How to debug FileSource attribute of Directory in WiX?

Question

Hello,

I have got a setup project in WiX in Visual Studio 2010 and in .wxs file I've got:

      <Directory Id="SOLVERSLOCATION" Name="Solvers" FileSource="$(var.Main.TargetDir)Solvers">
        <Component Id="CmpntSolvers" Guid="13C2AB0B-1AC1-4075-AC75-2716FE37F24A">
          <CreateFolder/>
        </Component>
      </Directory>

      <Directory Id="PLUGINSLOCATION" Name="Plugins" FileSource="$(var.Main.TargetDir)Plugins">
        <Component Id="CmpntPlugins" Guid="6B6BDF54-2A49-444E-8214-C856530D3BEB">
          <CreateFolder/>
        </Component>
      </Directory>

      ...
      <Feature ... >
      <ComponentRef Id="CmpntSolvers" />
      <ComponentRef Id="CmpntPlugins" />              
      </Feature ... >

The problem is that whereas content of PLUGINSLOCATION is added allright to the installator the content of SOLVERSLOCATION is not added at all. I'm at loss what's the reason. The only difference in folders is that PLUGINSLOCATION contains only dll files and in SOLVERSLOCATION are dll files, exe file and ini file.

What may be the problem?

Thank you!

EDIT: There's no problem in paths. I've tried absolute paths too and there was no change.

Answer 1

There isn't many documentation about the FileSource attribute, but perhaps the next link helps you.

Bob Arnson’s blog: Choosing-your-payloads

Check for the "Overriding implicit payload directories" sutitle, it talks about the FileSource attribute and the way it's expected to work. But I suggest you readeing the entire post.

Hope it helps.