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1 | <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> | ||
2 | <head> | ||
3 | <title>Writing Managed Custom Actions</title> | ||
4 | <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../styles/presentation.css" /> | ||
5 | <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="ms-help://Hx/HxRuntime/HxLink.css" /> | ||
6 | </head> | ||
7 | |||
8 | <body> | ||
9 | |||
10 | <div id="control"> | ||
11 | <span class="productTitle">Deployment Tools Foundation</span><br /> | ||
12 | <span class="topicTitle">Writing Managed Custom Actions</span><br /> | ||
13 | <div id="toolbar"> | ||
14 | <span id="chickenFeet"> | ||
15 | <a href="using.htm">Development Guide</a> > | ||
16 | <a href="managedcas.htm">Managed CAs</a> > | ||
17 | <span class="nolink">Writing CAs</span> | ||
18 | </span> | ||
19 | </div> | ||
20 | </div> | ||
21 | <div id="main"> | ||
22 | <div id="header"> | ||
23 | </div> | ||
24 | <div class="summary"> | ||
25 | <p><b>Caveats</b></p> | ||
26 | <p>Before choosing to write a custom action in managed code instead of | ||
27 | traditional native C++ code, you should carefully consider the following:</p> | ||
28 | <ul> | ||
29 | <li><p>Obviously, it introduces a dependency on the .NET Framework. Your | ||
30 | MSI package should probably have a LaunchCondition to check for the presence | ||
31 | of the correct version of the .NET Framework before anything else happens.</p></li> | ||
32 | <li><p>If the custom action runs at uninstall time, then even the uninstall of | ||
33 | your product may fail if the .NET Framework is not present. This means a | ||
34 | user could run into a problem if they uninstall the .NET Framework before | ||
35 | your product.</p></li> | ||
36 | <li><p>A managed custom action should be configured to run against a specific | ||
37 | version of the .NET Framework, and that version should match the version your | ||
38 | actual product runs against. Allowing the version to "float" to the latest | ||
39 | installed .NET Framework is likely to lead to compatibility problems with | ||
40 | future versions. The .NET Framework provides side-by-side functionality for | ||
41 | good reason -- use it.</p></li> | ||
42 | |||
43 | </ul> | ||
44 | <p><br/></p> | ||
45 | <p><b>How To</b></p> | ||
46 | <ul> | ||
47 | <li><p>A custom action function needs to be declared as | ||
48 | <tt>public static</tt> (aka <tt>Public Shared</tt> in VB.NET). It takes one parameter which is | ||
49 | a <a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_Session.htm">Session</a> object, and returns a | ||
50 | <a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_ActionResult.htm">ActionResult</a> enumeration.</p> | ||
51 | <pre><font face="Consolas, Courier New"> [CustomAction] | ||
52 | <font color=blue>public</font> <font color=blue>static</font> ActionResult MyCustomAction(Session session)</font></pre><br /> | ||
53 | <li><p>The function must have a | ||
54 | <a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_CustomActionAttribute.htm" | ||
55 | >CustomActionAttribute</a>, which enables it to be | ||
56 | linked to a proxy function. The attribute can take an optional | ||
57 | "name" parameter, which is the name of the entrypoint | ||
58 | that is exported from the custom action DLL.</p> | ||
59 | <li><p>Fill in MSI CustomAction table entries just like you | ||
60 | would for a normal type 1 native-DLL CA. Managed CAs can also work just | ||
61 | as well in deferred, rollback, and commit modes.</p> | ||
62 | <li><p>If the custom action function throws any kind of | ||
63 | Exception that isn't handled internally, then it will be caught by the proxy | ||
64 | function. The Exception message and stack trace will be printed to the | ||
65 | MSI log if logging is enabled, and the CA will return a failure code.</p> | ||
66 | <li><p>To be technically correct, any MSI handles obtained should be | ||
67 | closed before a custom action function exits -- otherwise a warning | ||
68 | gets printed to the log. The handle classes in the managed library | ||
69 | (<a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_Database.htm">Database</a>, | ||
70 | <a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_View.htm">View</a>, | ||
71 | <a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_Record.htm">Record</a>, | ||
72 | <a href="DTFAPI.chm::/html/T_Microsoft_Deployment_WindowsInstaller_SummaryInfo.htm">SummaryInfo</a>) | ||
73 | all implement the IDisposable interface, | ||
74 | which makes them easily managed with C#'s <tt>using</tt> | ||
75 | statement. Alternatively, they can be closed in a finally block. | ||
76 | As a general rule, <i>methods</i> return new handle objects that should be | ||
77 | managed and closed by the user code, while <i>properties</i> only return a reference | ||
78 | to a prexisting handle object.</p></li> | ||
79 | <li><p>Don't forget to use a <a href="caconfig.htm">CustomAction.config</a> file to | ||
80 | specify what version of the .NET Framework the custom action should run against.</p></li> | ||
81 | </ul> | ||
82 | |||
83 | <p><br/></p> | ||
84 | <p><b>See also:</b></p> | ||
85 | <ul> | ||
86 | <li><a href="samplecas.htm">Sample C# Custom Actions</a></li> | ||
87 | <li><a href="caconfig.htm">Specifying the Runtime Version</a></li> | ||
88 | <li><a href="databases.htm">Working with MSI Databases</a></li> | ||
89 | <li><a href="buildingcas.htm">Building Managed Custom Actions</a></li> | ||
90 | <li><a href="debuggingcas.htm">Debugging Managed Custom Actions</a></li> | ||
91 | </ul> | ||
92 | <p><br/></p> | ||
93 | |||
94 | </div> | ||
95 | |||
96 | <div id="footer"> | ||
97 | <p /> | ||
98 | Send comments on this topic to <a id="HT_MailLink" href="mailto:wix-users%40lists.sourceforge.net?Subject=Deployment Tools Foundation Documentation"> | ||
99 | wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net</a> | ||
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