mpande
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Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:52 pm

Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Fri Apr 22, 2022 12:53 am

What is the newest version of .net we can use to write a dll to use as a custom action using "Call Function From Installed Native DLL" ?

mpande
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:52 pm

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Fri Apr 29, 2022 1:25 am

Also when is support for .net 6 projected to be added?

Catalin
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Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Wed May 04, 2022 10:40 am

Hello Max,
What is the newest version of .net we can use to write a dll to use as a custom action using "Call Function From Installed Native DLL" ?
I believe you can use any version of .NET to write the custom action, it shouldn't really matter.
Also when is support for .net 6 projected to be added?
Could you please give me some more details about this?

We already have support for .NET 6 prerequisites:
NET6Prereq.png
NET6Prereq.png (42.9KiB)Viewed 21177 times
Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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mpande
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:52 pm

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Wed May 04, 2022 5:27 pm

To be clear I was under the impression that there was no support for inline dll's due to the response on this post from Liviu: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50262&p=126888#p126888
Our question is about .net support for dlls written to be used by "Call Function From Installed Native DLL" custom actions.

Catalin
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Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Thu May 05, 2022 8:53 am

Hello Max,

It looks like I might have been mistaken in my last thread.

After further investigations, it looks like we indeed do not support developing .NET custom actions (we currently rely on WiX, which can create .NET custom actions written with only .NET Framework v4.8 being the maximum version).

However, this might be possible with the next version of WiX (v4), which is currently in preview mode.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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mpande
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Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:52 pm

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Fri Sep 30, 2022 3:40 pm

Hi! I wanted to check the status of this. Is there now support or an eta for support for versions later than .Net 4.8 of .net for custom actions?

Catalin
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:33 am

Hello Max,

Unfortunately, that is not really up to us.

As you may have already noticed, those custom actions are developed using WiX Toolset, which is not our product.

As far as I know, .NET Core support for custom actions is still on their TODO list, as it can be seen here:

https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/6107

Additionally, they have some more issues, like the template not appearing in Visual Studio:

https://github.com/wixtoolset/issues/issues/6185

Although they have the v4.0 version released, they themselves do not advise updating just yet, as the new version may introduce new bugs.

https://wixtoolset.org/releases/

(Read under Development Builds section)

In fact, I have tested this just now and it doesn't work. I have installed v4.0 of Wix, updated my VS extension and created a v4 template for a custom action. If i select the project --> "Properties", I can not select .NET Core (even though I have manually installed .NET Core 6.0), I can only select .NET Framework up to 4.8.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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mpande
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Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:56 pm

Hi! I just wanted to follow up on this. Has Wix updated? Are newer versions of .net now supported?

Catalin
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Mon Mar 06, 2023 10:28 am

Hello Max,

As far as I've seen, WiX has now just released their RC number 3, which means it's not yet fully released - WiX v4 RC3.

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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mpande
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:52 pm

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Fri Apr 07, 2023 7:53 pm

Hi! Wix v4 was released on April 5th. What's the timeline on AI adding support for .net 6.0?

Catalin
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Mon Apr 10, 2023 3:29 pm

Hello Max,

I have tested the new WiX 4.0, but I was still not able to create custom actions that target higher versions of .NET.
Screenshot_108.png
Screenshot_108.png (138.77KiB)Viewed 14685 times

Perhaps they still haven't added that support?

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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Catalin
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Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Thu Nov 16, 2023 4:05 pm

Hello,

This improvement has been added in version 21.2 of Advanced Installer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_myo3LloyE

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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mpande
Posts: 64
Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2021 1:52 pm

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Thu Nov 16, 2023 4:23 pm

Thank you! I really appreciate remembering this and keeping us up to date!

Catalin
Posts: 6509
Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2018 7:49 am

Re: Custom Action DLL .net Compatibility

Mon Nov 20, 2023 1:00 pm

You are always welcome, Max! :)

Best regards,
Catalin
Catalin Gheorghe - Advanced Installer Team
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