Wix created cub file

Question

I have a problem where I create a cub file using wix which works fine however when I try and run it against a MSI created with InstallShield I get the following error:

Fatal schema conflict between CUB file and database. Unable to perform evaluation.

I have had a look at the schema in both the installshield msi and in the cub and it appears to be related to a few columns being long ints (4) in the cub and short ints (2) in the msi.

Is there a way to change how wix sets the schema on standard tables like media, file, CustomActions etc?

Or alternatively is there an automated way I can adjust the schema of an MSI like through a script?

Answer 1

I've written a C#/DTF ICE framework and I blogged about it at:

MSI Tip: Authoring an ICE using C# / DTF

The actual source code is available for download at:

Authoring an ICE using C# / DTF

WiX doesn't have a "CUB" element per say but I was able to get it 'close enough'. I rememeber an email exchange with Rob asking for official support in WiX but the response was neutral at best.

Here's a snippet from the available source code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
    <Product Id="c3252df2-a757-4874-8dc6-0e235f130818" Name="Cub" Version="1.0.0.0" Language="1033" Manufacturer="Cub">
    <Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes"/>

    <Binary Id="ICE" SourceFile="$(var.Tests.TargetDir)$(var.Tests.TargetName).CA.dll"></Binary>

    <CustomAction Id="ICE_DE_10" BinaryKey="ICE" DllEntry="ICE_DE_10"/>
    <CustomAction Id="ICE_DE_20" BinaryKey="ICE" DllEntry="ICE_DE_20"/>

    <CustomTable Id="_ICESequence">
      <Column Id="Action" PrimaryKey="yes" Type="string" Width="72" Category="Identifier" Description="Name of ICE action to invoke" Modularize="Column" />
      <Column Id="Condition" Type="string" Width="255" Nullable="yes" Category="Condition" Description="Optional expression which skips the ICE action if evaluates to expFalse."/>
      <Column Id="Sequence" Type="int" Width="2" Nullable="yes" MinValue="0" MaxValue="32767" Description="Number that determines the sort order in which the ICE actions are to be executed." />
      <Row>
        <Data Column="Action">ICE_DE_10</Data>
        <Data Column="Condition"></Data>
        <Data Column="Sequence">10</Data>
      </Row>
      <Row>
        <Data Column="Action">ICE_DE_20</Data>
        <Data Column="Condition"></Data>
        <Data Column="Sequence">20</Data>
      </Row>
    </CustomTable>

    <AdminUISequence>
      <CostInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <FileCost Suppress="yes"/>
      <CostFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
      <ExecuteAction Suppress="yes"/>
    </AdminUISequence>

    <AdminExecuteSequence >
      <CostInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <FileCost Suppress="yes"/>
      <CostFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallValidate Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallAdminPackage Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallFiles Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
    </AdminExecuteSequence>

    <AdvertiseExecuteSequence>
      <CostInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <CostFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallValidate Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <PublishFeatures Suppress="yes"/>
      <PublishProduct Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
    </AdvertiseExecuteSequence>

    <InstallUISequence>
      <CostInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <FileCost Suppress="yes"/>
      <CostFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
      <ValidateProductID Suppress="yes"/>
      <ExecuteAction Suppress="yes"/>
    </InstallUISequence>

    <InstallExecuteSequence>
      <CostInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <FileCost Suppress="yes"/>
      <CostFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
      <ValidateProductID Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallValidate Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallInitialize Suppress="yes"/>
      <InstallFinalize Suppress="yes"/>
      <PublishFeatures Suppress="yes"/>
      <PublishProduct Suppress="yes"/>
      <ProcessComponents Suppress="yes"/>
      <UnpublishFeatures Suppress="yes"/>
      <RegisterUser Suppress="yes"/>
      <RegisterProduct Suppress="yes"/>
    </InstallExecuteSequence>

  </Product>
</Wix>

Also I do the following as a post build event ( copy the MSI to CUB )

    <PostBuildEvent>copy "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).cub"
del "$(TargetPath)"</PostBuildEvent>

Answer 2

The following script fixes the problem. It appears Wix creates a Media and File table which windows installer doesn't like if the schema is different on. So simple solution is to drop both tables after wix creates the cub file as a post build action.

Const msiOpenDatabaseModeTransact = 1

Dim installer
Dim db
Dim view
Set installer = CreateObject("WindowsInstaller.Installer")
Set db = installer.OpenDatabase("Wix\Release\UnitTest.cub", msiOpenDatabaseModeTransact)
Set view = db.OpenView("DROP TABLE `File`")
view.Execute
view.close

Set view = db.OpenView("DROP TABLE `Media`")
view.Execute
view.close

Set view = nothing
db.commit
Set db = nothing