wix - Move from manual component creation to harvesting with the HeatDirectory task -

i using wix 3.8 build project installs product. installer done. 1 of programmes gets installed package relying on dlls third party updated frequently. idiotically version number of dlls change on regular basis. when first writing installer project did not consider inculding support changing file names , wrote every component manually.

this behaviour should changed in future. if understand correctly, generating components files automatically can done of heatdirectory task. have created example project using heatdirectory task working. there discrepancy in output heatdirectory task produces , manually authored components have been using in past.

i heatdirectory task produce same output manual approach, possible. following code of 2 components, first created manually , secondly created heatdirectory task:

manually created components:

<componentgroup id="thirdparty.v13.2" directory="installfolder"> <component    id="cmp_thirdparty.v13.2.dll"    guid="ac5e00f0-b458-4272-b132-f13594ed4916">   <file      id="thirdparty.v13.2.dll"      name="thirdparty.v13.2.dll"      source="componentsdir\thirdparty\thirdparty.v13.2.dll"      keypath="yes"      assembly=".net"      assemblyapplication="thirdparty.v13.2.dll"      assemblymanifest="thirdparty.v13.2.dll"      compressed="no"      diskid="$(var.thirdpartydiskid)"/> </component> <component    id="cmp_thirdparty.v13.2.xml"    guid="64ac3f5f-38e9-41ec-b714-636f5d9c0cb4">   <file      id="thirdparty.v13.2.xml"      name="thirdparty.v13.2.xml"      source="source="componentsdir\thirdparty\thirdparty.v13.2.xml"      keypath="yes"      compressed="no"      diskid="$(var.thirdpartydiskid)"/> </component> </componentgroup> 

heatdirectory task generated code:

<componentgroup id="files"> <component    id="cmp9d064a733360960e07277cfd9ab84af1"    directory="installfolder"    guid="*">   <file      id="fild5dcb6e091d2d12303e2e80b0b767438"      keypath="yes"      source="$(var.path)\thirdparty.v13.2.dll"/> </component> <component    id="cmpa8681a63a8a4991d18824ba17e4ca4bf"    directory="installfolder"    guid="*">   <file      id="fil17554b3cd0e576337aec758831009938"      keypath="yes"      source="$(var.path)\thirdparty.v13.2.xml"/> </component> </componentgroup> 

the code producing output above following:

<target name="beforebuild"> <heatdirectory    directoryrefid="installfolder"    outputfile="files.wxs"    directory="s:\omepath"    suppressrootdirectory="true"    toolpath="$(wixtoolpath)"    autogenerateguids="true"    componentgroupname="files"    preprocessorvariable="var.path"> </heatdirectory> </target> 

i'll note down characteristics of heatdirectory task generated code i'd change:

1. every component in componentgroup has directory attribute. want parent componentgroup have directory attribute , omit in every child component.
2. i want static guids.
3. i want component's id attribute composed of prefix cmp followed file name. understand there cannot 2 files having same file name in project know not case. don't want cryptic identifier generated task.
4. the file child item of component spartanic. want heatdirectoy task create name attribute every file current name of file. compressed attribute should added value no , diksid should added variable value can specified in task somehow.
5. if harvested file dll, task should append attributes asssembly value .net, assemblyapplication name of harvested file value & assemblymanifest name of harvested file value.

is possible achieve heatdirectory task?

the answer manipulating output of heatdirectory task use xslt. in heatdirectory task attribute called transforms can specified points file containing xslt instructions. achieve output asking for, following xslt code can used:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <xsl:stylesheet   version="1.0"   xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/xsl/transform"   xmlns:wix="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"   xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"   exclude-result-prefixes="msxsl">    <xsl:output     method="xml"     indent="yes"/>   <xsl:variable name="componentgroup-id" select="//wix:componentgroup/@id"/>   <xsl:variable name="destinationfolder" select="//wix:component[1]/@directory"/>   <xsl:template match="@*|node()">     <xsl:copy>       <xsl:apply-templates select ="@*|node()"/>     </xsl:copy>   </xsl:template>    <xsl:template match="//wix:directory">     <xsl:variable name="dirname" select="@name" />     <xsl:copy>       <xsl:attribute name="id">         <xsl:value-of select="$componentgroup-id"/>         <xsl:text>_</xsl:text>         <xsl:value-of select="$dirname"/>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:attribute name="name">         <xsl:value-of select="$dirname"/>       </xsl:attribute>     </xsl:copy>   </xsl:template>    <xsl:template match="//wix:componentgroup">     <xsl:copy>       <xsl:attribute name="id">         <xsl:value-of select="$componentgroup-id"/>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:attribute name="directory">         <xsl:value-of select="$destinationfolder"/>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:apply-templates />     </xsl:copy>   </xsl:template>    <xsl:template match="//wix:component">     <xsl:variable name="filepath" select="current()/wix:file/@source" />     <xsl:variable name="filename" select="substring-after($filepath,'\')" />     <xsl:variable name="guid" select="@guid" />     <xsl:copy>       <xsl:attribute name="id">         <xsl:text>cmp_</xsl:text>         <xsl:choose>           <xsl:when test="contains($filename,'\')">             <xsl:value-of select="substring-after($filename,'\')"/>           </xsl:when>           <xsl:otherwise>             <xsl:value-of select="$filename"/>           </xsl:otherwise>         </xsl:choose>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:attribute name="guid">         <xsl:value-of select="$guid"/>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:apply-templates />     </xsl:copy>   </xsl:template>    <xsl:template match="//wix:file">     <xsl:variable name="filepath" select="@source" />     <xsl:variable name="filename" select="substring-after($filepath,'\')" />     <xsl:copy>       <xsl:attribute name="id">         <xsl:choose>           <xsl:when test="contains($filename,'\')">             <xsl:value-of select="substring-after($filename,'\')"/>           </xsl:when>           <xsl:otherwise>             <xsl:value-of select="$filename"/>           </xsl:otherwise>         </xsl:choose>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:attribute name="keypath">         <xsl:text>yes</xsl:text>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:attribute name="source">         <xsl:value-of select="$filepath"/>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:if test="contains($filename,'.dll')">         <xsl:attribute name="assembly">.net</xsl:attribute>         <xsl:attribute name="assemblyapplication">           <xsl:choose>             <xsl:when test="contains($filename,'\')">               <xsl:value-of select="substring-after($filename,'\')"/>             </xsl:when>             <xsl:otherwise>               <xsl:value-of select="$filename"/>             </xsl:otherwise>           </xsl:choose>         </xsl:attribute>         <xsl:attribute name="assemblymanifest">           <xsl:choose>             <xsl:when test="contains($filename,'\')">               <xsl:value-of select="substring-after($filename,'\')"/>             </xsl:when>             <xsl:otherwise>               <xsl:value-of select="$filename"/>             </xsl:otherwise>           </xsl:choose>         </xsl:attribute>       </xsl:if>       <xsl:attribute name="compressed">         <xsl:text>no</xsl:text>       </xsl:attribute>       <xsl:attribute name="diskid">         <xsl:text>$(var.somediskid)</xsl:text>       </xsl:attribute>     </xsl:copy>   </xsl:template>  </xsl:stylesheet>