WIX 3.6 Installer - Visual Studio 2010 (HeatDirectory)

I was getting similar issue to yours when I moved from setting up a basic website with Wix to one of our production ones.

Assuming you were following example Paul Reynolds' example and this one Paraesthesia's example

If you look in the comments of the following page - http://blogs.planetsoftware.com.au/paul/archive/2011/02/20/creating-a-web-application-installer-with-wix-3.5-and-visual.aspx

The first comment mentions changing the beforebuild methods found in Paraesthesia's example.

        <Target Name="BeforeBuild"> 
    
    <MSBuild Projects="%(ProjectReference.FullPath)" Targets="Package" Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);Platform=AnyCPU" Condition="'%(ProjectReference.WebProject)'=='True'" /> 
    <PropertyGroup> <DefineConstants Condition="'%(ProjectReference.WebProject)'=='True'"> %(ProjectReference.Name).PackageDir=%(ProjectReference.RootDir)%(ProjectReference.Directory)obj\$(Configuration)\Package\PackageTmp\ </DefineConstants> </PropertyGroup> <HeatDirectory OutputFile="%(ProjectReference.Filename).wxs" Directory="%(ProjectReference.RootDir)%(ProjectReference.Directory)obj\$(Configuration)\Package\PackageTmp\" DirectoryRefId="INSTALLDIR" ComponentGroupName="%(ProjectReference.Filename)_Project" AutogenerateGuids="true" SuppressCom="true" SuppressFragments="true" SuppressRegistry="true" SuppressRootDirectory="true" ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)" Condition="'%(ProjectReference.WebProject)'=='True'" Transforms="%(ProjectReference.Filename).xsl" PreprocessorVariable="var.%(ProjectReference.Name).PackageDir" /> 
</Target>

I had to remove the transform property and change the DirectoryRefId but so far so good.

Hope that helps point you in the right direction.

The problem was the absence of the HeatDirectory PreprocessorVariable property. I fixed the issue with the following additions to my wixproj file:

<PropertyGroup>
  <DefineConstants>BasePath=%(ProjectReference.RootDir)%(ProjectReference.Directory);</DefineConstants>
</PropertyGroup>
<HeatDirectory OutputFile="%(ProjectReference.Filename).wxs" 
               DirectoryRefId="INSTALLFOLDER" 
               Directory="%(ProjectReference.RootDir)%(ProjectReference.Directory)"
               ComponentGroupName="%(ProjectReference.Filename)_Project"
               SuppressCom="true"
               SuppressFragments="true"
               SuppressRegistry="true"
               SuppressRootDirectory="true"
               AutoGenerateGuids="false"
               GenerateGuidsNow="true"
               ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)"
               Condition="'%(ProjectReference.ContentProject)'=='True'" 
               PreprocessorVariable="var.BasePath"/>

As you can see, I needed to first define a constant variable for local use. I set the variable equal to the root path of my WCF project. Secondly I used that variable as my PreprocessorVariable. Finally I'm able to dynamically/recursively harvest the files generated from MsBuild. Next step: exclude the unnecessary files. I will refer to this link.

See below my complete wixproj:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">x86</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>3.5</ProductVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{4005592f-cc0e-41a3-8e64-33b2824e7fd9}</ProjectGuid>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <OutputName>MyWCF.WCF.Webservice</OutputName>
    <OutputType>Package</OutputType>
    <WixTargetsPath Condition=" '$(WixTargetsPath)' == '' AND '$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)' != '' ">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\WiX\v3.x\Wix.targets</WixTargetsPath>
    <WixTargetsPath Condition=" '$(WixTargetsPath)' == '' ">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\WiX\v3.x\Wix.targets</WixTargetsPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x86' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
    <IntermediateOutputPath>obj\$(Configuration)\</IntermediateOutputPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
    <IntermediateOutputPath>obj\$(Configuration)\</IntermediateOutputPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="MyWCF.WcfService.wxs" />
    <Compile Include="IISConfig.wxs" />
    <Compile Include="InstallUi.wxs" />
    <Compile Include="Product.wxs" />
    <Compile Include="UIDialogs.wxs" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\MyWCF.WcfService\MyWCF.WcfService.csproj">
      <Name>MyWCF.WcfService</Name>
      <Project>{8e528b38-2826-4793-a66d-f6ff181e1139}</Project>
      <Private>True</Private>
      <RefProjectOutputGroups>Binaries;Content;Satellites</RefProjectOutputGroups>
      <RefTargetDir>INSTALLFOLDER</RefTargetDir>
      <ContentProject>True</ContentProject>
      <DoNotHarvest>True</DoNotHarvest>
      <PackageThisProject>True</PackageThisProject>
    </ProjectReference>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <WixExtension Include="WixIIsExtension">
      <HintPath>$(WixExtDir)\WixIIsExtension.dll</HintPath>
      <Name>WixIIsExtension</Name>
    </WixExtension>
    <WixExtension Include="WixUtilExtension">
      <HintPath>$(WixExtDir)\WixUtilExtension.dll</HintPath>
      <Name>WixUtilExtension</Name>
    </WixExtension>
    <WixExtension Include="WixUIExtension">
      <HintPath>$(WixExtDir)\WixUIExtension.dll</HintPath>
      <Name>WixUIExtension</Name>
    </WixExtension>
    <WixExtension Include="WixNetFxExtension">
      <HintPath>$(WixExtDir)\WixNetFxExtension.dll</HintPath>
      <Name>WixNetFxExtension</Name>
    </WixExtension>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="ConfigurationInitialize.wxi" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(WixTargetsPath)" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <PreBuildEvent />
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <MSBuild Projects="%(ProjectReference.FullPath)" Targets="Package" Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);Platform=$(Platform)" Condition="'%(ProjectReference.PackageThisProject)'=='True'" />
    <PropertyGroup>
      <DefineConstants>BasePath=%(ProjectReference.RootDir)%(ProjectReference.Directory)obj\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\Package\PackageTmp\</DefineConstants>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <HeatDirectory OutputFile="%(ProjectReference.Filename).wxs" 
                   Directory="%(ProjectReference.RootDir)%(ProjectReference.Directory)obj\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\Package\PackageTmp"
                   DirectoryRefId="INSTALLFOLDER"
                   ComponentGroupName="%(ProjectReference.Filename)_Project"
                   SuppressCom="true"
                   SuppressFragments="true"
                   SuppressRegistry="true"
                   SuppressRootDirectory="true"
                   AutoGenerateGuids="false"
                   GenerateGuidsNow="true"
                   ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)" Condition="'%(ProjectReference.PackageThisProject)'=='True'"
                   PreprocessorVariable="var.BasePath" />
  </Target>
</Project>