In a Wix installer, I'm trying to set an environment variable based on the value of radio group. I'm not having luck finding out how to do it.
The radio group in the UI has 3 options:
Do not set environment variable
Set the variable per user
Set the variable per machine
The UI with the 3-button radio group looks like this:
<Control ...>
<RadioButtonGroup Property="VAR_SCOPE">
<RadioButton Value="user" ... />
<RadioButton Value="machine" ... />
<RadioButton Value="none" ... />
</RadioButtonGroup>
</Control>
The component that creates the environment variable is like this:
<Directory ...>
<Component ...>
<CreateFolder />
<Environment Id='Evar' Action='set' System='yes' Name='FOO' Value='bar' />
</Component>
</Directory>
Whether the env-var is set per user or per machine is dependent on the value of the 'System' attribute: yes for machine, no for user.
I don't believe MSI supports this. I see a comment in https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa368369(v=vs.85).aspx saying that on Windows 2000 the * prefix controls scope but I've never used this. As far as I know, MSI always respects the system context of the installation. ( Per-User vs Per-Machine) I suppose that is a short coming compared to what the registry table can do. Environment variables are effectively just registry table entries with a SendMessage so you could use Registry and a minmilist custom action.
If you do this, you'd want to have 2 mutually exclusive components.
Related
I have a MSI installer in which i want to update my application config value. There is no problem to update the value. The problem is the value will be conditional as explain below. I have three feature in installer as below:
<Feature Id="Standalone" Title="Standalone" Level="2" Description="Standalone Deployment">
</Feature>
<Feature Id="SeplaAlone" Title="Seplalone" Level="2" Description="Standalone Deployment">
</Feature>
<Feature Id="RefaAlone" Title="ReflaAlone" Level="2" Description="Standalone Deployment">
</Feature>
Here is my config file update code:
<util:XmlFile Id="UpdateOption" Action="setValue" File="$(var.erviceDir)\$(var.ServiceConfigFile)"
ElementPath="/configuration/appSettings/add[\[]#key='Option'[\]]/#value"
SelectionLanguage="XPath" Permanent="yes" Value="[This is the value i want to set]"/>
User can only selected one feature at a time(implemented). Now what i want is if user selects standalone feature then value will be "0". If user selects seplaAlone feature then value will be "1" and if user selects the last one feature then value will be "2". I tried to do it but nothing worked. Also i define same variable with desired value in feature content but i does not work. How i can achieve this?
I would add a custom Dialog with those features represented as Radio button selections. That custom dialog will set a property, say FEATURE_SELECTION (you can check wix documentation how to work with grouped radio buttons controls).
Then, the Value attribute for util:XmlFile will look like this Value="[FEATURE_SELECTION]"
In my Bundle code, I'm trying to use the result of a registry search to set Variable to be used in my Custom Boostrapper:
<util:RegistrySearch
Id="ThirdPartyInstallDirSearch"
Variable="THIRDPARTY_INSTALL_DIR"
Root="HKLM"
Key="SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment"
Value="OceanSoftDir"
Result="exists"
/>
<Variable Name="THIRDPARTY_INSTALL_DIR" Type="string" Value="$(var.THIRDPARTY_INSTALL_DIR)"/>
But this would give an error:
Undefined preprocessor variable '$(var.THIRDPARTY_INSTALL_DIR)'
Basically, I want to pass the result of registry search to my custom bootstrapper application.
Thanks
As the error says, $(var.<NAME>) is a preprocessor define from either a wxi file or from the project file <DefineConstants>name=value</DefineConstants> or from a <?define?>. You can read more about the preprocessor here.
For your issue, the registry search itself should be defining the variable. I do something similar to what you want in a bootstrapper.
<Fragment>
<util:RegistrySearch
Id="ClientInstalledCheck"
Root="HKLM"
Key="SOFTWARE\Client"
Value="ClientPath"
Result="value"
Variable="ClientInstalled"/>
<util:DirectorySearch
Path='[ClientInstalled]'
Variable='InstallFolder'
After='ClientInstalledCheck'
Condition='ClientInstalled' />
</Fragment>
And then in the products installed by the bootstrapper I will pass in the "InstallFolder" value to these installs.
<MsiProperty Name="INSTALLDIR" Value="[InstallFolder]"/>
This way if the user has installed in a non-default install location, we pick up the custom location they chose and use that instead. If the registry key did not exist, we use the default location.
I also have the InstallFolder variable defined with a default location (since my use case is slightly different than yours) as
<Variable Name="InstallFolder" Type="string" Value="[ProgramFilesFolder]$(var.CompanyInstallDir)\" bal:Overridable="yes" Persisted="yes"/>
Where CompanyInstallDir is defined as a preprocessor variable through <DefineConstants> which is originally defined somewhere in an MSBuild properties file.
So to explain your issue, you are mixing preprocessor directives and Variables. In your registry search, you're using Result="exists" which will set the variable THIRDPARTY_INSTALL_DIR to '0' or '1'. You want to use Result="value". This will put the registry location's value in the variable you define in the Variable="" attribute.
If you do the registry search + directory search with condition, you can properly set a variable if and only if the registry exists AND the directory is actually present on the machine and properly handle cases where it isn't but the registry still exists.
Some things you may do differently since the use case is slightly different but hopefully this sets you on the right path for doing what you need to do.
