WIX - change dialog text label from background immediate custom action

Question

I have defined custom action to scan lan network computers. This action is declared as immediate and triggered after user click dialog button:

<CustomAction Id="actionGetNetworkComputers" BinaryKey="actionBinary" DllEntry="GetNetworkComputers" Execute="immediate" Return="check"/>

Custiom action code:

public static ActionResult GetNetworkComputers(Session session)
{
    ListNetworkComputers.NetworkBrowser nb = new ListNetworkComputers.NetworkBrowser(); 
    Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.View lView = session.Database.OpenView("DELETE FROM ComboBox WHERE ComboBox.Property='SERVER_LIST'");
    lView.Execute();

    lView = session.Database.OpenView("SELECT * FROM ComboBox");
    lView.Execute();
    int Index = 1;

    try
    {
        foreach (string s in nb.getNetworkComputers())
        {
            Record lRecord = session.Database.CreateRecord(4);

            lRecord.SetString(1, "SERVER_LIST");
            lRecord.SetInteger(2, Index);
            lRecord.SetString(3, s);
            lRecord.SetString(4, s);
            lView.Modify(ViewModifyMode.InsertTemporary, lRecord);
            ++Index;
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        session.Log(ex.StackTrace);
    }
    lView.Close();


    return ActionResult.Success;       
}

There are 2 main problems with this:

Action is blocking, so installer window freezes until nb.getNetworkComputers reurns. If I declare action return as asyncWait, action is executed but retrieved values are not inserted to ComboBox. Also, I need some label indicating operation progress, for example: "Scanning network, please wait" and hide this label after scan ends.

Is this possible with wix? Any tips?

Answer 1

I think the best way to go about this is to schedule the CA is Sync Check exit code and have your CA display it's own modal dialog with a cancel button telling you that a scan is in progress. Then use a BackgroundProcess class to spin your scan while checking to see if cancel was selected. When done ( for real or cancelled ) set a property for state and return sucess.

Then in your MSI Control Events you can check that property and either disallow transition to the next dialog or allow it ( mutually exclusive control event conditions ) based on your business rules.