Hi,
Why doesn't it work this way?
Maybe you set an Execution Condition for the Custom Action and it evaluates to false.
Where do I have to place my custom action and why
It depends on what your Custom Action is supposed to do. Please give me more details about its type (EXE, DLL, script), its Execution Properties, Execution Condition etc.
For me, it's not clear. in which sequence Windows Installer goes throught the installation process.
The "InstallUISequence" is executed first (unless a silent install is performed). In this sequence you can use only immediate Custom Actions. The "ExecuteAction" Standard Action (from "InstallUISequence") launches the "InstallExecuteSequence" as a sub procedure. After all the Actions (Standard or Custom) from the "InstallExecuteSequence" have completed, the installer returns to the "InstallUISequence" and displays the "Installation Complete" dialog.
The part of the "InstallExecuteSquence" between "InstallInitialize" and "InstallFinalize" is processed in 2 phases. First the installer goes through the Actions (Standard and Custom) and notes them down in an installation script. Then it goes through the script and actually executes the commands. This second phase is where the target computer is modified, i.e. files are copied, registry entries are written, etc.
While the installer builds the script, only Immediate Execution Custom Actions are actually executed. All other actions (Standard Actions like "InstallFiles" and Deferred Execution Custom Actions) are only noted in the script.
When the script is built ("InstallFinalize" is reached) the installer starts to execute the script. During this phase the Deferred Execution Custom Actions are executed in the order they have been written to the script and only if their condition was true at the time the script was built.
This is just a short overview of the installation process.
Do you know any simple description, where all this stuff (Standard Actions etc) is described in a "newbie understandable" way
I am afraid I do not, but I will let you know if I find something.
Regarding your second post, I do not believe there is a bug. Most likely, your Custom Action needs to have a certain Scheduling Option and this setting has changed when you have dragged the item in the tree control.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
Denis
