How to import file definitions from external resource

[hschultz1960]

Our product consists of 7,000+ files, organized in about 20 packages.
We have so far been using a proprietary table-based installer, which is used not only on Windows, but also on Linux and UNIX.
All files are actively maintained by the developers through these installer tables in a plain text format.

We would like to create a more Windows-friendly MSI installer, and have purchased Advanced Installer Enterprise.
AI in itself works fine, and it is easy to use. However defining the contents of the features and resources is a pain, to say the least.
7,000+ files to go through and painstakingly assign each to the right feature, etc.
What is worse, every time one of the developers change a definition in the master tables, this change must now also be
communicated and remembered for the AI Windows installer.
This will be prone to duplicate work, errors, omissions, and clearly not an ideal scenario.

So the question is: Is it possible to import file and folder definitions from an external resource, such as a CSV or XML file?

At the same time the corresponding feature or component should be assigned.
The beauty of this system would be that we could simply fire up AI after each complete build, and the MSI is generated
according to the table-based maintenance system already in place.

I've glanced into the .AIP file, and noted that files and folders are defined in XML there.
So my thinking is that it must be possible to write a small program which exports our current table-based information
into the XML format used by AI, and simply cut and paste this into the .AIP file.
However, I cannot find documentation on the .API file format.

Suggestions, links, hints, ... anyone?

Thanks - Henrik

[Daniel]

Hello Henrik and welcome to Advanced Installer forums,

Thank you for your interest in Advanced Installer.

Unfortunately we don't have predefined support to import your source files and folders locations from external CSV or XML file. However, in order to achieve what you need you can try to use our "Synchronized Folders" support. You can enable this option from "Files and Folders" page -> folder "Properties..." context menu option -> "Synchronize" tab.

Let us know if this helped.

All the best,
Daniel