Register WCF COM proxies with WIX

This is how I get the registration of WCF COM Proxies to work in WIX installation packets.

The CLSID and APPID are regenerated by the framework each time the version of the assembly is changed by. Avoid that by adding a Guid attribute to the COM proxy interface file (that’s the one generated with svcutil.exe).
I have still not managed to define all guid’s in the WCF Service interface file which I would prefer, as the proxy interface file changes are destroyed each time its regenerated.

namespace MyComProxy
{
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.ServiceModel", "3.0.0.0")]
    [System.ServiceModel.ServiceContractAttribute(Namespace="http://myservices.com", ConfigurationName="MyService.IMyInterface")]
    [Guid("E055A238-F196-3EF1-ADE2-AB124C197A1F")]
    public interface IMyInterface
    {
        [System.ServiceModel.OperationContractAttribute(Action="http://myservices.com/IMyInterface/DoSomething", ReplyAction="http://myservices.com/IMyInterface/DoSomethingResponse")]
        string DoSomething(string newValue);
    }
    
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.ServiceModel", "3.0.0.0")]
    [Guid("D1902FA8-A2DC-39BD-8009-6047F340E1CC")]
    public interface IMyInterfaceChannel : MyService.IMyInterface, System.ServiceModel.IClientChannel
    {
    }
    
    [System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThroughAttribute()]
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("System.ServiceModel", "3.0.0.0")]
    [Guid("3BAA7AE8-70C7-3D37-92B9-39971872567D")]
    public partial class MyInterface : System.ServiceModel.ClientBase<MyService.IMyInterface>, MyService.IMyInterface
    {
...

Remember to add the Guid attributes again if the file has to be regenerated with svcutil.

Now its time to use heat.exe to generate the Registry keys that makes the proxy visible to COM clients.

Verify that the “Register for COM interop” is checked for the COM Proxy project. Visual Studio then creates a type library file during compilation.

First generate the keys for the type library (it’s not recommended to use the WIX Typelib element, that’s why I specify –scom to get the actual Registry keys):

heat file -scom MyService.tlb -out tlbtags.wxs

Copy the Registry tags from the output file and add them to the tlb-component in the wxs-file.

Then generate Registry keys for the assembly:

heat file MyService.dll -out dlltags.wxs

Copy those keys to the dll-component in the wxs-file (ignore the <Class> tags). The Codebase keys can be removed.