error WIX0094: The identifier 'WixComponentGroup:XtraEditorsDemoCenter.Binaries' could not be found. Ensure you have typed the reference correctly and that all the necessary inputs are provided to the linker.

[haiconrbi]

Which version of WiX are you building with?

4.0.0-rc.2

Which version of Visual Studio are you building with (if any)?

2022

Which version of the WiX Toolset Visual Studio Extension are you building with (if any)?

HeatWave 0.9.4

Which version of .NET are you building with?

.net6.0

Describe the problem and the steps to reproduce it.

I converted the WiX3 project to WiX4. This worked in WiX3. In WiX4 has error:

42>E:\Work\Solution\XtraEditors\MergeModule.wxs(7): error WIX0094: The identifier 'WixComponentGroup:XtraEditorsDemoCenter.Binaries' could not be found. Ensure you have typed the reference correctly and that all the necessary inputs are provided to the linker.

How to port from version 3x to version 4x properly RefProjectOutputGroups in ProjectReference?

XtraEditor.wixproj

<Project Sdk="WixToolset.Sdk/4.0.0-rc.2">
<PropertyGroup>
<OutputType>Module
<OutputNameSuffix>.XtraEditorsDemoCenter
<EnableProjectHarvesting>True
<SuppressValidation>true
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectReference Include="..\XtraEditorsDemoCenter\XtraEditorsDemoCenter.csproj">
<Name>XtraEditorsDemoCenter
<Project>{487e2f48-e213-466a-8abe-7b6bbf66fb00}
<Private>True
<DoNotHarvest>
<RefProjectOutputGroups>Binaries;Content;Satellites
<RefTargetDir>DEMOCENTER
</ProjectReference>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>

MergeModule.wxs

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs">
<Module Language="1033" Codepage="1251" Version="$(var.FileVersion)" Id="$(var.MainProduct).$(var.SubProduct)_$(var.FileVersion).XtraEditorsDemoCenter" Guid="{171E70A8-686B-4AE4-93C1-02645515F75C}" InstallerVersion="200">
<SummaryInformation Description="$(var.MainProduct).$(var.SubProduct)-$(var.FileVersion).DemoCenter" Keywords="msi,installer" Manufacturer="$(var.Manufacturer)" Codepage="1251" />
<ComponentGroupRef Id="XtraEditorsDemoCenter.Binaries" />
<ComponentGroupRef Id="XtraEditorsDemoCenter.Content" />
<Directory Id="DEMOCENTER" Name="." />
</Module>
</Wix>

[robmen]

What happens if you add a PackageReference to WixToolset.Heat?

[haiconrbi]

Could you describe in more detail. So far I don't quite understand your idea.

[haiconrbi]

I used this artical .

But unable to find package WixToolset.Heat

nuget.exe install WixToolset.Heat.
Feeds used:                                             
https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json
Installing package WixToolset.Heat to E:\.
CACHE https://api.nuget.org/v3/registration5-gz-semver2/wixtoolset.heat/index.json
Unable to find package WixToolset.Heat 

[robmen]

You can use HeatWave to add the package reference or edit your .wixproj to add:

<ItemGroup>
   <PackageReference Include="WixToolset.Heat" Version="4.0.0-rc.2" />
</ItemGroup>

[haiconrbi]

I already used it, same error

[robmen]

I don't know what "it" refers to in your statement. At this point, it's probably best if you provide a GitHub repo that demonstrates the issue.

[haiconrbi]

I created repo

[robmen]

That repo is empty.

[haiconrbi]

Sorry, try check again

[barnson]

Converting to discussion.

[BMurri]

Three issues with the contents of the repo:

1. EnableProjectHarvesting needs to be set to True in the PropertyGroup.
2. ReferenceOutputAssembly should be False (it defaults to True, neither heat nor wix build use the effect of that being true, and it confuses nuget quite badly, especially when everything is using PackageReference and not the old-school packages.config).
3. You never define the directory ClassLibrary1 (which comes from RefTargetDir).

Hope this helps someone in the future.