XmlFile is improperly changing escaped text in attributes

[wixbot]

Expected: util:XmlFile will leave attributes unchanged unless the ElementPath specifies those attributes as the target of the util:XmlFile operation, including attributes containing escaped values (e.g., ).

Observed: util:XmlFile changes all attributes in the target file so that escaped values are replaced with their unescaped equivalents.

Discussion:

I am using util:XmlFile with setValue to configure a log4net.config file; I'm using it to set the log file path and that works fine.

The problem is that elsewhere in the config file, I have this in the XML that is being modified by the util:XmlFile operation:

<header value="Timestamp&#x9;Thread&#x9;Level&#x9;Logger&#x9;Message&#xD;&#xA;" />

I would expect to see the same attribute in the output. However, after the util:XmlFile operation runs, it looks like this:

<header value="Timestamp  Thread  Level   Logger  Message
"/>

So you see that it is converting the 	, 
 and 
 strings into their unescaped equivalents, and as a result, log4net doesn't do what I intended.

---

For completeness, here is the util:XmlFile element in my .wxs file; it's working fine as far as setting the desired attribute goes, but the problem is the side effects I've described:

<util:XmlFile Id="SetDefaultAppenderValueAttribute"
              Action="setValue"
              ElementPath="//log4net/appender[\[]@name='Default'[\]]/file"
              Name="value"
              Value="[DIR_PROGRAMDATA_MYPRODUCT]logs\MyProduct.log"
              File="[#FILE_MYPRODUCT_LOGGING_CONFIG]"
              Sequence="1" />

Also, here is the XML file that it is being deployed by the setup and modified by this util:XmlFile operation:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<log4net xmlns="urn:log4net">
  <appender name="Default" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
    <threshold value="INFO" />
    <file value="MyProduct.log" />
    <appendToFile value="true" />
    <rollingStyle value="Size" />
    <maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
    <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
    <datePattern value=".yyyyMMdd'.log'" />
    <countDirection value="1" />
    <lockingModel value="log4net.Appender.FileAppender+MinimalLock" />
    <staticLogFileName value="true" />
    <preserveLogFileNameExtension value="false" />
    <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
      <header value="Timestamp&#x9;Thread&#x9;Level&#x9;Logger&#x9;Message&#xD;&#xA;" />
      <conversionPattern value="%date&#x9;%thread&#x9;%level&#x9;%logger&#x9;%message%newline" />
      <footer value="&#xD;&#xA;" />
    </layout>
  </appender>
</log4net>

Originally opened by hughbiquitous

[wixbot]

MSXML is expanding those entities when rewriting the file. Might not be possible to fix without a new parser but needs investigation.

Release changed from v3.10 to v3.x

[wixbot]

Fixed entities in defect; they got resolved to tab/CR/LF

Originally posted by hughbiquitous