WiX Toolset: How to store a file from Binary Table in a Custom Action

Question

I want to store a file from Binary table to temp location in Custom Action. I have two Custom actions, first is 'immediate', another one is 'deferred'.

When during run of the 'immediate' custom action I invoke Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.Record.GetStream method, it does not save the file.

[CustomAction]
public static ActionResult ImmediateAction(Session session)
{
    try
    {
        View view = db.OpenView("SELECT Name, Data FROM Binary");
        view.Execute();

        foreach (Record row in view)
        {
            row.GetStream("Data", Path.Combine(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("temp"), row.GetString("Name"));
        }

        return ActionResult.Success;
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        session.Log(ex.Message);
        return ActionResult.Failure;
    }
    finally
    {
        db.Close();
    }
}

The Custom Action works without errors, but the file does not get being created.

Update:

In the InstallExecuteSequence the Custom Action described like:

    <InstallExecuteSequence>
       <Custom Action="ImmediateAction"
             Before="DeferredAction">
          NOT Installed
        </Custom>

        <Custom Action="DeferredAction"
             After="InstallInitialize">
          NOT Installed
        </Custom>
   </InstallExecuteSequence>

From the 'deferred' custom action I am not able to get the db view, which is expected. And, I am not able to pass the File's binary data from 'immediate' to 'deferred' Custom Action since System.IO.Stream class does not support serialization.

Are you aware the items added to the project as type content copy=true willl be automatically extracted and cleaned up to the current directory in temp during the install? — Christopher Painter
It's a good point, but I need to eliminate end user related errors. Good to be sure that nothing breaks when people who use your extension forget to change the content type of a file. — Alex
I've done it in VBscript a while back here: alkanesolutions.co.uk/2013/08/01/… However, by looking at your code and having NEVER user Wix myself, I'd suggest: What is "db" in db.openview? Does it not need to be session.database.openview instead (i.e the database of the session object that you pass in?)? Also here's some code I cobbled up - worth a try but no idea if it works or not: — Captain_Planet
tempFile = Path.GetTempFileName(); using (View binaryView = session.Database.OpenView("SELECT Name, Data FROM Binary")) { binaryView.Execute(); using (Record binaryRec = binaryView.Fetch()) { binaryRec.GetStream(2, tempFile); } } — Captain_Planet
@Captain_Planet, well .Fetch() helped me. Please answer the question, so I can forward reputation to you. — Alex

Captain_Planet Captain_Planet · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-21T11:50:04

Excellent Alex. Thanks for the feedback. The solution to the original question was to call the Fetch() method of the View() object: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa372509(v=vs.85).aspx

tempFile = Path.GetTempFileName(); 
using (View binaryView = session.Database.OpenView("SELECT Name, Data FROM Binary")) 
{ 
    binaryView.Execute(); 
    using (Record binaryRec = binaryView.Fetch()) 
    { 
        binaryRec.GetStream(2, tempFile); 
    } 
}

WiX Toolset: How to store a file from Binary Table in a Custom Action

1 Answers