We Keep Coding

How to create transform for .msi file using c#

I'm trying to create a transform for .msi file in C#. Here is my code:
public static void CreateTransforms(string original_MSI, string backup_MSI, string MSTpath, string query)
{
File.Copy(original_MSI, backup_MSI, true);
using (var origDatabase = new Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.Database(original_MSI, DatabaseOpenMode.ReadOnly))
{
using (var database = new Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.Database(backup_MSI, DatabaseOpenMode.Direct))
{
//database.Execute("Update `Property` Set `Property`.`Value` = 'Test' WHERE `Property`.`Property` = 'ProductName'");
database.Execute(query);
database.GenerateTransform(origDatabase, MSTpath);
database.CreateTransformSummaryInfo(origDatabase, MSTpath, TransformErrors.None, TransformValidations.None);
}
}
}
I got the following error : "This installation package could not be opened. Contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows Installer package." in the step create transform summary info. I used "Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller.dll" library. Any help would be great.

A quick read of this static method looked correct so I created a console app out of it. It works fine for me on my machine. I would look at your calling method and make sure the data being passed is correct. I get really nervous any time I have a method that takes 4 strings as arguments as that leaves a lot to desire in terms of type safety.

when CreateTransforms start, it open database and it does not close it ...
you must commit and close the database before apply a new transform!
database.GenerateTransform(origDatabase, TRANSFORM);
database.CreateTransformSummaryInfo(origDatabase, TRANSFORM, TransformErrors.None, TransformValidations.None);
database.Commit();
database.Close();

R.NET Getting Data from R

I'm trying to make a simple statistical tool with using R and R.NET on C#.NET environment. I'm having problems getting data from R. Code is below
bool initResult = REngine.SetDllDirectory(rPackagePath);
if (!initResult)
throw new Exception(#"R Initialization Failed");
engine = REngine.CreateInstance("tsEngine");
if (engine == null)
throw new Exception(#"REngine Creation Failed");
engine.Evaluate("testData<-read.table('test_data.txt',sep='', header=TRUE)");
I'm trying to get the imported data and show it in a gridview
DataFrame dataset = engine.EagerEvaluate("testData").AsDataFrame();
I get ParseException at this point.
What can be the problem?
Thanks a lot.

First, change the last line to:
DataFrame testData = engine.Evaluate("testData<-read.table('test_data.txt',sep='', header=TRUE)").AsDataFrame();
Then add the following line:
engine.SetSymbol("testData",testData);
With the SetSymbol your engine will recognize the variable "testData" if you use it again.

Can i Read code from a file and and let that code run in an application

I am developing an Desktop Application in WPF using C# .
For the sake of simplicity, Assume my Application has functions which draw lines in said direction goleft() , goright() , goforward() , goback() .
when any of these function is called a line of one inch will be drawn on screen.
I want to make application where user will write code in a file in any editor (say notepad) and save that file in some fixed format (say .abc or .xyz)
Imaginary Example :
(section_start)
For(int i = 0 ; i<= 20 ; i++ )
{
if(i<5)
goforward();
else if(i==5)
goleft();
else if(i < 10)
forward();
.......
........
}
(section_End)
Can i make application which should be capable of reading this file and execute code which is written in between of (section_start) and (section_End). and only if possible can check for syntax errors too... (Not compulsory).
Please guide me on this issue :
Disclosure : My actual Application is somewhat else and could not discuss here due to my company's rules.
Thanks to all who replied to my question. Stackoverflow is fantastic site , i have found the roadmap where to go , till today morning i did not have any clue but now i can go ahead , thanks all of you once again
Will ask question again if i get stucked somewhere

You can read the file content using FileInfo and get the code you need to execute.
Then you can execute the code using CSharpCodeProvider like in this post:
using (Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider foo =
new Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider())
{
var res = foo.CompileAssemblyFromSource(
new System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters()
{
GenerateInMemory = true
},
"public class FooClass { public string Execute() { return \"output!\";}}"
);
var type = res.CompiledAssembly.GetType("FooClass");
var obj = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
var output = type.GetMethod("Execute").Invoke(obj, new object[] { });
}

You can choose CodeDOM or IL Emit
More help on CodeDOM
More information on IL Generator / Emit

This is called scripting your application if I understand correctly. C# does not support this out of the box. One thing to look into could be the new Roselyn compiler from Microsoft (it is a new take on the C# compiler, which lets you do just this).
For more info on Roselyn check out:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/csharpfaq/archive/2011/12/02/introduction-to-the-roslyn-scripting-api.aspx
I've only seen a demo of it, but it looks very promissing, and should solve your problem.

It's not clear what kind of code you want compiled but here is a guide on how to compile code code with C#.

