How to: Publish Different Versions for Different Groups
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This content is outdated and is no longer being maintained. It is provided as a courtesy for individuals who are still using these technologies. |
You might need to publish different versions of your application for different audiences or groups. For example, you might have a production version of your application that most users need, but you might also have a beta version that you want specific users to try out. Additionally, you probably require that a single user can run both versions side-by-side on a single computer.
To address this scenario, you need to have two published versions on your computer. Each version will be deployed separately. The key thing that is required to support side-by-side execution of two versions of the same application on the same computer is to have a unique application identity for each version in the deployment manifest. This information is automatically populated with the assembly name when you publish your application from Visual Studio. You can modify the deployment manifest name after publishing by using Mage or the Manifest Manager Utility, but the easiest way to publish different versions is simply by changing the assembly name.
The application identity is different from the Product Name property that determines how the application appears on the Start menu and in Programs. If a product name is not set, it defaults to the assembly name.
You should set the Product Name property in Publish Options to make sure that each installation has a unique Start menu shortcut that is easy to identify. The default behavior if two applications are installed with the same application executable name is to add a number to the shortcut (for example, MyApp, MyApp -1, and MyApp -2).
For more information, see Publishing Different Application Versions for Different Groups.