NetInverse Developers Blog

Today I will show you how to log tracing information from your custom actions into your MSI’s log. We will still use the product.wxs sample. You can follow the steps below:

1. Create an xml file: product.wxs (copied from WiX.chm)  as below
   This WiX file will create an MSI file to copy readme.txt into %sysdrv%/program files/test program/

   <?xml version='1.0'?>
   <WiX xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/WiX/2003/01/wi'>
      <Product Id='12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012' Name='Test Package' Language='1033'
               Version='1.0.0.0' Manufacturer='Microsoft Corporation'>
         <Package Id='12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012'
                   Description='My first Windows Installer package'
                   Comments='This is my first attempt at creating a Windows Installer database'
                   Manufacturer='Microsoft Corporation' InstallerVersion='200' Compressed='yes' />
   
         <Media Id='1' Cabinet='product.cab' EmbedCab='yes' />
   
         <Directory Id='TARGETDIR' Name='SourceDir'>
            <Directory Id='ProgramFilesFolder' Name='PFiles'>
               <Directory Id='MyDir' Name='TestProg' LongName='Test Program'>
                  <Component Id='MyComponent' Guid='12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012'>
                     <File Id='readme' Name='readme.txt' DiskId='1' src='readme.txt' />
                  </Component>
               </Directory>
            </Directory>
         </Directory>
   
         <Feature Id='MyFeature' Title='My 1st Feature' Level='1'>
            <ComponentRef Id='MyComponent' />
         </Feature>
         <InstallExecuteSequence>
            <Custom Action="test" Sequence='1'/>
         </InstallExecuteSequence>
   
         <Binary Id='Customization.vbs' src='Customization.vbs'/>
         <CustomAction Id='test' BinaryKey='Customization.vbs' VBScriptCall='Hello' Return='check'/>
      </Product>
   </WiX>

2. Create a customization VBS code: Customization.vbs

                  Function LogInfo(msg) Dim rec
                       Set rec = Session.Installer.CreateRecord(1)
                       rec.StringData(0) = msg
                       LogInfo = Session.Message(&H04000000, rec)
                   End Function
   
                   Function Hello
                       LogInfo "Customization is being called here."
                   End function

3. Compile:

   c:\WiX\candle product.wxs

4. Link:

   c:\WiX\light product.WiXobj

5. Test your MSI:

   c:\WiX\msiexec /i product.msi /L*v log.txt

Open log.txt, search “Customization is being called here” to locate your the tracing information. Now you can log your debugging information to the calling MSI’s log file for diagnostics.