Wix Custom Action using C#

Question

I am using Wix as my installer and a C# project which contains the custom Actions.

I want to install a Utility if it's not already installed but skip the installation of it if it already exists on the system (through registry check).

C# Custom action:

[CustomAction]
public static ActionResult CheckForUtilityInstallation(Session session)
{

    var UtilityKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(...);

    if (UtilityKey != null)
    {
        var value = UtilityKey.GetValue("DisplayVersion");
        session.Log("Utility installation found! Version: {0}", value);
        session["UTILITYINSTALLATIONEXISTS"] = "1";
    }
    else
    {
        session.Log("Utility installation not found!");
        session["UTILITYINSTALLATIONEXISTS"] = "0";
    }
    return ActionResult.Success;
}

If the utility exists, the parameter UTILITYINSTALLATIONEXISTS is passed with parameter 1 otherwise with parameter 0.

The Wix code is this:

<CustomAction Id="InstallUtility" FileKey="filAAF554748D18441299BE9AEFA324AA76" ExeCommand="/noicons /nofeedback /verysilent /components=Entity" Return="ignore" Execute="deferred" Impersonate="no" />

<CustomAction Id="CheckUtilityInstallation" BinaryKey="CActions.CA.dll" DllEntry="CheckForUtilityInstallation" Return="check"/>

<InstallExecuteSequence>
  <Custom Action="CheckUtilityInstallation" Before="InstallUtility" />
  <Custom Action="InstallUtility" Before="InstallFinalize">UTILITYINSTALLATIONEXISTS = "0"</Custom>
</InstallExecuteSequence>

Somehow the UTILITYINSTALLATIONEXISTS parameter is not passed from the Custom Action C# code to the Wix installer thus avoiding to install the Utility in any case.

What am I doing wrong?

Log file:

Calling custom action CActions!CActions.CustomActions.CheckForUtilityInstallation
Utility installation not found!
MSI (s) (54!C0) [11:26:32:917]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding UTILITYINSTALLATIONEXISTS property. Its value is '0'.
Action ended 11:26:32: CheckUtilityInstallation.2D89DF12_B7E5_454A_A3A4_884A776A78D1. Return value 1.
MSI (s) (54:64) [11:26:32:932]: Skipping action: InstallUtility.2D89DF12_B7E5_454A_A3A4_884A776A78D1 (condition is false)

curandero curandero · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-20T11:25:49

If your C# code is used to only check the existence of registry key, perhaps it is better to use the Wix native methods for that:

<Property Id="UTILITYINSTALLEDVERSION">
  <RegistrySearch Id="RegSearch1" Name="DisplayVersion" Key="..." Root="HKLM" Type="raw" />
</Property>

and then your action in actions sequence with condition:

<Custom Action="InstallUtility" Before="InstallFinalize">UTILITYINSTALLEDVERSION</Custom>

Also the UTILITYINSTALLEDVERSION will contain the version of the utility if it exists.

Wix Custom Action using C#

1 Answers