Editing Web.Config Connection string settings with Wix

.net entity-framework wix wix3.5
Alicia picture Alicia · Apr 24, 2013 · Viewed 9.2k times · Source

I am currently attempting to modify my Wix(V3.5) installer to edit the Web.config settings of the .NET application i want to install. This is fine for normal ASP.NET applications but now im attempting to apply my Wix set up project to an Entity Framework .NET application , which as you may know has a more complicated Connection string setting with model .csdl and .ssdl settings.

So if my web.config connection string setting looks somehting like this :(where [DBSERVER] & [DBNAME] are properties retrived from a dialog )

  <connectionStrings>
   <add name="SSITacticalSolutionEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Model.TacticalSolutionModel.csdl|res://*/Model.TacticalSolutionModel.ssdl|res://*/Model.TacticalSolutionModel.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;Data Source=sd-sql2008r2;Initial Catalog=SsiTacticalSolution1.2.4;Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True&quot; />
  </connectionStrings>

And i edit my Web.config in my Product.Wsx file with somehting like this :

   <util:XmlFile Id="ModifyConnectionString" Action="setValue" Permanent="yes" File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config"
                  ElementPath="/configuration/connectionStrings/add[\[]@name='!(loc.EntityName)'[\]]" Name="connectionString"
                  Value="Data Source=[DBSERVER];Initial Catalog=[DBNAME];Integrated Security=true;providerName=System.Data.EntityClient;MultipleActiveResultSets=True&quot;"   Sequence="5"/>

I get a connection string like this :

  <connectionStrings>
      <add name="SSITacticalSolutionEntities" connectionString="Data Source=sd-sql2008r2;Initial Catalog=SsiTacticalSolution1.2.4;Integrated Security=true;providerName=System.Data.EntityClient;MultipleActiveResultSets=True&quot;"/>
  </connectionStrings>

Which of course makes sense , since im asking it to replace the current connection string attribute with what i have defined in the value.

But what i really need here is to edit specific parts of my connection string and leave the remainder (is there some sort of replace action i can use here) ,i.e. leave all my model settings in place and just replace the database server and name etc as i need to. I used to do this with the Visual Studio installers no problem and it was so easy to use.

So my question is can this be done using util.XMLFile , or perhaps util:XmlConfig ? I have tried both without any luck.

Or is this not possible to do with util.XMLFile and will i have to do this in a CustomAction instead ? Any ideas would be of great help , thanks in advance ...

Answer

Alicia picture Alicia · Jun 17, 2013

I got this working in the end , in the end i didn't use custom actions for this particular setting , i use variables set up in my localisation file.

I did this because it would be the dev rather then the user who would know the model name and entities name (not a user via the install dialog , they wouldn't know this info), so i have a localisation file with different properties in it like product name etc , so i added in a model name and entites name to this. Everything else i get from the dialogs , entered by user : i.e. database name , virtual directory , impersonation user etc ...

If it helps anyone , here is what i came up with in the end for my web.config;This is the section of my product.wxs which deals with this issue. As you can see i have a connection string property at the top , with a placeholder for the loc.ModelName which is set in my localisation file:

    <Property Id="CONNECTION_STRING"
  Value="metadata=res://*/Model.!(loc.ModelName).csdl|res://*/Model.!(loc.ModelName).ssdl|res://*/Model.!(loc.ModelName).msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;"/>

<!-- The root of the installer. -->
<Directory Id='TARGETDIR' Name='SourceDir'>

  <!-- Install into the inetpub/wwwroot directory -->
  <Directory Id="IISMain" Name='inetpub'>
    <Directory Id="WWWMain" Name='wwwroot' ComponentGuidGenerationSeed='C38ED13E-E1E3-40DB-B1FA-39400C6B2BC4'>


      <Directory Id='INSTALLLOCATION' Name="!(loc.ProductName)">

        <!-- The component to define the Virtual Directory.-->
        <Component Id="WebVirtualDirComponent"
                   Guid="D814F88F-6E0C-4365-A411-2F9807522C3D">

          <!-- WebVirtualDir: The virtual directory we are installing. -->
          <!-- Alias:         Alias attribute is the name that we will see in IIS.-->
          <!-- Directory:     The Directory attribute is the "Physical Path" property in
                            IIS and needs to tie to the ID specified above as the install location. -->
          <!-- WebSite:       The WebSite attribute ties to a <WebSite> element in the 
                            setup file(see below). As this is an example of installing into the 
                            "Default Web Site" so that element is not under a component.-->
          <iis:WebVirtualDir Id="VDir" Alias="[VIRTUALDIRECTORYVALUE]"
                             Directory="INSTALLLOCATION"
                              WebSite="DefaultWebSite">

            <!-- This turns the Virtual Directory into a web application. -->
            <iis:WebApplication Id="MyWebAppApplication"
                               Name="[VIRTUALDIRECTORYVALUE]" WebAppPool="AppPool"/>

            <iis:WebDirProperties Id="WebSite_Properties" AnonymousAccess="no"
                                  WindowsAuthentication="yes" DefaultDocuments="!(loc.DefaultDocument)"
                                  Script="yes" Read="yes" />

          </iis:WebVirtualDir>
          <CreateFolder/>
          <RemoveFolder Id= "GuidFolders" On= "uninstall"/>
      </Component>

        <!-- Components - this decides what we want to incude in our install
        Here we will alter our web.config for Impersonation , debug to false and connection string. -->
        <Component Id="Web.config" Guid="2ED81B77-F153-4003-9006-4770D789D4B6">

