I'm new to WiX so my apologies if this is something I should know already.

Background:

I'm trying to use WiX to implement a new installer for an existing product
whose current installer was written using a commercial tool. We have a large
library of functions that our current installer calls during installation to
do various tasks (for example, to validate the user's license file). This
DLL is old and is not written in a .Net language. Rewriting the DLL is not
an option - I'm under a tight schedule and it is too large to consider
rewriting. So I need to reuse it.

Since I can't call the DLL directly from WiX, what I did is to import it
manually into my C# custom action DLL. I'm writing wrapper functions in the
custom action DLL to call the functions in the old DLL.

So far this works, but only because the old DLL is already present on the
target computer and is in a known location. What I need is for this DLL to
be bundled inside the MSI so that it gets unpacked into the temporary
installation folder. I haven't been able to find a way to do this, and from
Googling for an answer I've read that it isn't safe or recommended (for
example here:
http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Call-3rd-party-dll-from-C-Custom-Action-td699134.html).
 

I tried using the <Binary> tag to include it but no luck. Probably because
the DLL is not actually used from the WiX installer itself, but only
imported at run time into the custom action DLL.

I also have to do something similar with an external EXE that our old
installer calls. 

Any suggestions? Is what I'm trying to do possible?

Thanks
GregS




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