I am using the Deployment Tools Foundation bundled with WiX 3.5. There is an archive that contains a file that I want to update without having to extract it first - the edits are based on user inputs during setup.
How do I obtain a reference to this file, perform the updates, and save the changes to the file without needing to extract it from the archive? The custom action is being written in C#.
I am using Wix v3.5.2415, which is the same version for the DTF assemblies.
Try using one of the free c# libraries to interact with a zip file.
For example:
SharpZipLib
SevenZipSharp
I'm not sure exactly why you are trying to avoid unzipping. Is this a silverlight xap file by chance? If so, I recommend a different approach like using initParams.
Related
What is the standard way to handle web.config files during major upgrade.I'm aware how the unversioned files are handled during upgrade,the file will not be replaced if the file has been modified by the user.
Is there a way to deal with the scenario where in there are new entries added to config file bundled with the latest installer that needs to be installed,and also retain the existing entries modified by the user during major upgrade in Wix.
The simple solution that a lot of my customers have liked is to not put user data in the web.config. Instead we use the AppSettings#file and ConnectionStrings#ConfigSource elements to specify an override file and keep the user data there. What MSI doesn't know about it won't tamper with. Now you don't have to be an MSI component rules wizard.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms228154(v=vs.85).aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.configuration.sectioninformation.configsource(v=vs.100).aspx
I know the question is for Wix, but just wanted to point out how much time commercial tools can save in such scenarios.
For example, using Advanced Installer you can read and load into an MSI property any XML values and then use the XML Files updater to write dynamic content in the files, at install(upgrade) time. (check the videos at the end of each article for a quicker overview)
Disclaimer: I work on the team building Advanced Installer.
Set the component to always overwrite and write a custom action to add the needed information to the config file.
The only way that seems possible is a custom action to merge the entries in the new file into the existing file, because you want data from the existing a new files. You would also need the upgrade scheduled late (after InstallExecute) so that the upgrade isn't an uninstall of the old product followed by an install of the new product.
If you are doing an upgrade (the WIX_UPGRADE_DETECTED property will be set by a MajorUpgrade element), so update the existing file, otherwise install the new one.
There might be a way to express the updates as an Xml transform, so something in the WiX util:xml tools might help do an update.
Installers of previous versions of our software include a Component File that was NOT marked with Permanent="Yes". Now, we wish to read the pre-upgrade contents of this file during the upgrade process, which will overwrite the file with different contents. Is there a good way to do this?
It would help if you said exactly what you were doing that would cause the file to be overwritten. Some major upgrades (is that what you're doing?) will do a complete uninstall of the product first, followed by a complete install of the newer product. If that's the situation then use a custom action sequenced before RemoveExistingProducts to back up the file somewhere so that your application can retrieve the content, or get the content you need before it's ovewritten.
If you are doing a major upgrade sequenced later (such as afterInstallExecute) or you are doing a patch then it is by no means certain that the file will be overwritten because file overwrite rules will not replace a file that has been updated since it was installed. If the application altered the file then this type of upgrade will not overwrite it:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370531(v=vs.85).aspx
Or in the case that the file is unchanged since it was installed, change the dates so it appears to be modified, as described here:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/astebner/2013/05/23/updating-the-last-modified-time-to-prevent-windows-installer-from-updating-an-unversioned-file/
It's also not clear that Permanent=yes is what you want anyway - that would glue the file to the system forever. You may be thinking of NeverOverwrite, but it's typically not required if the app changes the files, and easier to decide at upgrade time (by changing dates) instead of committing to NeverOverwrite when it's sometimes unclear what the product may need in the future.
A comment refers to retrieving the previous version of the product during the upgrade. There are a number of ways to do this:
If you know the ProductCode of the previous version, MsiGetProductInfo (and equivalents in script etc) will return product version values or strings:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370130(v=vs.85).aspx
Or if you'd rather not hardcode the value, MsiEnumProducts passing the UpgradeCode will return a list of installed ProductCodes. This technique is most useful if you have your own bootstrapper or UI where you want to show the user the current installed version.
In a WiX major upgrade the associated property (WIX_UPGRADE_DETECTED) is a list of the ProductCodes detected (usually a list of one) so you can use that to get the version of the product being upgraded. In a small vbscript example, something like:
set installer = CreateObject("WindowsInstaller.Installer")
and:
prodversionstring = installer.productinfo(WIX_UPGRADE_DETECTED, "VersionString")
will get you close.
Assuming this file is a configuration file such as an XML file, I find this is just a tough area of Windows Installer. You ship file version 1, the end user modifies certain attributes and then you ship file version 2 to which you want to preserve those customizations.
The problem is this is a very complex merge. It works somewhat OK if you only care about 1-2 attributes but if the answer is I need to preserve all of it then you are stuck between losing all the customizations or not getting the changes from version 2 of the file.
You could write extensive custom actions to do all this during the installer but I propose there is a better way: Have 2 files.
1 file that is owned by the installer and can always be safely overwritten and 1 file that is owned by the application that overrides are stored in. Think of it like a transformation file. The installer doesn't know about this file so it never overwrites or deletes it. (The very definition of user data from an MSI perspective.)
For example the .NET framework Web.Config schema AppSettings element has a file attribute that was designed to support this nicely.
Specifies a relative path to an external file containing custom
application configuration settings. The specified file contains the
same kind of settings that are specified in the , , and
elements and uses the same key/value pair format as those
elements. The path specified is relative to the main configuration
file. For a Windows Forms application, this would be the binary folder
(such as /bin/debug), not the location of the application
configuration file. For Web Forms applications, the path is relative
to the application root, where the web.config file is located.