You could use IronPython to handle the script.
Here's an example of how to do this:
First you need a navigation object to perform the operations on:
public class NavigationObject
{
public int Offset { get; private set; }
public void GoForwards()
{
Offset++;
}
public void GoBackwards()
{
Offset--;
}
}
Then the code to execute the file:
public void RunNavigationScript(string filePath, NavigationObject navObject)
{
var engine = Python.CreateEngine();
var scope = engine.CreateScope();
scope.SetVariable("navigation", navObject);
var source = engine.CreateScriptSourceFromFile(filePath);
try
{
source.Execute(scope);
}
catch(Exception
{
}
}
The script file can then take the form of something like:
for x in range(0,20):
if x == 5:
navigation.GoBackwards()
else:
navigation.GoForwards()

Delete Record from C# using ManagedInterop

I am working with a C# project that uses the dll, Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.ManagedInterop to work with an AX 2012 environment. From within the code, I need to find a SalesQuotationLine based on specific criteria and delete it. So far, I can get the record I need but I am unable to delete it because I am not using a TTSBEGIN/TTSCOMMIT statement and I am not using FORUPDATE. This is my code:
DictTable dictTable = new DictTable(Global.tableName2Id("SalesQuotationLine"));
int quotationIdFieldId = (int)dictTable.Call("fieldName2Id", "QuotationId");
int bdcParentRecIdFieldId = (int)dictTable.Call("fieldName2Id", "BDCParentRecId");
var query = new Query();
var datasource = query.addDataSource(Global.tableName2Id("SalesQuotationLine"));
var queryRange1 = datasource.addRange(quotationIdFieldId);
queryRange1.value = "=" + line.QuotationId;
QueryRun queryRun = new QueryRun(query as object);
while (queryRun.next())
{
var result = queryRun.get(Global.tableName2Id("SalesQuotationLine"));
result.Delete();
}
I also looked at the code here, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197113.aspx but I found that I cannot use it since the code I am working with does not use the .NET Business Connector (I am not sure when one dll should be used over the other).

Use TTSBegin() and TTSCommit() methods on Microsoft.Dynamics.AX.ManagedInterop.RuntimeContext.Current. The forUpdate flag can be set by QueryBuildDataSource's update().
It may be easier (and better for maintenance) to write it in an X++ method just call the method from C#.

How to access WinRM in C#

I'd like to create a small application that can collect system information (Win32_blablabla) using WinRM as opposed to WMI. How can i do that from C#?
The main goal is to use WS-Man (WinRm) as opposed to DCOM (WMI).

I guess the easiest way would be to use WSMAN automation. Reference wsmauto.dll from windwos\system32 in your project:
then, code below should work for you. API description is here: msdn: WinRM C++ API
IWSMan wsman = new WSManClass();
IWSManConnectionOptions options = (IWSManConnectionOptions)wsman.CreateConnectionOptions();
if (options != null)
{
try
{
// options.UserName = ???;
// options.Password = ???;
IWSManSession session = (IWSManSession)wsman.CreateSession("http://<your_server_name>/wsman", 0, options);
if (session != null)
{
try
{
// retrieve the Win32_Service xml representation
var reply = session.Get("http://schemas.microsoft.com/wbem/wsman/1/wmi/root/cimv2/Win32_Service?Name=winmgmt", 0);
// parse xml and dump service name and description
var doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.LoadXml(reply);
foreach (var elementName in new string[] { "p:Caption", "p:Description" })
{
var node = doc.GetElementsByTagName(elementName)[0];
if (node != null) Console.WriteLine(node.InnerText);
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(session);
}
}
}
finally
{
Marshal.ReleaseComObject(options);
}
}
hope this helps, regards

I've got an article that describes an easy way to run Powershell through WinRM from .NET at http://getthinktank.com/2015/06/22/naos-winrm-windows-remote-management-through-net/.
The code is in a single file if you want to just copy it and it's also a NuGet package that includes the reference to System.Management.Automation.
It auto manages trusted hosts, can run script blocks, and also send files (which isn't really supported but I created a work around). The returns are always the raw objects from Powershell.
// this is the entrypoint to interact with the system (interfaced for testing).
var machineManager = new MachineManager(
"10.0.0.1",
"Administrator",
MachineManager.ConvertStringToSecureString("xxx"),
true);
// will perform a user initiated reboot.
machineManager.Reboot();
// can run random script blocks WITH parameters.
var fileObjects = machineManager.RunScript(
"{ param($path) ls $path }",
new[] { #"C:\PathToList" });
// can transfer files to the remote server (over WinRM's protocol!).
var localFilePath = #"D:\Temp\BigFileLocal.nupkg";
var fileBytes = File.ReadAllBytes(localFilePath);
var remoteFilePath = #"D:\Temp\BigFileRemote.nupkg";
machineManager.SendFile(remoteFilePath, fileBytes);
Hope this helps, I've been using this for a while with my automated deployments. Please leave comments if you find issues.

I would like to note that this shows an interop error by default in Visual Studio 2010.
c.f. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mshneer/archive/2009/12/07/interop-type-xxx-cannot-be-embedded-use-the-applicable-interface-instead.aspx
There appear to be two ways to solve this. This first is documented in the article listed above and appears to be the correct way to handle the problem. The pertinent changes for this example is:
WSMan wsManObject = new WSMan();
This is in lieu of IWSMan wsman = new WSManClass(); which will throw the error.
The second resolution is to go to the VS2010—>Solution Explorer—>Solution—>Project—>References and select WSManAutomation. Right click or hit Alt-Enter to access the properties. Change the value of the "Embed Interop Types" property of the wsmauto reference.