Wix Custom Actions Patch
The WiX Toolset formerly known as Windows Installer XML is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages and WiX bootstrappers from XML source code. The toolset supports a command line environment that developers may integrate into their build processes to build MSI and MSM setup packages
learn more
top users
synonyms
synonyms.
The following article uses options that are available starting
with the Professional edition and project
type.
The installation process can be controlled using Custom Actions. They can be dynamic linked
libraries, Visual Basic scripts or JavaScript files. A custom action
written in C will generate a dynamic linked library file
DLL. I. Tools required
In order to create a custom action in C the WiX
Toolset is required to be installed on the developer machine.
Once downloaded and installed, the toolset will add all necessary
modules enabling you to create C custom actions from Microsoft
Visual Studio.
For Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and 2008
editions WiX 3.0 Toolset is required. WiX 3.5
Toolset supports only Microsoft Visual Studio
2010 edition.II. Creating a C custom actions project
Once all the necessary tools are installed, the following
steps must be followed:
1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio
2. From the Menu bar
select File New Project
3. From the New
Project dialog select WiX project type and
C Custom Action Project
By default, the new project will generate a simple custom
action that will write some text in the installer log:using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller;
namespace CustomAction1
public class CustomActions
CustomAction
public static ActionResult CustomAction1 Session session
session.Log Begin CustomAction1 ; // Here you can write your own custom action code
return ActionResult.Success;
4. Based on the above example,
CustomAction1 is the name of the custom
action function. This name can be customized when writing your own
custom action.III. Generate the custom action file
1. From the Menu bar select the Build Build
Solution option.
2. This will generate two DLL
files: CustomAction1.dll and
CustomAction1.CA.dll
3. The
CustomAction1.CA.dll file is the one that
holds the C custom action which will be used in Advanced Installer.IV. Integrate the C custom action in Advanced Installer
1. Select the CustomAction1.CA.dll
file and add it to your Advanced Installer project
2. Go to Custom Actions Page, add a Launch Installed
File custom action with sequence from Add Custom Action
Tab or the toolbar and select
3. In the
Function Name field from the Custom Action Properties view select
CustomAction1
4. Build the project
and test itV. Get / Set properties from C custom
action
The following example demonstrates how to get or set an
installer public property from a C custom action:public static ActionResult CustomAction1 Session session
// sending message to installation log
session.Log Begin CustomAction1 ;
// getting a property
YourVariable session YOUR_PROPERTY ;
// setting a property
session YOUR_PROPERTY YOUR_VALUE ;
return ActionResult.Success;
Below is a link to a short video depicting the steps
explained above.
Build and Run C custom actionVI. Debug C custom action
1. Add some code for displaying a message box at the
beginning of your custom action:public static ActionResult CustomAction1 Session session
// display message to allow attaching the debugger
MessageBox.Show Please attach a debugger to rundll32.exe., Attach ;
// sending message to installation log
session.Log Begin CustomAction1 ;
.
1. Since you will use MessageBox, make sure you have a
reference to System.Windows.Forms.dll
2. Add a breakpoint on
the next line of code, after your message box code
3. Rebuild
your custom action project with Visual Studio
4. Rebuild your
Advanced Installer project
5. Run the installation using Run
and Log from Advanced Installer
6. When the message box
displays, go to Visual Studio project Tools Attach to
Process
7. From the Available Processes list select the
process with the name rundll32.exe and title Attach
8.
Click Ok on the message box in your installation
9. The
breakpoint you set earlier should now be activated in VS
While debugging the custom action after implementing the
above steps, you can observe the property changes in the Log pane of
Advanced Installer.
Debug C custom action.
WiX v3.10.1 is a maintenance release of WiX v3.10 with the following important fixes: barnson implemented a workaround for a Visual Studio 2015 issue that caused.
- Q A for professional and enthusiast programmers Tour Start here for a quick overview of the site.
- How to create fully fledged C custom actions. The following article uses options that are available starting with the Professional edition and project type.
I put together a sample project to show the minimum code needed to create your own managed bootstrapper application using WiX. I wrote it in C using the MVVM.
How to create fully fledged C# custom actions?
Pure WiX patching is a godsend, if you ve ever wrestled with the painfully useless errors common with MsiMsp.exe/PatchWiz.dll. However, pure WiX patching.
I want to show a dialog to the user that says this is going to be removed with this installation and if YES or OK is pressed, then the installation can continue.
Newest 'wix' Questions
