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WCM_E_SOURCEMANEMPTYVALUE
The Windows SDK describes the condition as “The source manifest has empty value”
Documented meaning
A required source-manifest value is empty. The operation reached manifest compilation or preprocessing after the required element/attribute is present but carries no usable value. The first branch to test is whether a template variable expanded to an empty string; keep that separate from the possibility that whitespace-only content was normalized away.
Operation phase
At this boundary, capture source line and element/attribute name, then correlate it with raw XML before normalization. Assign ownership only after checking template variables and target branch.
Root-cause branches
- a template variable expanded to an empty string
- whitespace-only content was normalized away
- a required attribute was emitted with empty quotes
- conditional generation retained the container but removed its payload
Diagnostic record
- source line and element/attribute name
- raw XML before normalization
- template variables and target branch
- schema declaration showing the field is required/non-empty
- comparison with a valid manifest from the same component
Correction workflow
- fix the producer rather than substituting an arbitrary default
- make required template variables fail fast
- distinguish intentionally absent optional metadata from empty required metadata
- Validate the generated artifact after all substitutions
- recompile the exact package that will ship
Retry policy
Retry only after supplying the authoritative value or removing an optional construct correctly. An empty required field remains invalid.
Nearby HRESULT distinctions
WCM_E_MISSINGCONFIGURATION reports absent structural tags. SOURCEMANEMPTYVALUE means the structure exists but a required payload is blank.
Concrete example
A processor-architecture variable is unset, leaving an attribute present with no value. The source manifest reaches SMI but fails empty-value validation.
Inspect final template output
The source template may contain a placeholder while the emitted manifest contains nothing. Archive the fully expanded element so the empty producer variable can be traced directly.
Official Microsoft references.
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