Build InstallShield project outside of Visual Studio - visual-studio

Question

I have created a solution using Visual Studio 2017 which consists of a Windows Service C# Project and an InstallShield 2016 Basic MSI Project.
The InstallShield project has a single component added. This component has a number of files added using the Component->Files->Add File... (below)
Note the use of VSSolutionFolder.
Now when I open the InstallShield project (.ism) using InstallShield 2016, and build the project, I get the following build errors:
Loading File table
ISDEV : error -6103: Could not find file "<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe"
ISDEV : error -6103: Could not find file "<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe.config"
ISDEV : error -6103: Could not find file "<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.pdb"
ISDEV : error -6103: Could not find file "<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\App.config"
Building MsiFileHash table
ISDEV : error -6271: File <VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe not found. An error occurred building the MsiFileHash table record for this file. Verify that the file exists in the specified location.
ISDEV : error -6271: File <VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe.config not found. An error occurred building the MsiFileHash table record for this file. Verify that the file exists in the specified location.
ISDEV : error -6271: File <VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.pdb not found. An error occurred building the MsiFileHash table record for this file. Verify that the file exists in the specified location.
ISDEV : error -6271: File <VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\App.config not found. An error occurred building the MsiFileHash table record for this file. Verify that the file exists in the specified location.
Adding instance transforms to substorage...
ISDEV : error -1007: Cannot copy source '<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe' to target 'E:\Installshield\WebDeploy\Windows Services\ACMECorp.App.Service\ACMECorpSetup\ACMECorpSetup\Default Configuration\Release\DiskImages\DISK1\program files\ACME Corp\ACME Corp Service 0\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe'
ISDEV : error -1007: Cannot copy source '<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe.config' to target 'E:\Installshield\WebDeploy\Windows Services\ACMECorp.App.Service\ACMECorpSetup\ACMECorpSetup\Default Configuration\Release\DiskImages\DISK1\program files\ACME Corp\ACME Corp Service 0\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe.config'
ISDEV : error -1007: Cannot copy source '<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.pdb' to target 'E:\Installshield\WebDeploy\Windows Services\ACMECorp.App.Service\ACMECorpSetup\ACMECorpSetup\Default Configuration\Release\DiskImages\DISK1\program files\ACME Corp\ACME Corp Service 0\ACMECorp.App.Service.pdb'
ISDEV : error -1007: Cannot copy source '<VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\App.config' to target 'E:\Installshield\WebDeploy\Windows Services\ACMECorp.App.Service\ACMECorpSetup\ACMECorpSetup\Default Configuration\Release\DiskImages\DISK1\program files\ACME Corp\ACME Corp Service 0\App.config'
In Media Path Variables, there is a VSSolutionFolder with a value UNDEFINED.
I cannot change this Current Value - the UI does not allow it. Defined Value cannot be changed and Test Value doesn't seem to do much.
I have the project saved as xml but I only see the VSSolutionFolder referenced in file paths like so:
<row>
<td>acmecorp.app.service.exe</td>
<td>ACMECorpServiceFilesComponent</td>
<td>ACMECO~1.EXE|ACMECorp.App.Service.exe</td>
<td>0</td>
<td/>
<td/>
<td/>
<td>1</td>
<td><VSSolutionFolder>\ACMECorp.App.Service\bin\Debug\ACMECorp.App.Service.exe</td>
<td>1</td>
<td/>
</row>
Is there a way of setting VSSolutionFolder in InstallShield? Or is there some way of fixing this.
Ideally I want it to just load in Visual Studio and InstallShield without having to muck about with source locations - yes I can remove the files and re-add, but that is not the question (if I had a larger solution it wouldn't be acceptable I don't think).

Answer 1

Personally I recommend keeping your application code and your installer code in two different solutions. There are several reasons including:
1) A new version of VS comes out that IS doesn't support yet and you don't want to be held back.
2) Simplifies project dependencies and build order relationships. Build your app code first then build your installer code second.
3) Depending on where you are in the agile/devops spectrum you might want to keep your peanut butter and chocolate separate.
In this scenario I use postbuild xcopy commands and msbuild publish profiles to stage my application code to a "Deploy" directory in the workspace in the directory that your .ISPROJ and .ISM lives. From there InstallShield simply uses the standard ISPROJECTDIR path variable reference. Now you don't have to deal with the complexities of project output references. You have a nice model defined of what your deployed application should look like.

Answer 2

Try overriding the path variable. You can do this either with external approaches like iscmdbld -L... or with the Release Configuration property Path Variable Overrides. (Note that building the solution with MSBuild should already just work.)
If there are problems overriding VSSolutionFolder itself, you can change your file links to use a new standard variable that is defined to use <VSSolutionFolder> as its default path, but will definitely allow you to override it.