I am creating a Setup Project for a C# WinForms app. I have added a Textboxform to the UI and moved it above the Installation Folder form. I capture aproperty called ENVIRONMENT_NAME in one of the testboxes. In the File System I have set the DefaultLocation property for the Application Folder to[ProgramFilesFolder][Manufacturer]\[ProductName]\[ENVIRONMENT_NAME]\. When I compile and run the install, not matter ehat I put in the textbox for ENVIRONMENT_NAME, it does not show up in the textbox for the installation folder. A custom action I have does see this variable correctly so why cannot I do this for the DefaultLocation property?

Thanks,

Tommy

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Tommy Norman

Hi TommyNorman,

Base on my test, the "Installation Folder" only show the default value of EditControl in TextBox dialog. When you change the value of that TextBox during installation, it won't accept the newly entered value until validation. The validation occured after the "Installation Folder" dialog, so the value can be retrievedby theCustom Action but notby "Installation Folder" dialog.

Sincerely,
Kira Qian

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Hi TommyNorman,

Base on my test, the "Installation Folder" only show the default value of EditControl in TextBox dialog. When you change the value of that TextBox during installation, it won't accept the newly entered value until validation. The validation occured after the "Installation Folder" dialog, so the value can be retrievedby theCustom Action but notby "Installation Folder" dialog.

Sincerely,
Kira Qian

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Is there any workaround to this? Is there any way to set the DefaultLocation dynamically, based on input from previous form?

Hi mmswitzer,

If you want to implement this. You need to use Orca to modify the installation table and run your own custom code made in unmanaged assembly. That was a painful work. I think may be you can try other installer maker which support more feature to custom you MSI package than Visual Studio.

Sincerely,
Kira Qian

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Thanks, Kira. Sorry for the late reply. Definitely need to look into other installers; all I need is some basic functionality, but looks like VS only support the very bare bones functionality.

Hi Kira,

I am developing an installer using visual studio 2005, setup project. I am using an environment variable in the one of the defaultlocation propertes of one folder. But I am facing an error when I run the installer. The path looks something like [ENVIRONMENTVARIABLENAME]\foldername. When I give absolute path, installer is working fine. When I give only environmentvariable then also installer is working fine. Only when a folder name is followed by environmentvariable, I am getting an error saying "foldername" cannot be accessed on network location.
I tried with and without the backward slash between environmentvariable and folder name.
Any suggestions please?

Thanks,
Murthy