One of my CA's tried to detect which feature was selected using MsiGetFeatureState and modify HKLM using its state, but it alayws returns INSTALLSTATE_BROKEN. I put this CA before "InstallFinalize".
So I wonder if this is expected and how I can do this. Thank you in advance.
Please see: Obtaining Context Information for Deferred Execution Custom Actions
A deferred cusom acton ( which commit is ) can't call MsiGetFeatureState. Only an immeadiate custom action can. If the information is needed in the deferred it must be marshaled using CustomActionData. For more information, read Installation Phases and In-Script Execution Options for Custom Actions in Windows Installer.
Also please realize that commit custom actions don't execute when rollback is disabled.
I'm not really sure what you mean by "modify HKLM using it's state" but in general you should use the registry table to declare registry updates. Don't reinevent the wheel as it's generally less robust.
You should avoid modify the features in the registry. i'm not sure if it's allowed to query feature states thru the api while installing the same product. you may get an old/wrong answer. but what you can do, is to set some property's and use them within the custom action. Take a look at the msdn "Conditional Statement Syntax". there are some symbols which allow you the query features-actions and feature-states (or components).
Related
<CustomAction I'd=readValue binaryKey = custom.dll
DllEntryy = readfilevalue Execute= deferred Return =
check/>
// // In a .cs file code to read the file having method
// readfilevalue.
// I am setting
Customsession.writesessionvalue(key, value);
// In another .wxs file invoking executables
<Custom Action = someExe After= someOtherExe>
<!CDATA[ key < someValue]>
<Custom>
// Can I get the key value in this Custom tag? If no then
// how can I get the value please suggest.
No, there is very limited information flow between deferred actions (#Execute="deferred") and the shared Windows Installer session. That flow includes sending a few properties to the action (including CustomActionData), and receiving progress information and a success or failure from it, but will not carry arbitrary data like you describe.
Your options, as I see them:
Make the first custom action immediate so it can take part in the planning. This won't work if the action requires elevated privileges, or access to something put in place by another deferred action, but is otherwise the most "correct" way to do this. Note that if the data itself can be read by existing search patterns (like RegistrySearch), that's even better than an immediate custom action.
Merge the two actions, so there isn't any need for such a flow of information.
Use unsupported hacks, like sharing a file location outside of Windows Installer that both actions can access. Then you can send information through that. Note that cleanup of this can be hard to get correct, and that its unsupported nature may result in other problems in esoteric scenarios. (The link about obtaining context information alludes to why.)
While digging into BootstrapperApplication (BA) methods and events, I implemented OnExecuteMsiMessage, and I was able to see the messages being returned by my MSI during installation process. That also includes ActionData with some other information.
Questions:
Can we use Burn's UI dialogs instead of the UI defined in our MSI (written mostly in WiX)?
Can we call our methods written in BA "during MSI installation"? The idea behind this is to write custom actions as part of BA and call these during MSI installation.
I'm aware that we can write managed custom actions now, but just in case there are possibilities to write methods in BA instead of custom actions and call these similarly as we schedule custom actions in MSI.
What should I do?
Two quick answers:
Yes. In fact, this is the expected behavior. Bundles are designed to create a seamless installation experience. Providing a single user interface in your BootstrapperApplication is part of that.
No. The BA does not run elevated so it cannot modify machine state. If you are changing the machine, it should be part of the transaction in an MSI. The BA should only be responsible for interacting with the user (aka: take input, show progress, etc).
I'm currently developing a DNN module. It would be nice if we were able to run custom code whenever a module is deleted from a page by the user, and also when a module gets restored from recycle bin.
I haven't found any examples on how this could be done, so I'm not sure if this is possible? Any ideas?
I am unaware of any event mechanism inside DNN where you could set your hooks. You could probably debug the DNN code and trace the call stack until you find a usable spot where you can inject some code (which would likely be destroyed after the next DNN update), or maybe detect a way that was intended to be used by the core team.
However, if a module is deleted from a page, the IsDeleted field in the Modules table is set to true. If it gets restored from the bin, it is again set to false.
You can use a TRIGGER in your Sql Server that fires when the Modules table is updated, checks if the update refers to an IsDeleted field, write stuff into a Notification table, and use Sql Query Notification based on SqlDependency to run some code (see http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/144344/Query-Notification-using-SqlDependency-and-SqlCach for an introduction).
Some steps to go, but it should work (and be less exhausting than climbing the Matterhorn :-) ).
There is absolutely hooks in DNN Platform (DotNetNuke) that a developer can attached C# code to.
While there isn't a turn key example that I can provide at the moment, check out the following:
https://github.com/dnnsoftware/Dnn.Platform/blob/c35fdc7fb75db0438f3b872ce4e279e3ea73e7c2/DNN%20Platform/Library/Entities/EventManager.cs
You are looking to hook onto the ModuleRemoved event by the sounds of it.
Here is an example for the user logging in that you could adapt to your event:
Does DNN fire an event when a user logs in?
I hope this helps in the future.
Given:
Wix 3.0 is used to create MSI.
The product consists of multiple feature.
