Requesting a Feature

[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]

There are several functions an application must call to request features. Before requesting a feature, the application must ensure that the feature is installed. For more information on feature requests, see the Feature Request Model in Components and Features.

The following steps describe how your application requests a feature:

    To request a feature

1. Indicate your application's intent to use a feature by calling the MsiUseFeature function.
2. Determine file locations by calling the MsiGetComponentPath function.
3. Configure the feature by calling the MsiConfigureFeature function.
4. Obtain usage metrics by calling the MsiGetFeatureUsage function.

You can also use the MsiProvideComponent or the MsiProvideQualifiedComponent function to request a feature. However, because these functions increment the usage count, use them with caution to prevent inaccurate usage counts.