Visual Studio Setup, Custom Action to copy the setup file

Question

I am developing a visual studio setup project. So far all has been good except uninstalling. The program did not create its own uninstaller, but instead the uninstall feature is inside of the setup.msi. So what I need to do is during the install, I need to copy the running setup.msi to the [TARGETDIR]. The easiest way I can think of is to use custom actions. I'm pretty lost on custom actions though, I don't understand where they go and every time I try to code one, its full of errors. Looking at other questions and answers, I have come up with the following:

[RunInstaller(true)]
public partial class CustomInstaller : System.Configuration.Install.Installer
{
    public override void Install(System.Collections.IDictionary stateSaver)
    {
        base.Install(stateSaver);
        string path = this.Context.Parameters["targetdir"]; 
        // Do something with path.
    } 
}

But I don't understand it. I see how it gets targetdir as that gets passed via the customactiondata. But, RunInstaller isn't known, nor is System.COnfiguration.Install.Installer. Where am I supposed to put this .cs file to make it work? Very confused.

Answer 1

This class should be placed in your application project. I believe it can be included in any project whose DLL is packaged by the setup project, but it usually makes the most sense to put it in the application project.

Make sure your application project references System.Configuration.Install.dll. That will resolve the reference to Installer.

RunInstaller is in the System.ComponentModel namespace (System.dll), so make sure you have a using System.ComponentModel statement at the top of the class file.

This question may help you understand custom actions more:

Why won't my Setup Project Perform my Custom Registration Process