MsiDoActionA function (msiquery.h)

The MsiDoAction function executes a built-in action, custom action, or user-interface wizard action.

Syntax

UINT MsiDoActionA(
  [in] MSIHANDLE hInstall,
  [in] LPCSTR    szAction
);

Parameters

[in] hInstall

Handle to the installation provided to a DLL custom action or obtained through MsiOpenPackage, MsiOpenPackageEx, or MsiOpenProduct.

[in] szAction

Specifies the action to execute.

Return value

This function returns UINT.

Remarks

The MsiDoAction function executes the action that corresponds to the name supplied. If the name is not recognized by the installer as a built-in action or as a custom action in the CustomAction table, the name is passed to the user-interface handler object, which can invoke a function or a dialog box. If a null action name is supplied, the installer uses the upper-case value of the ACTION property as the action to perform. If no property value is defined, the default action is performed, defined as "INSTALL".

Actions that update the system, such as the InstallFiles and WriteRegistryValues actions, cannot be run by calling MsiDoAction. The exception to this rule is if MsiDoAction is called from a custom action that is scheduled in the InstallExecuteSequence table between the InstallInitialize and InstallFinalize actions. Actions that do not update the system, such as AppSearch or CostInitialize, can be called.

Note

The msiquery.h header defines MsiDoAction as an alias that automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that is not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement Value
Minimum supported client Windows Installer 5.0 on Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. Windows Installer 4.0 or Windows Installer 4.5 on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista. Windows Installer on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP
Target Platform Windows
Header msiquery.h
Library Msi.lib
DLL Msi.dll

See also

Installer Action Functions