Psake, Powershell & Wix

Question

I have the below function as a part of my psake build. When the build is executing Candle.exe throws this error:

candle.exe : warning CNDL1098: 'ext .\Build\Packages\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll' is not a valid command line argument.

I think this is a problem with the way I am passing command line args but I cannot for the life of me figure it out.

Any powershell monkeys have suggestions?

function buildMsi($build_dir, $template, $directory) { 
    "Building Msi" 
    "Build Folder: $build_dir"
    "Wix Template: $template"
    "Website: $directory"

    $wixXml = [xml](Get-Content $template)
    $namespaceManager = New-Object Xml.XmlNamespaceManager($wixXml.PSBase.NameTable)
    $namespaceManager.AddNamespace("wi", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi")
    $components = $wixXml.Wix.Fragment.ComponentGroup

    WalkDirectory $wixXml.PSBase.SelectSingleNode("/wi:Wix/wi:Fragment/wi:DirectoryRef", $namespaceManager) $directory
    $wixXml.Save("$build_dir\WebContent.wxs")

    .\Build\WixWeb\bin\Candle.exe """-dProductName=Foo""`
         ""-dVersion=1.0.0.0""`
         ""-dProductID=0cd64670-5769-4e34-8b21-c6242e7ca5a2""`
         ""-dUpgradeCode=307601e9-4eea-4b5c-938a-354115d5c419""`
         ""-dAppPool=FooAppPool""`
         ""-dInstallDirectory=Foo""`
         ""-dWebAppDirectoryComponentId=CF57E626-1E95-4a89-A0E9-C1AD03C51B12""`
         ""-dIIsAppPoolComponentId=D9138380-19B3-4123-9E22-AB2994B1024B""`
         ""-dIIsWithAppPoolSettingsComponentId=02ca3f08-a1e8-48a3-b4d7-6f5f67c61b96""`
         ""-dIIsWithoutAppPoolSettingsComponentId=d97791b0-f597-46c6-b159-541817527453""`
         ""-ext "".\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll""""`
         ""-ext "".\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixUIExtension.dll""""`
         "".\Build\WixWeb\Shell.wxs""`
         "".\Build\stage\WebContent.wxs"" "

}

it looks right to me there are four opening quotes in the beginning. — NotMyself, Nov 17 '09 at 22:51

alastairs · Accepted Answer · 2009-11-17T23:01:06.223

2

Try replacing your inner double quotes with single quotes, like so:

.\Build\WixWeb\bin\Candle.exe " ""-dProductName=Foo"" `
     ""-dVersion=1.0.0.0"" `
     ""-dProductID=0cd64670-5769-4e34-8b21-c6242e7ca5a2"" `
     ""-dUpgradeCode=307601e9-4eea-4b5c-938a-354115d5c419"" `
     ""-dAppPool=FooAppPool"" `
     ""-dInstallDirectory=Foo"" `
     ""-dWebAppDirectoryComponentId=CF57E626-1E95-4a89-A0E9-C1AD03C51B12"" `
     ""-dIIsAppPoolComponentId=D9138380-19B3-4123-9E22-AB2994B1024B"" `
     ""-dIIsWithAppPoolSettingsComponentId=02ca3f08-a1e8-48a3-b4d7-6f5f67c61b96"" `
     ""-dIIsWithoutAppPoolSettingsComponentId=d97791b0-f597-46c6-b159-541817527453"" `
     ""-ext '.\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll'"" `
     ""-ext '.\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixUIExtension.dll'"" `
     "".\Build\WixWeb\Shell.wxs"" `
     "".\Build\stage\WebContent.wxs"" "

Futhermore, you might find it easier if you escape your double quotes correctly using `" (backtick followed by doublequote); the script might be more robust, too. The code sample would then become:

