Make Folder in WiX Output on Build Drop Path

Question

I have a question about WiX. But let me describe my situation first: I have a VS2010 Solution and added a WiX (Votive) Project to make a Setup. I am building this Setup on a TFS Build Server. Unfortunately all my Files (*.dll, *.sql, *.msi, *.whatever) are blindly copied into the same Output-Path! I have added a msbuild target with a Move-Task to my Setup.csproj file, to move my msi, bat and sql files into a seperate folder, but unfortunately this doesnt work on TFS-Build.

Here is the Problem (imho): What i do in Votive is a Stage to early. i can make Folders and move the Files, but what i write in the csproj file is done before the TFS randomly take all binaries and puts them into the drop location.

How i tried to solve:

1. I searched the wix2010.targets file for a move or copy command where . is moved to build_drop but i wasnt able to find it.
2. I looked at Build process template but i have no idea of the language or syntax. Is there something to do with it?
3. In the Build defintion in Build Defaults theres the checkbox "This build copies output files to a drop folder" where i have to add my drop location. Is there something i can change here?

My Question: How can i create Subfolders with a WiX Setup file and move certain files into it on a TFS Build?

I hope you can help! Thanks in Advance!

Answer 1

If you just need to move files around so your installer knows where to grab them, then an alternative way is to add a config.wxi file to your installer which points to the location of the source files. You can read more on this here. Although with this approach you may then have to modify the config.wxi at installer compile time to point to the new build location or drop location. If you are familiar with MSBuild there are Tranxition Build Tasks that will help you easily modify a WiX .wxi file. You can also write your own script to do this, but either way you will have to launch your script or build task from the build definition that runs your build.

If you are using Team Build 2010 and you just want to copy files and folders around during your build process then you will need to modify the .xaml Team Build definition which runs your build process. Ewald Hofman wrote an excellent series on Customizing Team Build definitions.

Answer 2

I'm not sure I follow your question but I think you are complaining that your DLL/EXE/et all and MSI all get archived in one directory. Yes, I don't like this either.

What I do is create Solution Platforms called Application, Merge Modules and Setup. Then I tell TFS to build:

Release | Application Release | Merge Modules ( option, you might not have any to build ) Release | Setup

This causes all of my DLL/EXE/Content to archive to \Application\Release, all of my merge modules to archive to \Merge Modules\Release and my MSI to archive to \Setup\Release

This works well for me.