Question

I want to exclude 2 folders by default, unless a component is checked. I don’t have all the files individually listed in the [Files] section, as some of them might be added/removed in the future, but there are 2 folders that I need to control.

Here’s the code I have:

Source: "source\*"; DestDir: {app}; Excludes: "\plugins\api,\plugins\shared memory"; Flags: ignoreversion recursesubdirs createallsubdirs;
Source: "source\plugins\api\*"; DestDir: {app}; Flags: recursesubdirs createallsubdirs; 
Source: "source\plugins\shared memory\*"; DestDir: {app}; Components: plugins_api;  Flags: recursesubdirs createallsubdirs; 

What I want:

• Those subfolders (api and shared memory) should only be copied if
  plugins_api is selected.
• If the component plugins_api is not
  checked, they should not be copied.
• I’d rather avoid including
  every file in the .iss file. It is not an option.

What I get with this code:

• If the component is not checked, the folders are not copied. Ok.
• If the component was checked, the folders are not copied. Not ok.

So it seems the exclude in the first line affects the other 2 lines. How can I avoid this?

Answer 1

2 points:

1) You only have the Components entry on one of the special folders.

2) The special folders, as you have them will be installing their contents direct into the {app} folder.
If you follow the folders in use:

Source: "source\plugins\api\*"; DestDir: {app};

Put contents of source\plugins\api\ in {app}

I expect you want something like:

Source: "source\plugins\api\*"; DestDir: {app}\plugins\api\; Components: plugins_api; Flags: recursesubdirs createallsubdirs;
Source: "source\plugins\shared memory\*"; DestDir: {app}\plugins\shared memory\; Components: plugins_api; Flags: recursesubdirs createallsubdirs;