Visual Studio Setup Project - How to Obtain the Directory Path from a File-Search Launch Condition - visual-studio-2010

Question

I am looking for a way to add File(s) to an existing directory that has a random name as part of a Visual Studio Setup Project and I hoped someone might be able to help me solve this puzzle please.
I have been attempting to obtain the discovered path property of the directory using a Launch Condition; Unfortunately this method returns the full file path including the filename, which cannot be used as a directory property.
The directory in question takes the form [AppDataFolder]Company\Product\aaaaaaaaaaaa\
where aaaaaaaaaaaa is a random installation string.
Within the Launch Condition Setup I check for the directory's existence by searching for a file that would appear inside it,
Search Target Machine
(Name): File marker
Filename: sample.txt
Folder: [AppDataFolder]Company\Product\
Property: DIRFILE
Launch Condition
(Name): File marker exists
Condition: DIRFILE
In the Setup Project I add the file I wish to insert, with the details
Condition: DIRFILE
Folder: 'Installation folder'
Then in File System Setup I add a new folder entry for the random directory aaaaaaaaaaaa
(Name): Installation folder
Condition: DIRFILE
DefaultLocation: [DIRFILE]\..\ *Incorrect*
Property [DIRLOCATION]
As you can see the installer detects the existence of the marker file but, instead of placing my file at the same location, when using [DIRFILE] the installer would incorrectly try and insert it INTO the file;
This is because the file path was returned
[AppDataFolder]Company\Product\aaaaaaaaaaaa\sample.txt
where I instead need the directory path
[AppDataFolder]Company\Product\aaaaaaaaaaaa
Therefore I was wondering if it was possible to return the directory the file was found in from Search Target Machine (as opposed to the file location of the file), if I could extract the directory path by performing a string replace of the filename on the file location DIRFILE within the DefaultLocation field in File System Setup, or if perhaps there is even another method I am missing?

Answer 1

I'm also very interested in a simple solution for this, inside the setup project.
The way I did solve it was to install the files to a temporary location and then copy them to the final location in an AfterInstall event handler. Not a very elegant solution! Since it no longer care about the user selected target path I removed that dialog. Also I needed to take special care when uninstalling.
public override void OnAfterInstall(IDictionary savedState)
{
base.OnAfterInstall(savedState);
// Get original file folder
string originDir = Context.Parameters["targetdir"];
// Get new file folder based on the dir of sample.txt
string newDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(Context.Parameters["dirfile"]);
// Application executable file name
// (or loop for all files on the path instead)
string filename = "ApplicationName.exe";
// Move or copy the file
File.Move(Path.Combine(originDir, filename), Path.Combine(newDir, filename)));
}