Dialogs read values from the UI session. If the custom action runs in the InstallUISequence then the properties will be available. If the custom action runs in the InstallExecuteSequence, then those properties will not be available to the dialogs, since properties only flow from the UI to the Execute sequence (and only a subset of the properties, at that).
If the App.Config file comes from your application, it would be more typical to read those values in your build and set them in the MSI as default property values which you would then show to the User before the InstallExecuteSequence even begins. If the file is present already (because you are upgrading or modifying) you could read the resident App.Config file in a custom action in the UI sequence and change the properties to what you found as your new "defaults". Then you can write them to the App.Config inside of the install sequence between InstallInitialize and InstallFinalize. -----Original Message----- From: Jeremy Rimer [mailto:jeremyri...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 2:19 PM To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [WiX-users] Persisting Session Variables set in external Custom Actions to Dialog Input defaults? I am new to WIX and have been tasked with creating an installer that does the following: *Deploys a build of our application without overwriting the App.Config file for the application *Loads the key/values in the App.Config file and prompts the user with the "defaults" (existing values) and allows them to modify them before finishing *SAVES the values the user provided (or defaults if the user made no changes) back to the App.Config file for use with the application. I've got the WIX dilalogs and custom actions laid out successfully where after InstallFinalize, my "LoadDefaultOptions" CustomAction is executed, which successfully takes the installation directory and the app config file name, loads it in an XML reader, and parses the key/value pairs, setting them into the session variable in this manner: session[key.toUpper()] = value; My custom action(s) are defined as: <CustomAction Id="LoadDefaultOptions" Return="asyncWait" Execute="immediate" BinaryKey="aeserverDbDialogPackage.dll" DllEntry="LoadDefaultOptions"/> <CustomAction Id="SetConfigOptions" Return="check" Execute="immediate" BinaryKey="aeserverDbDialogPackage.dll" DllEntry="SetConfigOptions"/> The LoadDefaultOptions executes as such: <Custom Action="LoadDefaultOptions" After="InstallFinalize" /> I have the custom dialog edit properties set like this: <Control Id="CCPDbConnString" Type="Edit" X="20" Y="62" Width="150" Height="18" Property="CCPCONNECTIONSTRING" Indirect="no" /> There's a matching Property tag earlier in the WXS file like this: <Property Id="CCPCONNECTIONSTRING" Secure="yes" ></Property> ...And the LoadDefaultOptions customAction overwrites the session var like this: session["CCPCONNECTIONSTRING"] = <value parsed from file>; According to session logs, this works as expected, the xml parse works, and the session vars are set. My problem is when my custom dialog comes around to prompt the user with those stored defaults AFTER the LoadDefaultOptions CustomAction has run. The ORIGINAL property values of the session variables seem to have "stuck" instead of being overwritten by the custom action that loaded the defaults via the xml file and stored them in the session. (they are blank as their original properties are defined, or in the case I define them otherwise, they show those values instead of the session written values) How do you get Dialogs to "read" overridden session variables by CustomActions? Ultimately I want to load those values from the app config, prompt them back to the user in an optional dialog prompt off the exit screen (which works so far, aside from not getting updated session vars), and then on command from that prompt dialog, run another custom action to re-write the App.Config file with the settings provided from the custom dialog... I just can't get the session vars to PERSIST!!! Any ideas? am I completely off base attempting to use the session in this manner? how else could I parse the app.config file, and allow an installation user to change app settings if not by session? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.net email is sponsored by Sprint What will you do first with EVO, the first 4G phone? Visit sprint.com/first -- http://p.sf.net/sfu/sprint-com-first _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
