Creating an entry point in a C# DLL to call from WIX

Question

I am trying to find a way to create an entry point for my C# DLL. I am aware of how to call other DLL's in C# but cannot find how to create one. I need this in order to call it in my WiX installer as a customer action.

Answer 1

All you need to do is mark your method up with the CustomAction attribute.

So:

[CustomAction] 
public static ActionResult MyThing(Session session) 
{ 
  // do your  stuff...
  return ActionResult.Success; 
}

As you are already calling other C# assemblies from WiX, it sounds like you have WiX 3.0, which supports the managed wrappers.

Answer 2

You cannot create entry points in dlls using C#, the only way to create managed dll with custom entry points is to use Managed C++ (CLI).

You can use the DTF (Deployment Tools Foundation) to create managed custom actions that can be called from WIX.