WIX Custom Action - run at different times for install, upgrade and uninstall

Question

Hi all, I have a custom action that removes various directories as part of the uninstall process. I want to call this action at different points in the install sequence depending on what's being done:

• During an install, don't run the custom action
• During an upgrade, run the custom action after RemoveExistingProducts
• During an uninstall, run the custom action after RemoveFolders

I can likely get each one of these to work individually, but how do I get them to work together how I want. I tried something like this (some code take from here):

<InstallExecuteSequence>

  <Custom Action="PreventDowngrading" After="FindRelatedProducts">
    NEWERPRODUCTFOUND AND NOT Installed
  </Custom>

  <LaunchConditions After="AppSearch" />
  <RemoveExistingProducts Before="InstallInitialize" />

  <!-- NEW _> Clean old files AFTER uninstall during an upgrade -->
  <Custom Action="CleanUp"  After="RemoveExistingProducts" >
    UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE
  </Custom>

  <!-- NEW _> Clean old files LAST during an uninstall -->
  <Custom Action="CleanUp"  After="RemoveFolders" >
    (NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE) AND (REMOVE="ALL")
  </Custom>

</InstallExecuteSequence>

But get a duplicate symbol error when I do a build. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

A custom action can be in a sequence only once. I have some bigger concerns though: what type of upgrade are you doing? A major upgrade does a uninstall of the previous product so your CA might run twice the way you are describing it.

I would tread really lightly here. Can you possibly use the WiX RemoveFolder element ( MSI RemoveFile table ). This will be alot easier and reliable to implement. If you must use a custom action I would use component action states to determine when it should run rather then more generic properties like shown above.