Guidelines for Creating Side-by-side Assemblies in Visual Studio 2010

[Madhulika]

I am a new bee to the environment of Visual Studio 2010, I have thought that the new version of Visual Studio will good compared to previous version of Visual Studio. But I am facing problem in creating the side by side assemblies in Visual Studio 2010. Actually I have heard that I do not need to have to create my own side by side assembly. Microsoft has provided many functionalities for that but still I will prefer assemblies created by me. So I need to know the guidelines for creating the side by side assembly in visual studio 2010.

[Praetor]

First of all you have to decide which resources you have to include in the assembly. One thing is for sure that the assembly consists of more than one file which should be always there for the application. Assembly is the fundamental unit that is used for naming, binding, versioning and deployment. Normally a side by side assembly comprises of single dynamic link library.

[Katty]

Estimate the procedure of objects when more than one version is going to run on the system. You have to determine that is there any requirement for the separate data structures. Because the data structure you are going to use must be compatible for both forward and backward. Do not forget to differentiate between the data structure that is going to be used across versions and data structure that is going to be used on private. You also have to consider that share data structures require separate synchronization objects such as semaphores and mutexes.

[kelfro]

It will better if you provide the group of header file and the set of helper functions for easy way to version registry key which contains the assembly state. Normally assemblies saves the state settings in the registry keys. For isolating the multiple versions of assembly which can run at the same time user have to write the registry key setting on the individual version bases. One more thing for handling the state of the assembly at the time of side by side sharing user have to design the side by side assembly and dynamic link library in the correct manner.

[Zecho]

Developers must secure the application directory for the private assemblies. If the developer is installing the assembly through the windows installer then the application directory can be secured through the LockPermission table. Developer must know that the read, write and execute permission of the private assemblies are given by the system and the all other process only have the permission of execute and read. Developer must test the assembly with the side by side sharing scenario. This will ensure the validation of the side by side assembly.