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Link to more details about the dangers of managed code custom actions in an MSI

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A while back, I wrote a post with my opinion about managed code custom actions - https://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2005/03/10/392280.aspx.  Essentially, I recommend avoiding using them in an MSI-based setup because of the extra complexity they introduce to the installation process.

This week, I noticed that Rob Mensching wrote an interesting analysis of issues surrounding supporting managed code custom actions in MSI-based setups in a recent blog post at https://robmensching.com/blog/archive/2007/04/19/Managed-Code-CustomActions-no-support-on-the-way-and-heres.aspx.  His blog post presents much more concrete details about the potential dangers that managed code custom actions introduce to a setup.  It also describes some higher level strategic reasons that Windows Installer does not officially support/endorse managed code custom actions.

If you are a setup developer, Rob's blog post is a very informative read and hopefully it will encourage you to do the following:

  1. Avoid custom actions entirely if at all possible
  2. Investigate the WiX built-in custom actions if you find a setup action that is not natively supported in Windows Installer
  3. If you have to write custom action code, do not use managed code when doing so

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 20, 2007
    Rob Mensching, father of Windows Installer XML (WiX), blogs about why managed custom actions are a bad

  • Anonymous
    April 22, 2007
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 03, 2007
    Rob Mensching, father of Windows Installer XML (WiX), blogs about why managed custom actions are a bad