Customizing default installation directory before CostInitialize in Wix v5

[amyspark]

Hi all,

I'm trying to port a bit of logic where a property's registry key, if existing, must be able to override the default INSTALLFOLDER. This is doable in WiX v3 with a mix of CustomActionSequence and CustomAction. In v5, I've got something like this:

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs" xmlns:ui="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/ui">

    <Package Name="MsiPackage" Language="1033" Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="Example Corporation" UpgradeCode="047730a5-30fe-4a62-a520-da9381b8226a" InstallerVersion="200">
        <MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />

        <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="MsiPackage">
            <ComponentGroupRef Id="ProductComponents" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature Id="ProductFeature2" Title="MsiPackage2">
            <ComponentGroupRef Id="ProductComponents2" />
        </Feature>

        <ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
            <Component>
                <File Source="E:/cerbero/packages/gstreamer-1.0/icon.ico" />
            </Component>
        </ComponentGroup>

        <ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents2" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
            <Component>
                <File Source="E:/cerbero/packages/gstreamer-1.0/license.rtf" />
            </Component>
        </ComponentGroup>

        <ui:WixUI Id="WixUI_Mondo" InstallDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER" />
        <WixVariable Id="WixUILicenseRtf" Value="E:/cerbero/packages/gstreamer-1.0/license.rtf" />

        <Property Id="GSTINSTALLDIR">
          <RegistrySearch Id="GStreamer1.0" Type="raw" Root="HKLM" Key="Software\GStreamer1.0\x86_64" Name="InstallDir"/>
        </Property>

		    <SetProperty Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Value="[GSTTINSTALLDIR]" Before="CostInitialize" Sequence="both" />
    </Package>

    <Fragment>
        <StandardDirectory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
            <Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="MsiPackage" />
        </StandardDirectory>
    </Fragment>
</Wix>

Apart from the Browse button being disabled, making it impossible to see the actual value on this particular prototype, on install the value of INSTALLFOLDER is always fixed to the value specified in the Fragment. Is it possible to do this on v5?

[robmen]

Sure. I did this in an S1 episode of the Deployment Dojo.

[amyspark]

Trick is here: https://github.com/DeploymentDojo/BeltTest/blob/main/BeltTest/Class1WixLib/RememberDataFolder.wxs#L5-L10

For anyone else that runs into this again, the logic should look like this. Condition seems essential because with a CustomAction I got a deadlock in msiexec:

        <Property Id="GSTINSTALLDIR">
          <RegistrySearch Id="GStreamer1.0" Type="raw" Root="HKLM" Key="Software\GStreamer1.0\x86_64" Name="InstallDir"/>
        </Property>

	<SetProperty Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Value="[GSTINSTALLDIR]" Before="CostInitialize" Sequence="both" Condition="GSTINSTALLDIR"/>