Hi Shawn, DTF's FeatureInfo class uses the MsiGetFeatureInfo API to retrieve the feature's attributes, title, and description. According to MSDN ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368612.aspx ), MsiGetFeatureInfo is on the list of functions that "must never be called from a custom action".
Therefore, DTF does not include that function in the set of native APIs that get remoted over the IPC channel between the managed CA process and the installer session. Calling any non-remoted APIs with a CA session handle always results in an InvalidHandleException because you are calling with a remote handle. Perhaps MsiGetFeatureInfo should be smart enough to recognize when it's being called from the context of a CA and then query those values from the database instead of using MsiGetFeatureInfo, but it doesn't do that now. As a workaround you can do that query yourself, as you have done. The FeatureInfo.GetCost() method should work from within a CA, since the MsiGetFeatureCost API does get remoted. So there might be a bug in that method. When I get a chance, I'll try to add a test case to verify GetCost(). -Jason- -----Original Message----- From: Shawn Dwyer [mailto:shawn.o.dw...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 8:57 AM To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. Subject: [WiX-users] DTF Session object properties Hi, I'm trying to put together a simple managed custom action using DTF which will show each of the features, their descriptions, and their cost. It seemed straight forward enough string msg = ""; foreach (FeatureInfo fi in session.Features) { msg += string.Format ( "Title: {0}\r\nDescription: {1}\r\nCost: {2}\r\n\r\n", fi.Title, fi.Description, fi.GetCost(false, true, InstallState.Local) ); } MessageBox.Show(msg,"Features"); However, fi.Title thows the exception: System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.InvalidHandleException: The handle is invalid. at Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.FeatureInfo.get_Title() I get a similar error for fi.Description. For fi.GetCost for one of my 3 features it returns 0, for the others it returns -1099511627776 (=-1TB). I'm probably missing something obvious here but I can't seem to put my finger on it. I have my custom task scheduled as follows: <InstallUISequence> <Custom Action="ShowFeatures" After="CostFinalize" /> </InstallUISequence> Any ideas? I am able to query the title and description directly with View v = Session.Database.OpenView("SELECT * FROM Feature ORDER BY Display"); I am also able to access FeatureInfo.RequestState and FeatureInfo.CurrentState without exception. Thanks, Shawn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