I was setting a property value inside a Dialog using Edit Control. But when i used the same property for writing inside an ini value it is not writing the updated value and writing only old value. My WIX source code is given below(writing only important codes as my wix code is too large)
<Property Id="testNumber" Value="1122" />
<CustomAction Id="SettestNumber" Property="ModifiedtestNumber" Value="[testNumber]" />
<ComponentGroup Id="INIFileGroup">
<Component Id="IniFile" Guid="{0ded271b-9268-49e7-8c13-60c7538acc25}" KeyPath="yes" Directory="DirCfg" >
<IniFile Id="IniPath" Action="addLine" Directory="Dirtest" Key="testkey" Name="test.ini" Section="test" Value="[ModifiedtestNumber]" />
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>
<InstallUISequence>
<Custom Action="SettestNumber" Sequence="1299"/>
</InstallUISequence>
<Dialog Id="testNumberUI" X="50" Y="50" Width="375" Height="270" Title="[ProductName]" CustomPalette="yes">
<Control Type="Edit" Id="test_Number" Width="50" Height="15" X="258" Y="53" Property="testNumber" Text="{50}" TabSkip="yes"/>
</Dialog>
I am giving the value 1212 in the Control edit box and installing but inside the test.ini file it is not getting updated and value is 1122. Could someone please provide a way for me to update the Modifedtestnumber to the ini file
Note:
When i put the Custom action inside < InstallExecuteSequence/> the value inside the ini file was null
Your property need to be public (all caps TESTNUMBER) and marked with Secure attribute so that it's listed in the SecureCustomPublicProperties property. Also be aware that properties are not persisted. You need to use something like the WiX remember property pattern for the value to be loaded from the INI file during subsequent transactions such as repairs and upgrades.
To hide a property in WiX I'm using
<Property Id="MY_PASSWORD" Hidden="yes" />
Or
<Control Id="Password" Password="yes" Type="Edit" X="30" Y="173" Width="220" Height="18" Property="MY_PASSWORD">
What I haven't found a reliable solution for is how to keep a previously hidden password hidden in a log file after it's been evaluated in:
Another property (e.g. SetProperty, type 51 CustomAction, publish property ina dialog)
A util:XmlFile entry
Is there a way to have a password evaluated without exposing the password once it's used in another WiX element?
In the instances of SetProperty or a type 51 CustomAction, is there a way to hide the original password without needed to hide the rest of the string.
For example set Property="SOME_STRING" Value="password=[MY_PASSWORD];other=[ANOTHER_PROPERTY]", have the property string show up as "password=********;other=the evaluated string"
In the instance of using util:XmlFile, is there any way to hide a password that's evaluated here from showing up in a log file?
This is the solution I came up with, I'm open to better solutions.
In the case of (e.g. SetProperty, type 51 CustomAction, or publish property in a dialog), what I did is create a reference to the property, which I mark as Hidden="yes".
<Property Id="Property_2" Hidden="yes" />
To handle the case: For example set Property="SOME_STRING" Value="password=[MY_PASSWORD];other=[ANOTHER_PROPERTY]", have the property string show up as "password=********;other=the evaluated string"
What I did was write a type 51 CustomAction to create that new property
<CustomAction Id="Set.NewProperty" Property="NewProperty" Value="password=[MY_PASSWORD];other=[ANOTHER_PROPERTY]" />
And add a separate reference to the new property to hide it.
<Property Id="NewProperty" Hidden="yes" />
This worked for me to obscure these details from util:XmlFile.
This solution, in my opinion is less than perfect. Using this method hides the entire string. I would prefer a solution that only hides the password details portion of the string.
I am working on a set of WiX installers that are going to share a common form. Every application needs the values set, but they are going to be different for each application.
I am trying to allow for the properties (which are linked to controls) to have a default value (or not) and to allow for the property values to be set via command line.
in my "SharedDialog.wxs" I have:
<Fragment>
<PropertyRef Id="PROP1"/>
<PropertyRef Id="PROP2"/>
<UI>
<Dialog Id="SharedDialog" Width="370" Height="270" Title="[ProductName]">
<Control Type="Edit" Id="1" Property="PROP1" Wid... Indirect="no" />
<Control Type="CheckBox" Id="2" Property="PROP2" Wid...
CheckBoxValue="1" Indirect="no"/>
</Dialog>
</Fragment>
In a file for the application specific project:
<Fragment>
<Property Id="PROP1" Value="Test"/>
<Property Id="PROP2" Value="1"/>
</Fragment>
This all works for what I am trying to do, but the problem is that when I want to clear the values as so: (so they don't have a default)
<Fragment>
<Property Id="PROP1"/>
<Property Id="PROP2"/>
</Fragment>
I get this error:
Unresolved reference to symbol 'Property:PROP1' in section 'Fragment:'.
Unresolved reference to symbol 'Property:PROP2' in section 'Fragment:'.
WiX also will not let you set value to "". The problem is that as far I can tell the checkbox will always be checked if the property has a value. How can I set the property "PROP2" to "null"?
You can undefine an existing property by setting it equal to an empty string wrapped in braces like this: PROPERTY = {} in a set property custom action. This means the property doesn't exist, it is not an empty string. See the explanation here.
For properties to be available from the command line they must be PUBLIC - they are the properties that are all UPPERCASE.
Setting PUBLIC PROPERTIES secure means they can be passed from the client to the server installation process which is required for properties that are used in deferred mode custom actions. Technically this adds them to the list of SecureCustomProperties.
You can give PUBLIC PROPERTIES a default value in the Property table, and then set other values from the command line. The command line overrides the defaults:
msiexec.exe /I "C:\Test.msi" /QN /L*V "C:\log.log" TEST="MyValue" TEST2="MyValue"
See more info:
How to set a check box to "unchecked" from the msiexec command line?
Nevermind, I found the solution:
<Fragment>
<Property Id="PROP1" Secure="yes"/>
<Property Id="PROP2" Secure="yes"/>
</Fragment>