Custom Actions View

The Custom Actions view is displayed within the main program area when the Custom Actions node of any project is selected in the Projects view. In the Custom Actions view you can configure the actions to be executed before/after package installation or uninstallation. The view displays pre & post install/uninstall actions and system actions Pic 1.

The Custom Actions view

Pic 1. The Custom Actions view

The pre & post install/uninstall actions are displayed in form of a table, where each row represents a single action. The icon next to every action is used to describe of the action's type and state. The state icons are provided to help you understand what is currently happening in the program. You can always see if the item is being processed now by some operation or not. Below is the list of icons used:

	-	an action to be executed before a deployment package installation;
	-	an action to be executed after a deployment package installation;
	-	an action to be executed before a deployment package uninstallation;
	-	an action to be executed after a deployment package uninstallation;
	-	a SAM licenses installation;
	-	an action to pin an application to the Task Bar and/or Start Menu;
	-	an action to unpin an application from the Task Bar and/or Start Menu;
	-	an action is excluded from the build.

The system actions are also displayed in form of a table. With the help the system actions, you can pin applications to or unpin them from the Start Menu and the Task Bar. Another available system action is the SAM License Installation action. It allows you to install Software Assets Management (SAM) licenses to the Software Licensing Service (SLS) when deploying MSI packages.

App-V and MSIX/AppX packages virtualization techniques do not support custom actions, thus they can only be included into the MSI package output.

The actions for creating new actions, editing and deleting existing ones and copying/moving actions to another project are available in the Custom Actions view pop-up menu and on the contextual Custom Actions Ribbon page.

Functions Overview

Actions Management	From the Custom Actions view, you can create, edit and delete the actions to be performed before and after a generated deployment package deployment. To create a new action, you can either choose the New Action item from the pop-up menu, or press the Action button from the New group on the contextual Custom Actions Ribbon page and on the Project Ribbon page. To create custom actions of a specific type you can use actions available in the Action Templates group on the contextual Ribbon page. The Edit item from the pop-up menu, as well as the Edit button from the Management group on the contextual Custom Actions Ribbon page can be used to change the selected action, and to delete any action you can use the Delete items.
Copy/Move	You can easily copy and/or move the actions to be performed before and after a generated deployment package deployment from the Custom Actions view to another project. You can use the drag/drop and copy/paste techniques as well as the Cut, Copy and Paste menu items to reach the goal. It is also possible to use the Copy To and Move To items available both in the pop-up menu and on the contextual Custom Actions Ribbon page to perform copy/move immediately choosing a target project in a dialog.
Search	Within the Custom Actions view, you can execute a search for specific action using the Find item from the pop-up menu.

For detailed information on the custom actions management process, refer to the Using Custom Actions section of this document.