How to register a server on install and then unregister it on uninstall?

Question

So I've got an OPC-DA server in my program. When the user first runs the program or (even better) installs the program I want just one line of code to be run: myServer.registerServer; . And similarly when they want to uninstall the program it should run the opposite command: myserver.unregisterServer .

Now I'm guessing to do this I'm going to have to do something with a command line argument? maybe check to see if the passed value is equal to something and then if so I can register/unregister accordingly. Then if the passed value matches neither it just continues my program like normal. Issue is I'm not quite sure how to work this into the installer I'm using. Speaking of, I'm using Visual Studio Installer and using their 'Setup Project' project. Can what I'm asking for be done with this or do I need to make a separate installer. I've never had to do anything like this so any information you guys have is really appreciated.

Answer 1

The way you'd do this with a Visual Studio setup is to run the program as an install custom action with the command line that registers it, and an uninstall custom action with the command line that unregisters it.

Ideally you wouldn't run the program at all. Many (if not most) installation programs know what the required registry entries are and they add them to the registry entries that (in Visual Studio's case) are in the Registry view in the IDE. This data is typically always static and can be added to the system without running code.