Specifying a Virtual Package’s Dependencies

AdminStudio 2023 | 25.0 | Virtual Package Editor

Version:This information applies to App-V 4.x packages.

A virtual package may rely on one or more other virtual packages in order to function properly. The Virtual Package Editor lets you specify other App-V packages that the open App-V package (the primary package) requires. This capability, called Dynamic Suite Composition, enables your virtual package to interact with the other virtual applications in the virtual environment. Dynamic Suite Composition enables you to deploy common system components once on each client system, making them available for use by many App-V applications, rather than requiring you to include them with each of the App-V applications that are dependent on them. This reduces redundancy in the local App-V cache and simplifies the construction and testing of the primary App-V application.

If you add a new dependency to your primary package, the Virtual Package Editor automatically associates each of the targets that are defined in the Shortcuts view with that new dependency. Similarly, if you add a new target to your primary package, the Virtual Package Editor automatically associates that target with each dependency that is defined in the Dependencies view. Each .osd file that defines a target contains a list of the other .sft files on which it depends. The Application Virtualization Client may cache this list; therefore, in most cases all of the primary package’s targets should be associated with each dependency.