visual studio setup project updating at same location?

Question

How can I ensure that the msi installer (created using visual studio installer project) installs the application at the same location where its previous version was installed ?

So for example the scenario is this.

User install the app using myapp-v1.msi installer at c:\program files\myapp

Now I fix a bug and create a new version of installer myapp-v2.msi

When the user installs myapp-v2.msi it should install at c:\program files\myapp (perhaps not giving the location choice to user)

I want to do that because I have data files present in the previous location and I want that new files go in the same location so that it picks up data files from it's current directory.

Thanks,

Answer 1

That should be done automatically, as default behavior in MSI packages. Have you tested it?

However, you should know that keeping data files next to the installed files is not recommended, nor standard practice. If these data files should be available to all users you should store them in CommonAppDataFolder.