App-V 5.0 (Beta1) Shortcut Editing Tricks

I have been having a problem with some of my sequences with the new App-V 5.0 Beta1 release; sometimes the client doesn’t get changes I make to the shortcut/FTA settings in the sequence editor.

I mentioned this to Patrick before I headed off to speak at the Citrix Synergy “Geek Speak Live” in San Francisco last week. He was supposed to be looking into those deployment and user config files and figure out just how and where we really want to use them (a work still in progress), but he couldn’t make progress unless he knew just what the client would reliably get from a given sequence without them. So he figured something new out.

In the App-V 5.0 Beta1 sequencer, the sequencer detects shortcuts and file type associations created during the installation phase. Previously, I have reported issues (with 4.6 SP1) that if FTAs are created during the Configure phase these will be missed, and this still applies to the 5.0 Beta1. This issue is creatly seen with sequencing 7Zip if you do not launch 7Zip after installing itduring the installation phase.

But in the 5.0 Beta1 sequencer, the later application editing phase that used to be in the wizard has been moved to the sequence editor. This move is a good change as it means that whichever wizard option you take you can still get to the application editor. But that only helps if the changes are remembered!

What Patrick figured out through trial and error, is that in the sequence editor we seem to be able to make some changes but not others.

• Deleting an entire application (from the app name) works
• Removing a shortcut from within an application works
• Removing an FTA from within an application works
• Changing the name only of an application works
• Changing the location of a startmenu shortcut from the main dialogfails
• Changing the location of a shortcut from the advanced dialog works

So if the application added a shortcut during install phase to the startmenu, for example to the root of the start menu so that it appears without a subfolder, you should not try to edit the location in the location box next to the startmenu check box. If you do, the client will get the old location for the shortcut. The only way to change the location of a startmenu appears to be to uncheck the startmenu box and then add a new shortcut using the advanced menu.

The bottom line is that with 5.0 Beta1, if at all possible, make shortcut changes manually in the installation phase to ensure that the client gets what you expect. If you must edit shortcuts in the sequence editor, only do so in the advanced dialog.