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(Can I / How do I) access the assembly information from WiX – SEO

I’m learning how to use WiX to create an installer for my projects, and would like to be able to reference my VS2019 C# project’s assembly information as populated from the project’s Properties > Application > Assembly Information button in my .wxs file.

I understand I can use add the project as a reference and then use a $(var.MyProject.???) declaration, but I have no idea where to find the list of viable dot notation properties for the project. Alternatly I know I can use ” with <Package Manufacturer="$(var.CompanyName)" .../> to save having to typing the data multiple times, but i’d still prefer to pull it from the project and have it in one place.

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Thank you

SEO terms: wix assembly version. wix assembly information

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  1. Chosen as BEST ANSWER
    0

    For those who run into this in the future here's what it took to gain access to the assembly information from wix.

    Note at the time of posting I hadn't managed to return the entire data object as a single struct, but can at least output the values as strings.

    To make it easy to define the targeted assembly file, define a constant either via your node in the .wixproj file Or via the wixProj's Properties > Build > Define Preprocessor variables field: AssetPath=../MyReferencedProject/bin/$(Configuration)/MyAsset.exe;

    Next, place the below code into your .wixProj file. (Edit this with NotePad++ then reload the project in VS)

        <!--To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it.
    Other similar extension points exist, see Wix.targets.-->

    <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <ExtractAsmInfo AsmPath="$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Match(&quot;;$(DefineConstants);&quot;, &quot;;AssetPath=(?&lt;path&gt;.*?);&quot;).Groups[&quot;path&quot;].Value)">
            <Output PropertyName="asmCompName" TaskParameter="AsmCompName" />
            <Output PropertyName="asmProdName" TaskParameter="AsmProdName" />
            <Output PropertyName="asmDesc" TaskParameter="AsmDesc" />
            <Output PropertyName="asmCopyright" TaskParameter="AsmCopyright" />
            <Output PropertyName="asmTrademarks" TaskParameter="AsmTrademarks" />
            <Output PropertyName="asmFileVersion" TaskParameter="AsmFileVersion" />
        </ExtractAsmInfo>

        <!--This is needed for the output to be accessible from your .wxs file as "!(wix.asmCompName)"-->
        <CreateProperty Value="asmCompName=$(asmCompName);$(WixVariables)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WixVariables" />
        </CreateProperty>
        <CreateProperty Value="asmProdName=$(asmProdName);$(WixVariables)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WixVariables" />
        </CreateProperty>
        <CreateProperty Value="asmDesc=$(asmDesc);$(WixVariables)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WixVariables" />
        </CreateProperty>
        <CreateProperty Value="asmCopyright=$(asmCopyright);$(WixVariables)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WixVariables" />
        </CreateProperty>
        <CreateProperty Value="asmTrademarks=$(asmTrademarks);$(WixVariables)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WixVariables" />
        </CreateProperty>
        <CreateProperty Value="asmFileVersion=$(asmFileVersion);$(WixVariables)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WixVariables" />
        </CreateProperty>
    </Target>

    <!--<Target Name="AfterBuild"></Target>-->

    <!--Extracts data from the assembly-->
    <UsingTask TaskName="ExtractAsmInfo" TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core.dll">
        <ParameterGroup>
            <!--The assembly path-->
            <AsmPath ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
            <!--The return value. Note the return types are extremely limited-->
            <AsmCompName ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
            <AsmProdName ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
            <AsmDesc ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
            <AsmCopyright ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
            <AsmTrademarks ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
            <AsmFileVersion ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
        </ParameterGroup>
        <Task>
            <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
            <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
            <Using Namespace="System" />
            <Using Namespace="System.Xml.Linq" />
            <Using Namespace="System.Reflection" />
            <Using Namespace="System.Diagnostics" />
            <Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs">
                <![CDATA[
            FileVersionInfo fileInfo = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(AsmPath);
            AsmCompName = fileInfo.CompanyName;
            AsmProdName = fileInfo.ProductName;
            AsmDesc = fileInfo.FileDescription;
            AsmCopyright = fileInfo.LegalCopyright;
            AsmTrademarks = fileInfo.LegalTrademarks;
            AsmFileVersion = fileInfo.FileVersion;
        ]]>
            </Code>
        </Task>
    </UsingTask>

    Finally, in your .wxs file, you can just use:

    <!--Note the use of an EXCLAMATION MARK and not Dollar Sign as well as the wix. instead of var.-->
!(wix.asmProdName)
!(wix.asmCompName)
!(wix.asmDesc)
!(wix.asmCopyright)
!(wix.asmTrademarks)
!(wix.asmFileVersion)

<!--Example-->
<Product Id="*" UpgradeCode="1129c4e2-e288-48d5-84dd-587aec927f26"
             Name="!(wix.asmProdName) Installer" Manufacturer="!(wix.asmCompName)"
             Language="1033" Version="!(wix.asmFileVersion)">

        <Package Id="*" Compressed="yes"
                 InstallerVersion="200" InstallPrivileges="elevated" InstallScope="perMachine"
                 Keywords="Installer" Languages="1033" Platform="x64" ReadOnly="no" ShortNames="no" SummaryCodepage="1252"
                 Description="The !(wix.asmDesc) and it's protocol installer."
                 Comments="!(wix.asmCopyright) | !(wix.asmTrademarks)" />
...
</Product>

    Refs


  2. 0

    Light.exe: See the WiX light.exe documentation here: https://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/overview/light.html#standard-binder-variables

    If you want to run with the version of your main assembly as the setup’s ProductVersion you should be able to just do:

    <Product Id="*" Name="MyProject" Version="!(bind.fileVersion.MyMain.exe)"
         Manufacturer="MyCorp" Language="1033" UpgradeCode="PUT-GUID-HERE">

 <..>

  <Component Feature="Main">
    <File Id="MyMain.exe" Source="MyMain.exe"></File>
  </Component>

    WiX Sample: Complete Github.com sample here.

    The fileLanguage and fileVersion are available for all versioned binaries. Dot NET assemblies support a number of further variables – see documentation (same link as at the top of the answer).

    Rob Mensching: WiX creator Mensching has an answer here. Essence: "You can drive your product version off of an assembly's version using "!(bind.assemblyVersion.FileId)". ... You can only specify binder variables in .wxs files. It's a binder (in light.exe) concept not an MSBuild (in MSBuild.exe reading .wixproj files) concept"

    Heath Stewart: Please check this blog for some information on .NET assembly values:
    https://devblogs.microsoft.com/setup/get-binder-variables-for-assemblies-without-installing-into-the-gac/ – Essence: "...to get binder variables for assemblies without installing into the GAC set File/@Assembly to “.net” or “win32”, then for the same file set File/@AssemblyApplication to the value for File/@Id"

    Links:

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