apply the settings if they are found.
> >
> > https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa903313(v=vs.71).aspx
> >
> > appsettings at file attribute
> >
> > https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/data/
> > adonet/connection-strings-and-configuration-files
> >
> > connectionstring at configsource attribute
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On
> Behalf
> > Of Ven H via wix-users
> > Sent: Friday, March 23, 2018 6:40 AM
> > To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> > Cc: Ven H <venh.123 at gmail.com>
> > Subject: [wix-users] Issues with Component with Auto Generated GUID
> >
> > I have an MSI which has a component with 4 files (agreed that this
> > violates component rules. But my client was unaware of the best practices
> > and had implemented it in that way some time ago). They have also
> > configured auto generated ID (*) for the Component GUID (again this may
> not
> > be the best thing to do, but they have done it).
> >
> > Of the 4 files, one will be a config file. So, once it is installed at
> > their end customer, their end customer can manually modify this config to
> > suit to their environment. Now we are working on an Upgrade. In this,
> they
> > don't want to touch the already installed config file at the target even
> > though it is modified in the MSI, but other modified files should get
> > updated / overwritten.
> >
> > So, I suggested them to include a MajorUpgrade element with
> > Schedule="afterInstallExecute". But even with this, the config file also
> > seems to be getting overwritten with the installation of the upgrade MSI,
> > probably because the Component GUID is auto generated (*) all the time.
> In
> > fact, I tried it out in a sample and could observe that if the component
> > GUID is different, no files are getting installed during upgrade,
> although
> > this is strange.
> >
> > If I keep the Component GUID constant, then I believe it will work as
> > expected. But, is it possible to achieve this requirement with an auto
> > generated Component GUID everytime? Please suggest if there is a good
> > solution / workaround.
> >
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