problems with WIX user interface and adding custom form

Question

I am working on adapting the user interface of my wix installer. however I am struggeling to get it to work at all. at first I used the folowing code to get a standard interface for my installer:

<Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INSTALLFOLDER" ></Property>
<UIRef Id="WixUI_InstallDir"/>

this works fine bud I want to make some changes to it, like deleting the license agreement and adding an extra form for user input.

So I looked it up in the documentation and found what I was looking for. it had a nice example on how to remove the license agreement, so that is what I used to accomplish just that. However it doesn't seem to work, I importet the fragment from the source code as told and made the changes as told and build the project. however when I execute the .MSI it doesn't show an interface what so ever. I tried a couple of more things to get it to work bud without succes.

After a lot of trying I suddenly had a bright moment and thought, well.. maybe if I dont change any code in the imported fragment and use that to see if i get an interface I can look a bid more specific on what the problem might be. so I ended up with this piece of code:

<Fragment>
    <UI Id="WixUI_InstallDir">
        <TextStyle Id="WixUI_Font_Normal" FaceName="Tahoma" Size="8" />
        <TextStyle Id="WixUI_Font_Bigger" FaceName="Tahoma" Size="12" />
        <TextStyle Id="WixUI_Font_Title" FaceName="Tahoma" Size="9" Bold="yes" />

        <Property Id="DefaultUIFont" Value="WixUI_Font_Normal" />
        <Property Id="WixUI_Mode" Value="InstallDir" />

        <DialogRef Id="BrowseDlg" />
        <DialogRef Id="DiskCostDlg" />
        <DialogRef Id="ErrorDlg" />
        <DialogRef Id="FatalError" />
        <DialogRef Id="FilesInUse" />
        <DialogRef Id="MsiRMFilesInUse" />
        <DialogRef Id="PrepareDlg" />
        <DialogRef Id="ProgressDlg" />
        <DialogRef Id="ResumeDlg" />
        <DialogRef Id="UserExit" />

        <Publish Dialog="BrowseDlg" Control="OK" Event="DoAction" Value="WixUIValidatePath" Order="3">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="BrowseDlg" Control="OK" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="InvalidDirDlg" Order="4"><![CDATA[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID<>"1"]]></Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="ExitDialog" Control="Finish" Event="EndDialog" Value="Return" Order="999">1</Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="WelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="LicenseAgreementDlg">NOT Installed</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="WelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg">Installed AND PATCH</Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="LicenseAgreementDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="WelcomeDlg">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="LicenseAgreementDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="InstallDirDlg">LicenseAccepted = "1"</Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="LicenseAgreementDlg">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="SetTargetPath" Value="[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR]" Order="1">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="DoAction" Value="WixUIValidatePath" Order="2">NOT WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="InvalidDirDlg" Order="3"><![CDATA[NOT WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH AND WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID<>"1"]]></Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg" Order="4">WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH OR WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID="1"</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="ChangeFolder" Property="_BrowseProperty" Value="[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR]" Order="1">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="ChangeFolder" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="BrowseDlg" Order="2">1</Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="VerifyReadyDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="InstallDirDlg" Order="1">NOT Installed</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="VerifyReadyDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="MaintenanceTypeDlg" Order="2">Installed AND NOT PATCH</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="VerifyReadyDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="WelcomeDlg" Order="2">Installed AND PATCH</Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="MaintenanceWelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="MaintenanceTypeDlg">1</Publish>

        <Publish Dialog="MaintenanceTypeDlg" Control="RepairButton" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="MaintenanceTypeDlg" Control="RemoveButton" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg">1</Publish>
        <Publish Dialog="MaintenanceTypeDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="MaintenanceWelcomeDlg">1</Publish>

        <Property Id="ARPNOMODIFY" Value="1" />
    </UI>

    <UIRef Id="WixUI_Common" />
</Fragment>

even with this piece of code I didn't get an interface. I am out of ideas aboud what the problem might be and my knowledge is to limmited to know any other way. can someone help me with getting this to work?

