Multiple ClickOnce installations with different Deployment Identity, but same Application Identity

Question

We have several deployments of the same assemblies with different config files for different environments. We package these up in to separate ClickOnce deployments with different Deployment Identities (Program_ENV1, Program_ENV2, etc).

The Application Identity is Program.exe for all of them because we have a third-party component that requires the executable using it to have the same name as it was compiled for.

When we want to have multiple installs of the same version number on the same machine (for testing), we get an error on installation that something with the same application identity already exists.

We don't want to make separate builds with new version numbers for each deployment (QA signed off on version X.X.X.45 assemblies, not version X.X.X.46).

Is there any other way around this issue?

Answer 1

Try using MageUI. Open your deployment manifest (the one with the .application extension). Select "Name" from the list on the left and edit the "Name" textbox. Then select "Description" from the list and edit the "Product" field. That way you'll be able to distinguish your different installs on the start menu and in add/remove programs.

Save your changes, re-sign the manifest, and you should be good to go.

Answer 2

To run concurrent versions of a ClickOnce application, you must change the AssemblyName, and it's recommended that you also change the ProductName in the Publish properties, so you can tell in a start menu which one is which.

Click here to see how to Install Multiple Versions Concurrently

Answer 3

Karg, if you use MageUI you can change the ApplicationIdentity and run several published versions of the same application at once.