I am always happy to find a new Windows Installer tool out there- and this one is an MSI/MST editor- and it includes a repackager- and it is free! Free tools appeal to many of us that don’t have the budget to buy the latest solutions. The question becomes: are the free tools you come across worth the cost? If the use of a free tool means that you are giving up features that would save you time and may help you avoid problems, then that free tool may not be worth your time. Let’s take a quick look at MaSaI Editor & Repackager and just what it has to offer…

MaSaI Add New Item View [click to zoom]

At the very least, MaSaI Editor & Repackager is an immediate excuse never to use ORCA again! The editor has many features including:

• Simple Tree-view interface
• A Great table editor
• MSI Validation
• Error reporting

While there have been several free legacy setup creation programs around, what we very seldom see is one that includes a repackager. MaSaI’s repackager is a solid one offering many standard features such as:

• Optional Merge Module Search/Replace
• Optional ability to Remove Captured Elements before building MSI
• Optional ability to make use of previous hard drive scan during repackage process
• A friendly view of captured information allows you to remove an item or add it to your exclusion list so it is not captured in the future.
• Exclusion Lists

While MaSaI provides most everything you need to create and modify MSI packages, MaSaI is feature limited in that there is also a “Pro” version available for only $99.00. The Professional features of MaSaI include:

• The ability to create merge modules
• The ability to custom actions
• An interface for assigning permissions to folders, files and registry keys
• Allows repackaging on a remote computer (specify the name of a machine and MaSaI will connect to it and perform the snapshot).

The Good?

Table view includes schema links to show you related references for each item. This is very helpful in identifying problems in your package. If you’ve ever had to refer to the Windows Installer schema you will appreciate this valuable feature. MaSaI also provides a very simple interface that is easy to navigate. As complicated as Windows Installer can be, it is not hard to find what you are looking for in MaSaI. Finally, MaSaI does not require any project files to manage- MSI is its native format.

MaSaI Table View w/Schema Links [click to zoom]

The Bad?

Keeping in mind that this looks like a very promising application, I must report that I have experienced some problems while evaluating the software for this review. Initial problems I experienced dealt with files that were temporary or in use. After repackaging WinZip, some files were listed as errors in the error tab and double-clicking the error listings would cause the focus of the main view to change to the FileSourcePath table. When I would remove them from the package, the associated error did not go away. I found the same files were also still listed in the File table and once they were deleted there as well, the MSI saved with no problems.

Even though the package saved okay and seemed to work fine, there were some errors listed by MaSaI that I was unable to resolve. “Row Was Not Modified” was listed as an error referring to the Directory table and INSTALLDIR.

Good News Again?

The good news is that when you do have a problem, personalized help is literally a click away. A button on the toolbar gives you email contact with the author of the program. Additionally an active user forum is available on the website where it is clear that when a problem is reported, it is addressed.

What is up with the name?

The name comes from an African warrior tribe in Kenya. This is simply a place that author, George Plummer, has visited. That and the fact that the name contains the letters MSI constitute all of the similarities or reasons for the name.

Download MaSaI Editor & Repackager for yourself at http://www.masaieditor.com

Bob Kelly
02/26/04

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