Adding a node to an existing XML file using inno setup - vb.net

Question

In my inno setup script there is a [code] section and I need to add some code to:
Open an xml file
then add a single node in a specific place
Save the file back to the hard drive
I need to be able to edit a file called config.xml in \documents\docotype
in the file there is some code like this:
<References>
<ArrayOfString xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<string>System.dll</string>
<string>System.Core.dll</string>
<string>System.Drawing.dll</string>
<string>System.Windows.Forms.dll</string>
<string>System.XML.dll</string>
</ArrayOfString>
</References>
I need it to look like this:
<References>
<ArrayOfString xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<string>System.dll</string>
<string>System.Core.dll</string>
<string>System.Drawing.dll</string>
<string>System.Windows.Forms.dll</string>
<string>System.XML.dll</string>
<string>C:\\bin\Custom\cutty109.dll</string>
</ArrayOfString>
</References>
So really I just need to add the following line into the file in the 'ArrayOfString' section
<string>C:\\bin\Custom\cutty109.dll</string>
I'm sure this must be possible but I have no clue how..
Thanks

Answer 1

Please refer the CodeAutomation.iss example provided along with inno install. And use this code instead the original code under the 'Modify the XML document' section.
{ Modify the XML document }
NewNode := XMLDoc.createElement('string');
XMLDoc.setProperty('SelectionLanguage', 'XPath');
RootNode := XMLDoc.selectSingleNode('//References/ArrayOfString');
RootNode.appendChild (NewNode);
RootNode.lastChild.text :='C:\\bin\Custom\cutty109.dll';
{ Save the XML document }

Answer 2

I assume you really need some dynamic way to add to this config file, if not then of course overriding the old one is the simplest method.
To dynamically add sections to a config file, you have some options:
You can create your own command line utility (exe or script) that does the file manipulation and call that utility in the [Run] section of your install script. This could look something like this:
In the [Files] section, you'll have one line for your utility:
Source: "myUtil.exe"; DestDir: "{app}"
In the [Run] section, you'll have one line for each manipulation you need to do in your config, like this:
FileName: "{app}\myUtil.exe"; Parameters: "/addSection:"
OR
You can use Pascal scripting to manipulate your config file. You can create a Pascal that uses CreateOleObject to call msxml.dll for XML the file manipulation. Then, in your [Files] section you can use AfterInstall to to call your Pascal function, like this:
Source: "myFileThatNeedsConfigManipulation.dll"; DestDir: ... ;
AfterInstall: MyPascalFunctionThatDoesTheManipulation

Answer 3

Try something like this:
Dim sXPath : sXPath = "/configuration/References/ArrayOfString"
Dim sAdd : sAdd = "C:\\bin\Custom\cutty109.dll"
Dim sElm : sElm = "string"
Dim sFSpec : sFSpec = resolvePath( "..\data\config.xml" )
Dim oXDoc : Set oXDoc = CreateObject( "Msxml2.DOMDocument" )
oXDoc.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
oXDoc.async = False
oXDoc.load sFSpec
If 0 = oXDoc.ParseError Then
WScript.Echo sFSpec, "looks ok"
Dim ndFnd : Set ndFnd = oXDoc.selectSingleNode( sXPath )
If ndFnd Is Nothing Then
WScript.Echo "|", sXPath, "| not found"
Else
WScript.Echo "found |" & ndFnd.tagName & "|"
Dim ndNew : Set ndNew = oXDoc.createElement( sElm )
ndNew.appendChild oXDoc.createTextNode( sAdd )
ndFnd.appendChild ndNew
WScript.Echo "After appending:"
WScript.Echo oXDoc.xml
oXDoc.Save Replace( sFSpec, ".xml", "-2.xml" )
End If
Else
WScript.Echo oXDoc.ParseError.Reason
End If
The steps:
create a Msxml2.DOMDocument
use XPath to find the node to change
create a now string element and append the text
append the new node to the found node
save the modified XML