4 replies to this topic

[coluhandria]

Hello!
I was wondering about the meaning or the function of the "." in the Directory table.
Microsoft says:
For a non-root source directory, a period (.) entered in the DefaultDir column indicates that the directory should be located in its parent directory without a subdirectory.

But if I look to the sample of the SystemFolder Property ProgramFilesFolder this is registered in the DefaultDir column like .:Progra~1|Program Files then first, there is no name defined for the target directory and as well, when I look at the description and especially the examples of Microsoft under http://msdn.microsof...452(VS.85).aspx this folder should not even be created for a normal installation but an administrative installation. Did I understand something wrong? Probably... ;-)

Thanks for your answer!

[Stefan Krueger]

I think there's no need to set the target directory since it's a system directory which is set automatically at runtime. Hence the .

Right of the : however is the source location (the subdirectory on your setup CD where the program files will be located).

[coluhandria]

Thx very much for you answer!

And two last questions: When does it make sense to give different names to a target directory and a source directory or what would be a benefit of it?

Then I was wondering about the SourceDir and TARGETDIR folder properties. They appear in the Directory table on the same row. But if you look closer they don't really have a relation to each other as the other entries that build a folder structure. Means that SourceDir can be resolved to D:\Installationpackages\MSI\
while TARGETDIR resolves to C:\.
So why do they appear in the same entry. As I know SourceDir is resolved by the action ResolveSource Action. So is it probably just to be good to be on one line because of programming specific reasons..?

[Stefan Krueger]

[coluhandria]

Okay I understand, that was very helpful. Thxs!