note: the first piece of code in this post was deleted from the sourcecode when working with the second piece of code.

thanks in advance

Answer 1

Thanks for the help,

both comments where usefull and with some extra research I managed to get it working. I ended up placing the content of the fragment in the product and made the changes as suggested by Rick Bowerman (except the UIRef change which wasn't needed in my case).

for future visitors to this threath, here is the code setup that worked for me (using WIX 3.9):

 <UI Id="WixUI_InstallDir">

  <TextStyle Id="WixUI_Font_Normal" FaceName="Tahoma" Size="8" />
  <TextStyle Id="WixUI_Font_Bigger" FaceName="Tahoma" Size="12" />
  <TextStyle Id="WixUI_Font_Title" FaceName="Tahoma" Size="9" Bold="yes" />

  <Property Id="DefaultUIFont" Value="WixUI_Font_Normal" />
  <Property Id="WixUI_Mode" Value="InstallDir" />
  <Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INSTALLFOLDER" />

  <DialogRef Id="BrowseDlg" />
  <DialogRef Id="DiskCostDlg" />
  <DialogRef Id="ErrorDlg" />
  <DialogRef Id="FatalError" />
  <DialogRef Id="FilesInUse" />
  <DialogRef Id="MsiRMFilesInUse" />
  <DialogRef Id="PrepareDlg" />
  <DialogRef Id="ProgressDlg" />
  <DialogRef Id="ResumeDlg" />
  <DialogRef Id="UserExit" />

  <Publish Dialog="WelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="InstallDirDlg">NOT Installed</Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="WelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg">Installed AND PATCH</Publish>

  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="WelcomeDlg">1</Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="SetTargetPath" Value="[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR]" Order="1">1</Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="DoAction" Value="WixUIValidatePath" Order="2">NOT WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH</Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="InvalidDirDlg" Order="3"><![CDATA[NOT WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH AND WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID<>"1"]]></Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg" Order="4">WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH OR WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID="1"</Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="ChangeFolder" Property="_BrowseProperty" Value="[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR]" Order="1">1</Publish>
  <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="ChangeFolder" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="BrowseDlg" Order="2">1</Publish>

  <Property Id="ARPNOMODIFY" Value="1" />

</UI>

    <UIRef Id="WixUI_Common" />  

this code needs to be put in the product and dont forget to add the following property:

<Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INSTALLFOLDER" />

without this property the interface will not be included in the installer, so don't forget to include it. here is a link for more information aboud this property can be found here.

Again, thanks for the help and I hope this thread will also be of help to future visitors.

Answer 2

To remove the license agreement you'll need to remove/replace all instances of LicenseAgreementDlg in the displayed code. For the controls that reference LicenseAgreementDlg as next, use the form that follows LicenseAgreementDlg. For the controls that reference LicenseAgreementDlg as previous, use the form that preceeds LicenseAgreementDlg.

Example:

    <Publish Dialog="WelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="InstallDirDlg">NOT Installed</Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="WelcomeDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg">Installed AND PATCH</Publish>

    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Back" Event="NewDialog" Value="WelcomeDlg">1</Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="SetTargetPath" Value="[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR]" Order="1">1</Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="DoAction" Value="WixUIValidatePath" Order="2">NOT WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH</Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="InvalidDirDlg" Order="3"><![CDATA[NOT WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH AND WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID<>"1"]]></Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="Next" Event="NewDialog" Value="VerifyReadyDlg" Order="4">WIXUI_DONTVALIDATEPATH OR WIXUI_INSTALLDIR_VALID="1"</Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="ChangeFolder" Property="_BrowseProperty" Value="[WIXUI_INSTALLDIR]" Order="1">1</Publish>
    <Publish Dialog="InstallDirDlg" Control="ChangeFolder" Event="SpawnDialog" Value="BrowseDlg" Order="2">1</Publish>

Note you will probably need to rename the UIRef as well.