How to: Update apps for SharePoint
Published: June 18, 2013
Learn how to create and deploy an update for an app for SharePoint.
Applies to: Microsoft SharePoint technologies | apps for SharePoint
You can update your app for SharePoint by using the updating support built into SharePoint 2013. Within 24 hours after you upload an updated version of the app to the organization's app catalog or the app is accepted at the Office Store, a notification that an update is available appears next to the app on Site Contents page of every website where it is installed. As you can see in Figure 1, a link is provided for users to immediately install the update.
A user can install the update without first uninstalling the earlier version. The update infrastructure tests the update installation and rolls it back if there are any errors.
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A test SharePoint 2013 installation that is configured for app isolation. If you are using an Office 365 Developer Site, you already have a SharePoint 2013 environment that supports OAuth. See Sign up for an Office 365 Developer Site for instructions on how to set up an Office 365 Developer Site. See Get started developing apps for SharePoint for guidance on how to set up a development environment that meets your needs.
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Tools that are used in creating an app for SharePoint are usually also used in updating it. For example, most developers use Visual Studio 2012 and Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 to create apps for SharePoint.
Core concepts to know to update an app for SharePoint
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Article title |
Description |
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Choose patterns for developing and hosting your app for SharePoint |
Learn about the different types of apps for SharePoint. The updating process varies depending on the type. |
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Learn about the process for updating apps for SharePoint. |
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Learn how to update Features (SharePoint 2010 SDK). |
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Deploying and installing apps for SharePoint: methods and options |
Learn about the methods for publishing, installing, and uninstalling an app for SharePoint. |
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Learn about remote event receivers in SharePoint 2013. |
The following are the major steps that may be needed when you create an update for an app for SharePoint. Each step is discussed in detail in linked sections or articles. Not all the steps are required in every update project. What you must do depends on what components are already in your app and what components you are adding. Only the items marked with * are always required.
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Update the app manifest.
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* Raise the Version number in the App element of the appmanifest.xml file. Do not change the ProductID number.
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Change the AppPermissionRequests section of the appmanifest.xml file.
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Change the AppPrerequisites section of the appmanifest.xml file.
For more information, see Update the app version, permission requests, and prerequisites.
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Add or update the markup for app web components. For more information, see How to: Update app web components in SharePoint 2013.
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Add or update the markup for host web components. For more information, see How to: Update host web components in SharePoint 2013.
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Add custom logic to an UpgradedEventEndpoint and register it in the appmanifest.xml file. For more information, see How to: Create a handler for the update event in app for SharePoint 2013.
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Update the remote components:
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For a provider-hosted app, update the remote components using the techniques appropriate for the hosting platform stack.
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For an autohosted app, add a Web Deploy package to the app package or change the components of an existing Web Deploy package.
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For an autohosted app, add a Data Script or a Pre- PostDeployment script in a DACPAC to the app package, or change a schema or script in an existing DACPAC.
For more information, see How to: Update remote components in apps for SharePoint.
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* Upload the app package to the Office Store or the organization's app catalog.
The following sections discuss practices you should follow and important points to consider as you are planning an update.
Decide whether you really have to update
For a provider-hosted app for SharePoint, improvements to the app do not necessarily require updating the app. If all the changes are to remote components, and those changes don't have to be reflected in SharePoint components, you can change the remote components without updating the app. As long as the URLs and connection strings that the SharePoint components use to access the remote components do not change, the app for SharePoint continues to work. For example, suppose that you add a button to a remote web application that reads a column from a SharePoint list that the web application did not previously read. If the column already exists on the list, you do not have to change anything in SharePoint. You can upload the revised webpage, and the revised code behind or JavaScript, to the remote web application. The new functionality is immediately available to users when they start the app for SharePoint.
For an autohosted app, you do not have direct access to the remote components, so you can only change the app for SharePoint by updating it, even when the only changes are to the remote components.
Remember that updating is optional for users
When a new version of your app for SharePoint becomes available in the Office Store or the organization's app catalog, a message appears on the app's start link on the Site Contents page informing users that an update is available. It takes no more than 24 hours for this message to appear. But nothing in the SharePoint infrastructure forces users to update. So changes that you make to remote components must not break the older versions of the app. A general, but not quite universal, rule is that you should add things to remote components, but avoid deleting, renaming, moving, or changing the schema, connection string, or URL of any existing component.
If a remote component needs to know the version of the app that is calling it, you can pass this information from SharePoint. For example, you can add the app version as a query parameter on the StartPage URL of the app.
Create and debug the new version as if it were a brand new app
You should separate the development and debugging of the new version of the app from the debugging of the update markup and logic. To do this, uninstall the earlier version of the app from your development test SharePoint site. Save a backup copy of the app package file for the earlier version. Add and change components of the app as needed, and then test and debug them against the test site.
Test the update with each earlier version of the app
When the new version of the app is functioning correctly, retract the new version from the test site and redeploy the earlier version. If you have shipped multiple previous versions of the app, install each earlier version on a different subweb of your test site. Then upload the latest version of the app to your test site's app catalog and update every instance of the app. Verify that each has the latest app version number and the latest version of all components. If there is an app web in the app, verify that the app web components have been deployed using the procedure in Verify deployment of app web components.
Update an app without waiting 24 hours
When developing an update for an app on your SharePoint test site, it is impractical to wait 24 hours between updates. You (and users on a production SharePoint site) can update an app immediately after it is uploaded to the Office Store or the organization's app catalog with these steps:
To immediately update an app
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After the latest update is uploaded to the app catalog, open the Site Contents page on the website where the app is installed and choose the ... button on the app's tile.
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On the callout that opens, choose the About tab. On the About page that opens, there is a notice that a new version is available.
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Choose the Get It button. The Site Contents page reopens, and there is a notice on the app's tile that the app is being updated.
Figure 2 illustrates these steps.
Note
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If you need to see the "update available" notice on the app's tile more frequently than every 24 hours, you can use the method described in Update process for an app for SharePoint to make the notice appear immediately. |
After making a backup copy of the Visual Studio 2012 project folder, open the app project. Open app manifest and raise the version number on the General tab of the manifest designer.
If the updated version of the app needs more (or fewer) permissions to components of the host web, make changes as needed to the AppPermissionRequests section of the app. In Visual Studio 2012, use the Permissions tab of the manifest designer.
If the updated version of the app has prerequisites that the earlier versions did not have (or no longer has some prerequisites that earlier versions had), make changes as needed to the AppPrerequisites section of the app. In Visual Studio 2012, use the Prerequisites tab of the manifest designer.
Continue with the next bullet in the section Major steps in updating an app or go directly to one of the following articles:
