Component destination path not updated

[Pizzamampf]

I found a strange behaviour with a component installed into a subdirectory and I'm not sure whether it's intended behaviour or a bug.

For example we have this configuration:

Main component destination: C:\a
Other component destination: C:\a\b\c\d

Directory Table:

Directory    Directory_Parent    DefaultDir
DIR_A        TARGETDIR           DIR_A
DIR_B        DIR_A               b
DIR_C        DIR_B               c
DIR_D        DIR_C               d

So the main component was installed into DIR_A. DIR_A is looked up from the registry in AppSearch.
The other component's destination should always be relative to the main component, so the destination is set to DIR_D.

The problem:
Imagine you'd install the main component to C:\x instead of C:\a.
At the beginning of the installation, DIR_A is set to the correct value of C:\x\ through AppSearch lookup.
DIR_B and DIR_C however are not set at this point.
Then in the logfile I can find:

PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding DIR_D property. Its value is 'C:\a\b\c\d'.

At this point I understand that the default path is used because lookup of the other pathes has not been done yet. It seems however that at this point, DIR_D is detached from the directory lookup (maybe because it's a destination directory).

Later in the logfile I can find:

PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding DIR_B property. Its value is 'C:\x\b\'.
PROPERTY CHANGE: Adding DIR_C property. Its value is 'C:\x\b\c\'.
PROPERTY CHANGE: Modifying DIR_D property. Its current value is 'C:\a\b\c\d'. Its new value: 'C:\a\b\c\d\'.

As you can see, DIR_D just got the \ added at the end, but it's path were not updated anymore.

Is this correct behaviour or should DIR_D usually be updated once its parent directories change?

Unfortunately due to this I have to set the directory manually (lookup of DIR_B and DIR_C through AppSearch is not possible because they don't exist yet at that time).

[Pizzamampf]

Additional info: Even changing the path later through MsiSetTargetPath doesn't help at all. According to the logfile, the property is updated correctly. However the component is still installed into the wrong directory.

[UtsabKarmakar]

Hi @Pizzamampf ,

I tried the same and I was not able to reproduce this.
For me all the files and sub folder/files were getting installed as per TARGETDIR location.

Also I tried setting DIR_A to INSTALLDIR. 

Directory    Directory_Parent    DefaultDir
DIR_A        INSTALLDIR          DIR_A
DIR_B        DIR_A               b
DIR_C        DIR_B               c
DIR_D        DIR_C               d

During installation i have changed the installation dir to C:\Test. it successfully installed all the files and folder as per the above structure. i.e It created
C:\Test\A
C:\Test\A\B
C:\Test\A\B\C
C:\Test\A\B\C\D

Let me know if you have added any other related settings in the project.

Thanks,

[Pizzamampf]

Thank you for your response!

The complete project is much bigger. Actually INSTALLDIR points to a completely different location (the application has the INSTALLDIR and a "working directory", the latter is the one where I try to install the new component to).

The part for the new component (didn't exist in the setup but is added in update) is just as mentioned: Look up the working directory through AppSearch and then have several subfolders below.

In the meantime, at least I got a workaround running. While setting DIR_D through MsiSetTargetPath didn't work (it changed the property but not the actually used destination directory path), it finally works with a Set Directory custom action scheduled right after CostFinalize.