.\Build\WixWeb\bin\Candle.exe " `"-dProductName=Foo`" `
 `"-dVersion=1.0.0.0`" `
 `"-dProductID=0cd64670-5769-4e34-8b21-c6242e7ca5a2`" `
 `"-dUpgradeCode=307601e9-4eea-4b5c-938a-354115d5c419`" `
 `"-dAppPool=FooAppPool`" `
 `"-dInstallDirectory=Foo`" `
 `"-dWebAppDirectoryComponentId=CF57E626-1E95-4a89-A0E9-C1AD03C51B12`" `
 `"-dIIsAppPoolComponentId=D9138380-19B3-4123-9E22-AB2994B1024B`" `
 `"-dIIsWithAppPoolSettingsComponentId=02ca3f08-a1e8-48a3-b4d7-6f5f67c61b96`" `
 `"-dIIsWithoutAppPoolSettingsComponentId=d97791b0-f597-46c6-b159-541817527453`" `
 `"-ext '.\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll'`" `
 `"-ext '.\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixUIExtension.dll'`" `
 `".\Build\WixWeb\Shell.wxs`" `
 `".\Build\stage\WebContent.wxs`" "

YMMV, though.

edited Nov 17 '09 at 23:01

answered Nov 17 '09 at 22:55

alastairs

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Using the single quotes or the escaped double quotes? Or both? – alastairs Nov 17 '09 at 23:03
its very strange its like it is dropping the - off of the -ext param – NotMyself Nov 17 '09 at 23:04
According to http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/extension_usage_introduction.htm you can drop the path and .dll extension, as the extensions are in the same location as Candle. – alastairs Nov 17 '09 at 23:09
I think the error output missing the - from -ext is by design. The name of the argument is "ext" not "-ext"; additionally, if PowerShell were doing this, I would expect it to bork on the first -d arguments. – alastairs Nov 17 '09 at 23:11
tried both, removing the two lines allows it to execute but my wix scrit fails obviously.. 8) – NotMyself Nov 17 '09 at 23:12
yeah still no dice: candle.exe : warning CNDL1098: 'ext 'WixIIsExtension' ' is not a valid command line argument. candle.exe : warning CNDL1098: 'ext 'WixUIExtension' ' is not a valid command line argument. – NotMyself Nov 17 '09 at 23:15
Random thought: what if you stick a space between each of the command-line switches and their values. E.g. "-d ProductName=Foo", etc. – alastairs Nov 17 '09 at 23:31
using echoargs.exe it looks like the params are coming in correctly. Arg 10 is <-ext WixIIsExtension > Arg 11 is <-ext WixUIExtension > – NotMyself Nov 17 '09 at 23:34
Try dropping the single quotes around the parameter to the -ext argument, so the lines read: `"-ext .\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll`" ` It's a bit risky, but as you don't have any spaces or other funny characters in your path, it should be ok. – alastairs Nov 19 '09 at 11:32
Errr, the formatting of that comment got screwed up. There should be backticks before each double-quote. – alastairs Nov 19 '09 at 11:33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 16 '20 at 21:26

I faced similar issue and eventually got what the problem. Every parameter separated with a space should be also treated as separate argument in powershell command

If this is an original command line that you write in cmd

.\Build\WixWeb\bin\Candle.exe ^
   -dProductName=Foo ^
   -dVersion=1.0.0.0 ^
   -dProductID=0cd64670-5769-4e34-8b21-c6242e7ca5a2 ^
   -ext .\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll ^
   .\Build\stage\WebContent.wxs

You could see that argument -dProductName=Foo is one argument but when we take a look at -ext .\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll we could see that argument name and value are separated therefore these are 2 separate arguments that should be passed to candle.exe as 2 strings instead of single string. -ext is a positional argument and its value should be next after the argument-marker.

Correct version:

.\Build\WixWeb\bin\Candle.exe " `"-dProductName=Foo`" `
 `"-dVersion=1.0.0.0`" `
 `"-dProductID=0cd64670-5769-4e34-8b21-c6242e7ca5a2`" `
 `"-ext`" `
 `".\Build\WixWeb\bin\WixIIsExtension.dll'`" `
 `".\Build\stage\WebContent.wxs`" "

Psake, Powershell & Wix

2 Answers2