Each feature has few sub features. It’s a standard MSI feature tree.
Each feature or sub feature depend on multiple external components.
E.g. .NET 4, ASP.NET etc
Custom action written in C# using Wix 3.0 SDK processes these
dependency and evaluates if components are present or not for a
given set of features.
At time of install if dependent component is missing for given
selection of features, installation fails.
To achieve:
Ability to execute prerequisite check, which is already done in MSI as custom action during installation, without installing MSI on a given machine.
Failed Attempts:
1)
Custom action have function signature like this
[CustomAction]
public static ActionResult ProcessFeaturePrerequisite(Session session);
In order to get session object I used following API present in Wix 3.0 SDK
Session session = Installer.OpenPackage("Pathto\\Product.msi", true); // true doesn’t install it. Also tried with false, but didn’t work.
When I invoke the above method with above session following things fail.
session.Features["SomeFeature"].CurrentState;
This throws exception.
System.ArgumentException was unhandled by user code
Message=Feature ID not registered. SomeFeature
Source=Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller
StackTrace:
at Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.FeatureInfo.get_CurrentState()
Also below critical API which determines prerequisite status always returns false.
session.EvaluateCondition(prereq);
2)
I know a command line way to specify features to the above MSI and install it. It goes like this
msiexec /i "Product.msi" ADDLOCAL=ALL REMOVE="Foo,Bar "
I couldn’t find any API in SDK which allows me to pass additional params which returns session object without starting installation. My guess is passing such param will make session.Features more valid.
Questions:
So how do I achieve above goal?
Is there
any API in Wix SDK which allows me to call custom action without
invoking installation?
any way to invoke custom action from command line for a given MSI
without installing?
any way to make Wix to change MSI into accepting a command string
containing custom action name which only evaluates the action?
any better way to do the same?
I suppose you're trying to solve the problem with the wrong tool. As far as I understand, you would like to check the installation prerequisites from inside a certain tool, but not from the installation. As long as the functionality is implemented as a custom action in the MSI package, you'd like to utilize that functionality in order not to duplicate the code.
I would choose a different way in your situation:
Extract the functionality which actually checks for prerequisites into a separate assembly, e.g. checkprereq.dll
Refactor your custom action to reference checkprereq.dll. Note that you'll have to add checkprereq.dll to your Binary table as well as the customaction.dll. You should divide the responsibility here: the custom action part works with MSI stuff - in your case, it's defining which prerequisites to check based on the combination of features a user selected - and the functional part - the actual prerequisites verification, which is done by checkprereq.dll
Use checkprereq.dll separately when you need to check prerequisites not triggering the installation process
The attempts you've outlined here demonstrate an important false assumption: the session object at install time is the same as the installation object you get by just opening the MSI database for read only purpose. IT'S NOT TRUE! Actually, I doubt it makes any sense to reference the session object outside the installation transaction. As its name states, it is an installation session, that is, available in process - not a static thing.
The MSI package should be treated just as a database when it is just a file and not a running installation. Hence, only static information living in MSI package can be queried and used when you just open it for reading and not installing. I mean you can query the Feature table, for instance, but don't expect it to contain information which makes sense in installation time only, like whether a user chose a feature for installation or not.
Hope this makes sense and shows you the right direction.
I'm migrating some existing products to use WiX 3.5 (I'm using the Votive VS integration). Some of the items I'm installing need to be registered with a third-party framework. The requirement is that I must call a Register() method in a third party .NET assembly to inform it of the presence of the items I'm installing. It expects a COM ProgID.
I can't figure out how to get WiX to do this. I thought about creating a binary Custom Action, but I can't find a way of passing a parameter (a string containing the ProgID) into that custom action. I don't want to hard-code it because I need this to be re-usable code. I can't see a way to do this declaratively because the Register() function is a 'black box'.
Man this is a steep learning curve. What's my best approach here?
Look at the Deployment Tools Foundation (DTF) for WIX. There is a DTF.chm file with the WIX installation with lots of information.
Assuming you installation process is something like
Setup installation, input parameters/ProgID, do validation, etc.
Begin actual installation of files
Call registration methods
You'll need two Custom actions (ignoring rollback and uninstallation)
SetupRegistration
DoRegistration
SetupRegistration should be an immediate custom action fired either from the UI or late in the setup phase. It grabs the ProgID and any other data needed, uses a CustomActionData object and assigns that to a property named "DoRegistration" (Important, the property name must be the same as the second custom action)
The DoRegistration is a deferred custom action and needs to be scheduled in the InstallExecuteSequence probably after InstallFiles, but that depends. It pulls the Session.CustomActionData property and gets the ProgID out, then calls whatever registration method you need.
Am using a sort of what you have described.
I use to call CustomAction(events) when required. Like on clicking button you can call a method which will do work for you.
Calling custom action like:
<Custom Action="ActionName" After="InstallFinalize">CONDITION = "1"</Custom>
Or calling custom action based on specific button click:
<CustomAction Id="TestConnection" BinaryKey="SetupCustomActions" DllEntry="TestConnection" Execute="immediate" Return="check" />