Doctor Deploys Blog

Our friends with WiX (principally blogger Rob Mensching) had some questions about the schema changes.  One of those questions was:

Question:
Will there be an updated ICE and _Validation table that supports the schema changes?

Context:

Windows Installer 4.5 supports adding a new bits

• 
  
  CustomAction table, Type column, msidbCustomActionTypePatchUninstall bit


• 
  
  Component table, Attribute column,msidbComponentAttributesUninstallOnSupersedence and msidbComponentAttributesShared bits  

Which breaks ICE 45 and is out of range of the existing 4.0 _Validation table.

Answer:

Yes, we do have updates to our SDK Tools before we call development complete.  We have planned for this work to happen after the engine changes are complete.  Our habit is to make sure the engine changes are complete before we shift to SDK tools.

[Author: Robert Flaming]
This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm.

Original post by Windows Installer Team

Our friends with WiX (principally bloggers Rob Mensching and Heath Stewart) had some questions about the schema changes.  One of those questions was:

Question:
Did you really mean to build a patching feature that we can’t patch to because of a schema change?

Context:

Windows Installer 4.5 supports adding a custom action that will run during patch uninstall.  For beta, this was accomplished by adding a new bit msidbCustomActionTypePatchUninstall to the CustomAction table.  Given the value of the bit msidbCustomActionTypePatchUninstall is 0×8000, it means the schema for the Type column of the CustomAction table changes from i2 (the integer column data type) to i4 (the double integer column data type)

Answer:

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.  No, this was not our intent.  As I recall, the change from an attribute bit in the i2 range to the upper half of the i4 range was a side effect from a bug fix.

Thanks for the suggestions to have a separate table or an separate “Ex” column in the same table.  These are both quality ideas for enabling supporting patching in this patching feature. 

Development is considering this feedback and is formulating their solution.

[Author: Robert Flaming]
This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm.

Original post by Windows Installer Team

Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) now contains the Windows Installer 4.5 beta documentation.  From the What’s New in Windows Installer 4.5 page, you’ll find information on our new multi-package transaction APIs: MsiBeginTransaction, MsiEndTransaction, and MsiJoinTransaction.  You’ll also find context for the Embedded features including MsiEmbeddedUI table, MsiEmbeddedChainer table and the EmbeddedUIHandler prototype.

Many thanks to Mark, Jen, Matt, Lee, and Julie for getting these pages out to you.

[Author: Robert Flaming]
This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights. Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm.

Original post by Windows Installer Team