The MsiLocateComponent function returns the full path to an installed component without a product code. This function attempts to determine the product using MsiGetProductCode, but is not guaranteed to find the correct product for the caller. MsiGetComponentPath should always be called when possible.

Syntax

C++INSTALLSTATE MsiLocateComponent(
  __in     LPCTSTR szComponent,
  __out    LPTSTR lpPathBuf,
  __inout  DWORD *pcchBuf
);

Parameters

szComponent [in]

Specifies the component ID of the component to be located.

lpPathBuf [out]

Pointer to a variable that receives the path to the component. The variable includes the terminating null character.

pcchBuf [in, out]

Pointer to a variable that specifies the size, in characters, of the buffer pointed to by the lpPathBuf parameter. On input, this is the full size of the buffer, including a space for a terminating null character. Upon success of the MsiLocateComponent function, the variable pointed to by pcchBuf contains the count of characters not including the terminating null character. If the size of the buffer passed in is too small, the function returns INSTALLSTATE_MOREDATA.

If lpPathBuf is null, pcchBuf can be null.

Return Value

Value	Meaning
INSTALLSTATE_NOTUSED	The component being requested is disabled on the computer.
INSTALLSTATE_ABSENT	The component is not installed. See Remarks.
INSTALLSTATE_INVALIDARG	One of the function parameters is invalid.
INSTALLSTATE_LOCAL	The component is installed locally.
INSTALLSTATE_MOREDATA	The buffer provided was too small.
INSTALLSTATE_SOURCE	The component is installed to run from source.
INSTALLSTATE_SOURCEABSENT	The component source is inaccessible.
INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN	The product code or component ID is unknown. See Remarks.

 

Remarks

The MsiLocateComponent function might return INSTALLSTATE_ABSENT or INSTALL_STATE_UNKNOWN, for the following reasons:

• INSTALLSTATE_ABSENT

  The application did not properly ensure that the feature was installed by calling MsiUseFeature and, if necessary, MsiConfigureFeature.

• INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN

  The feature is not published. The application should have determined this earlier by calling MsiQueryFeatureState or MsiEnumFeatures. The application makes these calls while it initializes. An application should only use features that are known to be published. Since INSTALLSTATE_UNKNOWN should have been returned by MsiUseFeature as well, either MsiUseFeature was not called, or its return value was not properly checked.

Requirements

Version	Windows Installer 5.0 on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. Windows Installer 4.0 or Windows Installer 4.5 on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista. Windows Installer on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. See the Windows Installer Run-Time Requirements for information about the minimum Windows service pack that is required by a Windows Installer version.
Header	Msi.h
Library	Msi.lib
DLL	Msi.dll
Unicode and ANSI names	MsiLocateComponentW (Unicode) and MsiLocateComponentA (ANSI)

See Also

Component-Specific Functions

Send comments about this topic to Microsoft

Build date: 8/13/2009