Folder Operations in the Files and Folders Page

Creating new folders

Use the [ New Folder ] toolbar button, the "New Folder" tree/list context menu item or press the Insert key while the focus is on the tree control. The folder names must have only valid filename ASCII characters.

You can create two types of folders: regular and property based. Property based folders will be resolved at install time to the values from the respective property. This property can be one of the Windows Installer Folders, the result of a Search operation or a custom property set in the Install Parameters page.

In order to create a property-based folder which uses a custom property you can follow these steps:

• create your custom property (you can use the "Install Parameters" page, a search, a custom dialog, a custom action etc.)
• go to the "Files and Folders" page of your project and right click "Target Computer"
• select "New Folder" -> "Property based" in the context menu
• select your custom property in the Property Picker dialog
• add your files in the generated folder

Note that a property used by a property-based folder must contain a valid path. If this is not the case and the path cannot be resolved, the installation will fail.

Adding an existing folder from the hard-drive

Use the [ Add Folder... ] toolbar button, the "Add Folder..." tree/list context menu item, or press the + key while the focus is on the "Folders" panel. The folder and all the files and folders it contains will be added to the project in the selected folder from the left pane.

Setting folder properties

Use the [ Properties... ] toolbar button or the "Properties..." tree context menu item.

In the Folder Properties Dialog dialog box you can:

• mark the selected folder to be one of the Synchronized Folders with a source folder on disk
• schedule the folder to be removed at component install or uninstall time
• add, edit or remove the folder's permissions

Renaming folders

Use the "Rename" context menu item or press the F2 key. The folder name is of PseudoFormatted type.

Locating the attached component for a resource

Use the "Go To Component" tree context menu item or press the F8 key. This command will activate the Organization page with the appropriate component selected in the left tree control.

This command is available only for a user defined empty folder, a synchronized folder or a folder removal operation.

Moving folders

Drag and drop the folder to be moved to the target folder.

Removing folders

Use the [ Delete ] toolbar button, the "Delete" tree context menu item, or press the Delete key.

Refreshing synchronized folders

Use the [ Refresh ] toolbar button or the "Refresh" tree context menu item.

In case of Merge Module projects the following attributes can be can be made configurable at merge time:

• Directory_Parent
• DefaultDir