KM Dependancy Explorer

[Harald Jennerich]

Hello,

in my XPE projects i always integrate the dependency and derive explorer
components ( verison 1.0 R5). They are very helpfull to downsize
components for building ramdisks with small footprint.

The dependancy explorer has checkboxes to save the component chain script
and the component chain html. I never could figure out which action
retriggers the generation of the file and which rules are used to
construct the path where these files are created.

One my previous developmemt system I found them somewhere on the C:
drive. Therefore i used them and didnot ask why.



My problem now is:

Since i reinstalled my development system the ".slx" files including
dependency explorer refuse to generate these files completely.
XPE development now resides on Windows XP pro drive I:\...


Dependancy explores custom properties have a strange behavior:

kmSaveChainComponentHTML 4 true ( does not reflect checkbox setting )
kmSaveChainComponentScript 4 true ( does not reflect checkbox setting )

The custom properties are as follows:

kmFilterType 3 4
kmFilterValue 2 EL:Min Start menu Shortcuts
kmSaveChainComponentHTML 4 Wahr
kmSaveChainComponentScript 4 Wahr
kmComponentCount 3 12339
kmMinComponentVisibility 3 100
cmiProtPropList 5
["cmiServicePackLevel","cmiNoHelpFiles","cmiLangEnableMUI"]
cmiLangEnableMUI 4 Wahr
cmiNoHelpFiles 4 Falsch
cmiServicePackLevel

My goal:

To automate the build process I want to create an "Internet Explorer"
component with less dependancies and substitute the "Shell Namespace
Extensions" with my own "El:Shell Namespace Extensions" component.
Unforunately this can not be achieved by prototyping the "IE".


My Questions:

When and where are the scripts created?

Is it possible to export the "Internet Explorer" Component?

I made over 200 components with KM method as far as i remember
with a version i got from "XPE-Files" in Jan 2004. No i have a newer
version from May. Has something changed between verions concerning my
problem?

I tested on development system "XP Professional with SP2 German"
and XPE-English ( KM XP-Emulation ). Same result on both installations.
I also tried to fix the problem by studying the supplied component
sources. Unforunately there is a lot of encrypted vbs which makes it
hard for me to find the spot where the script generation is envoked.

But nevertheless thanks to KM for his excellent tools.

Kind regards

Harald

 

[KM]

Harald,

Thanks for your input.

in my XPE projects i always integrate the dependency and derive explorer
components ( verison 1.0 R5).

I've got only R4. Did I mess up with Revision number again (I always change it manually)? Ouch.. I'll double check what version I
put on www.xpefiles.com.

They are very helpfull to downsize
components for building ramdisks with small footprint.

And an XPeTools component itself does eat a footprint space. Isn't that nice?

The dependancy explorer has checkboxes to save the component chain script
and the component chain html. I never could figure out which action
retriggers the generation of the file and which rules are used to
construct the path where these files are created.

Hmm.. One big problem - lack of good documentation for the components.
I guess I will never find much time to do the docs :-(

The answer is actually easy - you set the check-boxes and whenever you click on a component link on the DependencyExplorer Setting
pages, it saves a "component-named" script and dhtml file on C:\. Sorry, pretty hardcoded feature because it was a hack and should
be used only for CMI exploration purposes.

One my previous developmemt system I found them somewhere on the C:
drive. Therefore i used them and didnot ask why.

Correct. Again, that feature was just for myself initially. I am glad you found it useful too.
I will change the UI eventually.

My problem now is:

Since i reinstalled my development system the ".slx" files including
dependency explorer refuse to generate these files completely.
XPE development now resides on Windows XP pro drive I:\...

Sorry for this bug.
I will have to fix it. I will provide a field or an extended property (ot both) for a base directory to save the files in.

Dependancy explores custom properties have a strange behavior:

kmSaveChainComponentHTML 4 true ( does not reflect checkbox setting )
kmSaveChainComponentScript 4 true ( does not reflect checkbox setting )

These properties should reflect the check-boxes you mentioned above. They are Boolean, btw.
Are you sure you saw the value "4" there? This must be an old version of the component :-(
I'll update the www.xpefiles.com with a new one (but first I'll need to ask Brad to remove the old one from the site ).

The custom properties are as follows:
......


My goal:

To automate the build process I want to create an "Internet Explorer"
component with less dependancies and substitute the "Shell Namespace
Extensions" with my own "El:Shell Namespace Extensions" component.
Unforunately this can not be achieved by prototyping the "IE".

Understood.

I see a few way of accomplishing that:
1) Using MS IE SLD to make your changes (easiest way)
2) Add your own script to a Configuration to fix the MS IE component on the fly (during Dependency Check and Build). It is
doable but not easy and, the worse, not easy transfarable between configurations.
3) Make your own IE component from scratch (ouch, much efforts)
4) Make your own component that will dependent on IE (and bring it in) but will turn off particular IE dependency (the "Shell
Namespace Extensions"). This one pretty eas yto implement from CMI script.
I mean this cannot be done manually (you cannot disable dependencies of a component) but can be done with a component internal
script.

I would vote for 1 (see below) or 4 (you have to know the CMI).

My Questions:

When and where are the scripts created?

C:\ (I will fix this).
When you search for a component it shows you the list of components returned by the search. All the component listed are active
links (to populate the search field automatically for convinience).
So, whenever you click on an active link there and you have the "Save ..." check-boxes set, you get the component .script and .html
files appearing under C:\ volume root.

Is it possible to export the "Internet Explorer" Component?

No.. only script/html.
The reason that I cannot export SLDs out of the database is that there is one Reserved flag used by a CMI export function that I
don't know any possible values for (I tried different values without success).
MS won't give me this information (I have asked).

I have some methods of exporting components (mostly hacks) and I can have IE exported from Mantis Db. But the question is - would it
be legal for you to modify it?
Or even use as a base for your component? I don't know. If you can provide me the answer for this question, I'll be happy to send it
to you

I made over 200 components with KM method as far as i remember
with a version i got from "XPE-Files" in Jan 2004. No i have a newer
version from May. Has something changed between verions concerning my problem?

Ouch.. Do you think I remember?
Well.. I guess I might have changed some things there. Or, most likely, I added new components (like the SmartUpgrade). I don't
think I have been changing the DependencyExplorer for a while.
Anyway, I will do that now and update the component on www.xpefiles.com. I'll send a copy to you directly as well
([email protected], _nospam removed).

I tested on development system "XP Professional with SP2 German"
and XPE-English ( KM XP-Emulation ). Same result on both installations.
I also tried to fix the problem by studying the supplied component
sources. Unforunately there is a lot of encrypted vbs which makes it
hard for me to find the spot where the script generation is envoked.

Nope.. You won't be able to change the XPeTools components by yourself. Leave it to me

But nevertheless thanks to KM for his excellent tools.

Thank you for such valuable input. I thought I am using the CMI script export only myself and was not working much on the bugs and
UI (it works for me as is).
Now I will be doing the bug fixing.

 

[KM]

Hi Harald,

Sent you an update for XPeTools package over email.

In DependencyExplorer you now have a way to specify the directory where to script save file in (or change the appropriate extended
property).
Also, in XPeProEmulation component there are some important changes (added component filtering and estimation).

Please let me know if you see any bugs or issues.