HowTo use C#/DTF with Basic MSI projects?

[Holger_G]

Hi,

is there any good guide available that shows how to use C#/DTF with a Basic MSI projects?

Holger

[deskny]

There is no need in detailed guide - it's very simple.
At first, you build a solution - see WIX samples ManagedCA. The samples goes with WIX source.
Then you need to wrap your dll by MakeSfxCA.exe - the WIX package utility. How to use MakeSfxCA.exe you can read in DTF.chm.
After this you get your library as a Windows Installer dynamic-link library.
And finally you add new custom action of type Windows Installer dynamic-link library in your basic-MSI package.
Thats all.
In runtime you can attack to debug managed code in process RunDll32.exe.

[Holger_G]

Thank you.

[Christopher_Pai]

It's even simpler then that. DTF has a special project type ( wix | C# custom action ) that is preplumbed to call MakeSfxca for you. Just create the project and build. You'll have foo.dll and foo.ca.dll where the later is ready to be consumed by InstallShield as an MSI dll custom action.

BTW there's lots of DTF content on my blog.

[Lou_Elston]

The attached document was written a few months ago, so the Wix version and location may not be exact.