How to add in additional stage groups and stages

Overview

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while. Through the UDI Designer there is no way to add additional stage or stage groups. However, this doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. This just means that you must do it manually.

It is a very simple process to add in additional stages or stage groups and once done you can use these stage groups or stages with the designer like any of the existing stage or stage groups and you can use stages with the wizard like any other stage.

To add in a stage group simply edit your configuration file in your favorite XML editor, copy and paste an existing stage group (these are all defined at the bottom of the XML) in the order you would like your stage group to appear among the other stage groups and then rename the stage group to something unique then save the config file.This same process applies to stages only stages should be copied under a stage group.

Example

Here is an example of how we would copy the Replace stage group and rename it along with its stages to make a new stage group and stages.

Copy the Replace Stage group and its Stages:

    1: <StageGroup DisplayName="Replace">
    2:   <Stage Name="REPLACE" DisplayName="Replace, in full OS">
    3:     <PageRef Page="WelcomePageReplace" />
    4:     <PageRef Page="ConfigScanPage" />
    5:     <PageRef Page="RebootPage" />
    6:   </Stage>
    7:   <Stage Name="REPLACE.WinPE" DisplayName="Replace, in WinPE">
    8:     <PageRef Page="UserCapturePageOldPC" />
    9:     <PageRef Page="ProgressPage" />
   10:     <PageRef Page="RebootAfterCapture" />
   11:   </Stage>
   12: </StageGroup>

Paste the stage group and rename it and its stages appropriately:

    1: <StageGroup DisplayName="Replace">
    2:   <Stage Name="REPLACE" DisplayName="Replace, in full OS">
    3:     <PageRef Page="WelcomePageReplace" />
    4:     <PageRef Page="ConfigScanPage" />
    5:     <PageRef Page="RebootPage" />
    6:   </Stage>
    7:   <Stage Name="REPLACE.WinPE" DisplayName="Replace, in WinPE">
    8:     <PageRef Page="UserCapturePageOldPC" />
    9:     <PageRef Page="ProgressPage" />
   10:     <PageRef Page="RebootAfterCapture" />
   11:   </Stage>
   12: </StageGroup>
   13:     <StageGroup DisplayName="MyNewStageGroup">
   14:   <Stage Name="NEWSTAGE1" DisplayName="New stage 1">
   15:     <PageRef Page="WelcomePageReplace" />
   16:     <PageRef Page="ConfigScanPage" />
   17:     <PageRef Page="RebootPage" />
   18:   </Stage>
   19:   <Stage Name="NEWSTAGE2" DisplayName="New stage 2">
   20:     <PageRef Page="UserCapturePageOldPC" />
   21:     <PageRef Page="ProgressPage" />
   22:     <PageRef Page="RebootAfterCapture" />
   23:   </Stage>
   24: </StageGroup>

In the above example line 13 through 24 shows the new stage group.

Once you have done this you can use the stage groups and stages as you could any other stage or stage group in the designer and wizard.