by Doesn't it seem strange that the developer community tries to solve problems
concerned
with MS system software by speculating about it as if it were a black box
that came from
Mars. I see more postings here about people trying things that don't work
and various
replies speculating about why or if it can work. But MS system software is
not a black
box from mars. The code exists somewhere; was written by someone at MS. Why
don't
the people with access to the source code just answer the questions when
appropriate.
A case in point: the installation of MS Data Access Components using Windows
Installer.
The documentation says that you must use MDAC_TYP.EXE to install it.
Question: how to
do that using Windows Installer. So, I searched the MS documentation, and
finding nothing
there I posted a few messages in these newsgroups. Several people suggested
using a
CustomAction in my Installer MSI. So, I tried that and got an error message.
So, finally
I e-mailed MS Product Support group with my problem. I was impressed. A tech
responded
within 24 hours. He said that regardless of whether I could solve the
problem that gave me
the error message, the basic thing I was trying to do would not work.
Couldn't be done.
There was a fundamental inconsistency between the needs of MDAC installation
and the
Windows Installer.
So, my question: if MS knew that it wouldn't work, why didn't they post a
reply to my message
and tell me it wouldn't work. Why did they sit back and just watch us
crawling around the
black box, scratching its outsides, and speculating about how it works??
Jim Walsh
P.S. I finally found the error in my CustomAction. And, when I fixed it, it
looks like my
Windows Installer MSI really does install MDAC. That leads to some other
questions
that I'll save for another posting.