WiX: Passing Data to managed custom action does not work - wix

Question

i got a problem regarding wix and managed custom actions: I already managed it to create an managed custom action and got it called from my installer (verified it in the installation log files). My Problem is now that i did't manage it to pass data to the custom action. Afaik if i choose to run the custom action in such a late stage i must mark the action as "deferred". With this limitation it's only possible to access the CustomActionData Property right? Why does this not work in my case? (As far as i can see i adoptet everything correctly from the samples?)
Here is what i already tried:
Custom Action:
public class CustomActions
{
[CustomAction]
public static ActionResult RegisterDflHelp(Session session)
{
session.Log("Begin CustomAction1");
session.Log("Before Access to customactiondata");
//string helpdir = session["HELP_DIR"];
string cad = session["CustomActionData"];
Debugger.Break();
session.Log("Help dir is: " + helpdir);
session.Log("Custom Action Data is: " + cad);
return ActionResult.Success;
}
}
Merge Module which calls custom action:
<CustomAction Id='RegisterDflHelp' BinaryKey='RegisterDflHelpDll' DllEntry='RegisterDflHelp' Execute='deferred' />
<CustomAction Id="HELP_DIR.SetProperty" Return="check" Property="HELP_DIR" Value="Teeest" />
<Property Id='HELP_DIR' Secure='yes'/>
<InstallExecuteSequence>
<Custom Action='HELP_DIR.SetProperty' After='InstallFiles' />
<Custom Action='RegisterDflHelp' After='HELP_DIR.SetProperty' />
</InstallExecuteSequence>
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
</Directory>
<ComponentGroupRef Id="HelpGroup"/>
Product which includes Help-Merge Module:
<Product....>
<Package....>
...
<Directory>
<!--Directory which gets the help folder--!>
<Merge Id ="DflHelpInstaller" SourceFile="DflHelpInstaller.msm" Language="1033" DiskId="1" />
Anyone an idea? Thanks in advance!!
Daniel
Btw: What would also be interesting to know: At which stage in the installationprocess must an action marked as deferred? And if i managed it to call my custom action before this stage. Whats the advantage?

Answer 1

You are still setting the HELP_DIR property instead of the custom action data. If you are trying to set the CustomActionData for the RegisterDfHelp action to "Teeest", then I think you should do this:
<CustomAction Id="SetRegisterDflHelpCustomActionData" Return="check"
Property="RegisterDflHelp" Value="Teeest" />
<InstallExecuteSequence>
<Custom Action='SetRegisterDflHelpCustomActionData' After='InstallFiles' />
<Custom Action='RegisterDflHelp' After='SetRegisterDflHelpCustomActionData' />
</InstallExecuteSequence>

Answer 2

somethimes using your head really helps;-)
the reason why the sample above does not work is quite simple:
Instead of:
CustomAction Id="HELP_DIR.SetProperty" Return="check" Property="HELP_DIR" Value="Teeest" />
I head to set the Property Attribute to the Action which should get the custom data!! here:
<CustomAction Id="HELP_DIR.SetProperty" Return="check" Property="RegisterDflHelp" Value="$(var.HelpSourceDir)" />
Hope that helps others to save the time i spend to solve this silly problem;-)