Issue with Special Characters in WixSharp Bootstrapper Custom BA after Upgrading from Wix3 to Wix4

[AwesomeM4rc]

Hello 🙂

I have a problem after updating my WixSharp Bootstrapper from Wix3 to Wix4.

In Wix 3, it was possible to use © for the copyright. However, in Wix 4, when using ©, I get the following error:

WIX0104: Not a valid source file; detail: Invalid character in the given encoding. Line 2, position 39. (The position of the © in the .wxs)

Is there a way to get around this? I also encounter this problem when using characters like ä, ü, and so on.

I replicated the error with the WixSharp Boostrapper Custom BA (Wix4):

public class Program
{
    private static void Main()
    {
        // If you are using WiX5 tools then your Custom BA needs to be built as a separate assembly because WiX5 uses a completely different hosting model.
        // See this sample for WiX5 Custom BA: https://github.com/oleg-shilo/wixsharp/tree/master/Source/src/WixSharp.Samples/Wix%23%20Samples/Bootstrapper/WiX5-Spike/WixToolset.WixBA
        WixTools.SetWixVersion(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "4.0.6");

        WixTools.WixExtensionsDir = "%userprofile%\\.nuget\\packages".ExpandEnvVars();
        WixExtension.NetFx.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";
        WixExtension.Bal.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";
        WixExtension.Util.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";
        WixExtension.UI.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";

        var productMsi = BuildMsi();

        var bootstrapper = new Bundle("MyProduct",
            new MsiPackage(productMsi)
            {
                Id = "MyProductPackageId",
                DisplayInternalUI = true
            });

        bootstrapper.Copyright = @"© My Company 2016";
        bootstrapper.Version = new Version("1.0.0.0");
        bootstrapper.UpgradeCode = new Guid("25f7a758-751a-4aeb-8ccd-742a9fd35867");

        bootstrapper.Application = new ManagedBootstrapperApplication("%this%");

        bootstrapper.Build("MyProduct.exe");
    }

    private static string BuildMsi()
    {
        var project = new Project("MyProduct",
            new Dir(@"%ProgramFiles%\My Company\My Product",
                new File("Program.cs")));

        project.GUID = new Guid("25f7a758-751a-4aeb-8ccd-742a9fd35867");

        return project.BuildMsi();
    }
}

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Torchok19081986]

Hallo, i dont know, but i found this one on wix toolset website. https://wixtoolset.org/docs/tools/preprocessor/#escaping
It seems you have a germany letters in your BA Installer. Standard BA language is en-us. AFAIK you can change it. Maybe this helps. There is sample in samples folder for language in BA Installer. Try it.
Stackoverflow : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11070209/inserting-a-copyright-registered-symbol-in-the-installer-using-wix
looks like your trouble here.

[AwesomeM4rc]

Hey Torchok!

Thanks for the input and yes it's german based :) I found a way with WixSharp to get it working. I just re-save the .wxs file in the encoding UTF-8 (after it was saved - bootstrapper.WixSourceSaved).

public class Program
{
    private static void Main()
    {
        // If you are using WiX5 tools then your Custom BA needs to be built as a separate assembly because WiX5 uses a completely different hosting model.
        // See this sample for WiX5 Custom BA https://github.com/oleg-shilo/wixsharp/tree/master/Source/src/WixSharp.Samples/Wix%23%20Samples/Bootstrapper/WiX5-Spike/WixToolset.WixBA
        WixTools.SetWixVersion(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "4.0.6");

        WixTools.WixExtensionsDir = "%userprofile%\\.nuget\\packages".ExpandEnvVars();
        WixExtension.NetFx.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";
        WixExtension.Bal.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";
        WixExtension.Util.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";
        WixExtension.UI.PreferredVersion = "4.0.6";

        var productMsi = BuildMsi();

        var bootstrapper =
            new Bundle("MyProdÜÄct",
                new MsiPackage(productMsi)
                {
                    Id = "MyProductPackageId",
                    DisplayInternalUI = true
                });

        bootstrapper.Copyright = @"® My Company 2016";
        bootstrapper.Version = new Version("1.0.0.0");
        bootstrapper.UpgradeCode = new Guid("25f7a758-751a-4aeb-8ccd-742a9fd35867");

        bootstrapper.Application = new ManagedBootstrapperApplication("%this%");

        bootstrapper.WixSourceSaved += BootstrapperOnWixSourceSaved;

        bootstrapper.Build("MyProduct.exe");
    }

    private static void BootstrapperOnWixSourceSaved(string filename)
    {
        var fileContent = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(filename, Encoding.Default);

        System.IO.File.WriteAllText(filename, fileContent, Encoding.UTF8);
    }

    private static string BuildMsi()
    {
        var project = new Project("MyProduct",
            new Dir(@"%ProgramFiles%\My Company\My Product",
                new File("Program.cs")));

        project.GUID = new Guid("25f7a758-751a-4aeb-8ccd-742a9fd35867");

        return project.BuildMsi();
    }
}

Result:

---

wixsharp/Source/src/WixSharp/Compiler.Bootstrapper.cs

Line 275 in 550863f

using (var sw = new IO.StreamWriter(file, false, Encoding.Default))

It appears that the compiler consistently utilizes Encoding.Default to write the initial .wxs file.
It might be beneficial to provide an option to modify this setting?

[oleg-shilo]

The project.Encoding is your friend. Though unfortunately, it's only available for MSI projects but not for Bundle (this property was introduced before Bubdle support).
I just extended it to be available for Bundle too.

The fix will be available in the very next release.

[oleg-shilo]

Done.
Please update to v2.5.0.0.
You can set the encoding now via bundle.Encoding

[AwesomeM4rc]

Hi Oleg,

Thank you for the fast package update! It works perfectly. 😊

Also, thanks to @Torchok19081986 for your valuable input.

I especially appreciate the change to UTF-8 encoding for the bundle. This improvement means I no longer need to specify anything about the encoding inside the bootstrapper, which is fantastic.

Best regards,
Marc

[oleg-shilo]

...appreciate the change to UTF-8...

Yes, indeed it wasn't the best choice of the default value. Glad the problem has been discovered and fixed.

And indeed thank you @@Torchok19081986 for attending this ticket.