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I understand that wix (and the MSI executable) are a declarative language and not a script. But I am trying to figure out how our installer is working and I don't understand how it goes about deciding what to run.

For example, it has a "<Dialog Id="LicenseAgreementDlg" ..." and that dialog is displayed. But the Id value is not referenced anywhere. So how did the msi program decide to display it?

And then in the control it has:

<Control Id="Next" Type="PushButton" X="236" Y="243" Width="56" Height="17" Default="yes" Text="!(loc.WixUINext)"> <Publish Event="EndDialog" Value="Return"><![CDATA[WixUI_LicenseKeyDlg_Next=""]]></Publish> <Publish Event="NewDialog" Value="[WixUI_LicenseKeyDlg_Next]"><![CDATA[WixUI_LicenseKeyDlg_Next<>""]]></Publish> </Control>

I cannot find a reference to "WixUI_LicenseKeyDlg_Next" anywhere else. So what does that mean and how is it used?

I'm not asking for answers to the specific questions above (although happy to get answers). I'm looking for some documentation that explains all this. I've found lots of tutorials around more basic work. And a lot of to do this, put the following in.

But nothing that explains how this works.

David Thielen
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  • Default WiX dialogs are defined in a `WixUIExtension.dll` and are pulled in when you compile and link. You can define your own dialogs and you can adapt the existing ones with some options. I have some answers on this, but running out of time now. Try my experimental [installdude.com](http://installdude.com) (alpha site) - search for this topic. [I have this github.com sample](https://github.com/glytzhkof/all/tree/master/WiXCustomDialog) - there is a zip of it one level up. It tries to show how to adapt the WiX GUI. – Stein Åsmul Feb 26 '20 at 02:51
  • One more link. [In the WiX source code repository, you can find these default dialogs](https://github.com/wixtoolset/wix3/tree/develop/src/ext/UIExtension/wixlib). The file **`WixUI_Mondo.wxs`** defines the standard Mondo dialog set - the one I feel is the most useful and "normal". [Here is an older answer of mine too - on WiX dialogs and GUI](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/52654935/changing-text-color-to-wix-dialogs/52674815#52674815). And [one more showing dialog ordering changes](https://stackoverflow.com/a/52765526/129130). – Stein Åsmul Feb 26 '20 at 02:57
  • Again thank you very much - you are invaluable. – David Thielen Feb 26 '20 at 11:58

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