[wix-users] Passing data into a deferred ca

[Phill Hogland]

The DTF C# CustomAction class implementation assumes the multi-key/value form of:
Value="KeyName1=Value1;KeyName2=Value2"

But that is only one implementation.  The C++ WcaUtil has in my view, a wider and more flexible array of options.  By default the WcaWriteXxxToCaData and WcaReadXxxFromCaData uses WCHAR MAGIC_MULTISZ_DELIM = 128 or WCHAR delim[] = { 0x80, 0 }; as the delimiter, but there are functions to change the delimiter, IIRC.

On a side note, one of the key 'tricks' that I had to figure out when trying to use Lux/Nit was to write a small C++ function that replaced  MAGIC_MULTISZ_DELIM  with a ASCII char (such as '*', not used in my test data) when passing the CustomActionData string created by my immediate ca into a Property when unit testing.  This is done based on a Lux Mutation.

More relevant to this thread, I have some immediate C++ CAs which use the above functions and then call a DTF C# deferred CA.  When passing multiple variables I had to write my own parsing function because the data is not in the form assumed by the DTF class.

When passing sensitive data in a Property mark it as hidden, as John indicated.
When passing sensitive data in the CustomActionData property to a deferred CA that you author, then set the  CustomAction/@HideTarget='yes' flag.
When passing sensitive data to a CA in a library (such as a WixUtil function, where you cannot author the CustomAciton/@HideTarget flag) then create a Property of the same name as the deferred CA function, and set the Property/@Hidden flag.

________________________________________
From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> on behalf of Joseph L. Casale <jcasale at activenetwerx.com>
Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 5:43:30 PM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Passing data into a deferred ca

Hi John,
As far as I know, passing multiple key/value pairs is done by setting the Value attribute as follows:

    Value="KeyName1=Value1;KeyName2=Value2"

So the issue arises when the values contain = or ; characters. I was calling ToString on the entire object
and parsing it myself but it's an issue waiting to arise when the input matches the parsing technique unexpectedly.

I had not decalred the property, so I will try that and mark it hidden.

Rollback is not an issue as the CA which uses the key/value's only sets registry entries under a key that
the installer creates. Currently, when a user uninstalls the application or the installer faults and rolls back,
the entire key is removed without leaving any entries.

Thanks for the help,
jlc

-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of John Cooper
Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 4:27 PM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: Re: [wix-users] Passing data into a deferred ca

Mark it Hidden and don't log it inside your custom action.  Outside, Hidden properties will appear as asterisks.  You can use a CustomActionData object to pass any number of key value pairs.  What are you doing for rollback?

--
John Merryweather Cooper
Senior Software Engineer | Integration Development Group | Enterprise Notification Service
Jack Henry & Associates, Inc.® | Lenexa, KS  66214 | Ext:  431050 |JoCooper at jackhenry.com




-----Original Message-----
From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf Of Joseph L. Casale
Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 4:43 PM
To: 'wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org' <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Subject: [wix-users] Passing data into a deferred ca

The e-mail below is from an external source.  Please do not open attachments or click links from an unknown or suspicious origin.

I have a deferred CA that requires several key/value pairs. Most of which are passwords and hence will most certainly contain the characters used to unpack the string.

As a result, I have written anther CA which runs immediate and has access to the session so that I can query all the values I need and serialize them myself into a single value which I push back into the session.

That all works fine except the CA which provides the custom action data value can't access a private property so I can only populate the deferred CAs input if the immediate CA pushes a public property back in. How can I ensure the result of the first CA are not logged?

Thanks,
jlc


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