VS2008 Usage of Strong Name Keys in multiple projects

Question

First of all i'm new to signing assemblies with SNKs, so this might be a stupid question.

I've got a solution with several projects, some of which ought to be signed. I created a SNK using VisualStudio's Wizard and stored it in the solution folder, which is shared between all projects.

Now when trying to sign a project in it's Properties page, VS asks me to create a new SNK or to chose an existing one. I chose the one i created earlier. The SNK is now copied (not linked) into the project folder.

This way, i end up with a separate SNK for every signed project. Is this actually by design?

Adding the SNK manually as a link to a project is possible, but then the SNK does not show up in the selection box, so i guess VS does not like this idea.

The main reason i wondered is because in the TestRunConfig it is seemingly only possible to select a single SNK. This feels weird since i might use different SNKs for each project (appearently VS wants me to use different SNKs for each project, after all).

After digging around in the MSDN for hours, i found it to be of no help. I'd be glad if you could point out my mistake or redirect me to a page that actually explains what is going on here.

Answer 1

Linking the SNK into the project and then selecting it on the Signing tab of the settings is actually the way to do it.

Have you opened and closed the settings after linking the SNK?

Answer 2

The "Add as Link" functionality, accessed via the drop-down is something I wish I'd known about a long time ago!