          <!--install our web.config file , this isnt part of our initial MSBUILD-->
         <File Id="Web.config" Name="Web.config" Source="$(var.SolutionDir)!(loc.WebApplicationProjectName)\Web.config" DiskId="1" KeyPath="yes" />

          <!--Modify our web.config - here we need to add Identity impersonation , changes session settings , add connection string settings and set debug setting-->
          <!--Ensure that the identity setting exists--> 
          <util:XmlFile Id="system.webidentity" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        Action="createElement" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web" 
                        Name="identity" 
                        SelectionLanguage="XPath"
                        Sequence="1" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="system.webIdentityAttribute" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/identity" 
                        Name="impersonate" 
                        Value="true" 
                        SelectionLanguage="XPath"
                        Sequence="2" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="system.webIdentityAttribute2" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/identity" 
                        Name="password" 
                        Value="[IMPERSONATIONUSERPASSWORD]" 
                        SelectionLanguage="XPath"
                        Sequence="3" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="system.webIdentityAttribute3" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/identity" 
                        Name="userName" 
                        Value="[IMPERSONATIONUSER]"
                        SelectionLanguage="XPath"
                        Sequence="4" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="ModifyConnectionString" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        Permanent="yes" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config"
                        ElementPath="/configuration/connectionStrings/add[\[]@name='!(loc.EntityName)'[\]]" 
                        Name="connectionString"
                        Value="[CONNECTION_STRING]Data Source=[DBSERVER];Initial Catalog=[DBNAME];Integrated Security=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=True&quot;" 
                        SelectionLanguage="XPath"
                        Sequence="5"/>

          <!--<authentication mode="Forms">-->
          <util:XmlFile Id="AuthenticationModeWindows" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config"
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/authentication" 
                        Name="mode" 
                        Value="Windows" 
                        Sequence="6" />

          <!--Switch off debug-->
          <util:XmlConfig Sequence="7" 
                          Id="SwitchOffDebug" 
                          File="[INSTALLLOCATION]\web.config" 
                          Action="create" On="install" 
                          Node="value" 
                          ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/compilation" 
                          Name="debug" 
                          Value="false" />


           <!--Session configuration  <sessionState mode="InProc" timeout="15" />-->
          <util:XmlFile Id="system.websessionState" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        Action="createElement" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web" 
                        Name="sessionState" 
                        Sequence="8" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="system.websessionStateAttribute" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/sessionState" 
                        Name="mode" Value="InProc" 
                        Sequence="9" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="system.websessionStateAttribute2" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/sessionState" 
                        Name="timeout" 
                        Value="15" 
                        Sequence="10" />

          <util:XmlFile Id="system.websessionStateAttribute3" 
                        Action="setValue" 
                        File="[INSTALLLOCATION]Web.config" 
                        ElementPath="/configuration/system.web/sessionState" 
                        Name="cookieName" 
                        Value="[VIRTUALDIRECTORYVALUE]" 
                        Sequence="11" />
        </Component>

<iis:WebSite Id='DefaultWebSite'
             Description='Default Web Site'
             Directory='INSTALLLOCATION' SiteId ='[WEBSITEVALUE]' >

  <iis:WebAddress Id="AllUnassigned" Port="80" />
</iis:WebSite>
<iis:WebAppPool Id="AppPool" Name="[APPPOOLVALUE]" />

<CustomAction Id="MapVirtualDirectory"  Directory="INSTALLLOCATION"  Return="asyncNoWait"
              ExeCommand='[ASPNETREGIIS] -norestart -s "W3SVC/[WEBSITEVALUE]/ROOT/[VIRTUALDIRECTORYVALUE]"' />

<InstallExecuteSequence>
  <Custom Action="MapVirtualDirectory" After="InstallFinalize"    >ASPNETREGIIS AND NOT Installed</Custom>
</InstallExecuteSequence>

<CustomAction Id="GetIISWebSites" BinaryKey="IisManager" DllEntry="GetWebSites" Execute="immediate" Return="check" />
<CustomAction Id="GetIISAppPools" BinaryKey="IisManager" DllEntry="GetAppPools" Execute="immediate" Return="check" />

<InstallUISequence>
  <Custom Action="GetIISWebSites" After="CostFinalize" Overridable="yes">NOT Installed</Custom>
  <Custom Action="GetIISAppPools" After="CostFinalize" Overridable="yes">NOT Installed</Custom>
</InstallUISequence>

<Feature Id='ApplicationFeatures' Title="!(loc.ProductName)" Level='1'>
  <ComponentRef Id='WebVirtualDirComponent' />
  <ComponentGroupRef  Id="MyWebApp_Project" />
  <ComponentRef Id="Web.config" />

</Feature>

<!-- Specify UI -->
<Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR">INSTALLLOCATION</Property>
<UIRef Id="MyCustomUI"/>

Here is my localisation file: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<WixLocalization Culture="en-us" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/localization">

  <!--application settings-->
  <String Id="LANG">1033</String>
  <String Id="ProductName">MyTestWebSite</String>
  <String Id="ProductVersion">1.0.0.0</String>
  <String Id="CompanyName">MyCompanyName</String>
  <String Id="DefaultDocument">Default.aspx</String>
  <String Id="WebApplicationProjectName">MyWebApp</String>


  <!--database settings-->
  <String Id="EntityName">MyEntities</String>
  <String Id="ModelName">MyModel</String>

</WixLocalization>

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