Note that the runtime ignores the attribute if the specified file can
not be found.
I am trying to do a custom action at the time of msi installation. But the dll required for my custom action is depends on other dlls. At the time of installtion it is giving the error like "a dll required for this install to complete could not run".How can I load the dependent dll files for this custom action to run properly.
The code that I am using is
<CustomAction Id='CheckingPID' BinaryKey='CheckPID' DllEntry='ValidateKey' />
<Binary Id ='CheckPID' SourceFile='$(sys.CURRENTDIR)\LicenseKeyClient_32d.dll'/>
<Binary Id ='CheckPID2' SourceFile='$(sys.CURRENTDIR)\curllib.dll'/>
<Binary Id ='CheckPID3' SourceFile='$(sys.CURRENTDIR)\libsasl.dll'/>
<Binary Id ='CheckPID4' SourceFile='$(sys.CURRENTDIR)\openldap.dll'/>
The files that you add in binary table usually get extracted with temporary names during the installation, so your DLL will not be able to locate the other DLLs you add next to it.
A workaround is to add those DLLs as normal files in the Temp system folder and delete them when the installation ends. This has the limitation that you need to set your custom action as deferred, so it executes after the files are installed, thus your DLLs get copied to Temp folder.
I don't know if wix has a support for temporary files, similar with the one present in Advanced Installer, but if not you could try to write a custom action to simulate it. Basically what Advanced Installer does is to extract those files in the Temp folder the moment the MSI is launched, and also deletes them when the installation is complete. This has the advantage that you can use the temporary files and in immediate custom actions, i.e. well before the files from your package are installed.
Despite Bogdan's excellent answer, allow me to add my 2 cents:
It looks like you are dealing with some form of license key validation? The best way is generally to deal with your license keys in the application itself, unless you want it written to HKLM instead of HKCU - in which case you might need the temporary admin rights generally acquired during installation.
You can also open a HKLM key for writing during setup, and write it from the application though this is generally frowned upon security-wise. This allows you to write a single license key for all users directly from the application.
The application features more flexibility and control of the process of registering your license key, and crucially an easy way to run the process again. From my perspective this is almost always needed for a serious application - often due to trial versions with the eventual need to register the license key at the end of the trial period from within the application itself - instead of uninstalling the application and reinstalling, or running the setup in repair / maintenance mode - which seems extremely clunky.
I have described this issue previously in some more detail: Reasons to deal with licensing in the application rather than the setup.
I'll also add that WiX DTF .NET custom actions really simplify this problem by allowing you to embed content into the self extracting custom action package and make them available in the current directory at runtime. Very easy.
But yes, Glytzhkof is correct. Any licensing / DRM done inside of an MSI is easily defeated. It's best to do this in the app or both. For example I've worked at companies where it's a share responsibility. You can enter one now or later. I've also worked at companies where the license key had bits embedded in it that drove feature selection. It gets complicated fast so try not to have to go down that road.
I have a WIX Installer and in the installer i also copy a tutorial project created in VS 2012. What i want is if user has changed the tutorial project by adding new files in it then i just want to rename the existing tutorial and and copy the new tutorail and if user has not changed the existing tutorial then i just want to replace the existing tutorial with the new tutorial.
Is the first question is, Is it really possible using WIX? (Does WIx gives us some functionality like that)
if its possible can some will guide me how to do that?
It should be possible using the MoveFile element but it's going to be really tricky. I worked for a company that created a .NET SDK and we build custom project types for VS that allowed the user to say File | New | SomeTypeOfApp and then use that for training. We also kept our "tutorial" apps in ZIP files and an application that acted as a front end asking the developer where they would like to extract the sample app to. This greatly simplified the installer requirements.
I need to find a way to automate the process when a user uploads a microsoft project file to a web application I already have created. The process will need to basically use the save as from project to save into a .csv file so I can use this to import the data to an SQL database (this is needed for custom reporting we already have set up using SQL). I need to automate this process because I will be receiving tons of project files, and if the process is automated the users will then be able to instantly see results.
Basically, is there any way to create or run an automated process that will save these project files as .csv files? Even if the csv files are not formatted correctly, I can find a way around that, just need to first get them into .csv files.
Thank you.
edit - the only way i could think of this is to follow the instructions listed below, but
I would then need to automate a process to open the file and hit save so this works... any other suggestions?
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/projectprofessional2010general/thread/eea4ca15-0a0b-4c07-9989-87536b961385/
edit 2 - also looking into ways using Microsoft.Office.Interop.MSProject but not finding any luck.
edit 3 0 now using mpxj - the only issue I am having is the following listed below. Converting their example to vb.
Private Shared Function ToEnumerable(ByVal javaCollection As Collection) As EnumerableCollection
Return New EnumerableCollection(javaCollection)
End Function
the error is with EnumberableCollection - visual studio is not picking it up as a valid type - anything I am doing wrong or should substitute?
If you aren't wedded to using MS Project itself to extract data from the project files, you could consider using the MPXJ library. This would allow you to write a simple utility to open the MPP files you are given, extract the data items you are interested in, and write them directly to your database (or an intermediate CSV file, as required). MPXJ comes in Java and .Net flavours, so you can use your preferred language to do the work.
Jon
p.s. Disclaimer: I maintain MPXJ