Update Private Gallery atom such that VS shows that an extension update is available

Question

I\'m using a Visual Studio Private Gallery to publish a VSIX internal to my company. My VSIX shows up in the \"Online\" section of \"Extensions and Updates\" in Visual Studio 20

Answer 1

We tried to use an atom.xml in a private gallery for an automatic update. It did not work at all, even after removing the name from the ID in the VSIX tag. We are using a package developed for VS 2015.

Then, looking more carefully, we realized that the ID of the package class, that is also present in the vsct file, is different from the ID defined in the manifest file: source.extension.vsixmanifest. While the first is a pure GUID the second is a concatenation of the name, producer and another GUID. Something like: MyVSIX.MyCompany.GUID (in form of xxxxxxxx-xxxx...)

When we used the second one, everything worked perfectly. We even managed to update packages that were previously installed by double-clicking the vsix file.

I want to thank you as this article was a very good start to solve our problem.

All the best, Dan Vasilescu

Answer 2

I had the same Issue and made some deep investigation. In my case it was odd, that my extension always shown as "Download" in the Private Gallery instead as "Installed" (the Green Hook). So I guessed there is a missing Link between the Gallery item and the installed Item

The answer is as simple as annoying:

The ID has to be "THE ID". So the Product ID (in the VSIX Configuration) is the reference which has to be in the Atom-File.

In Your case:

<Vsix>
    <Id>b242c6de-d0a6-4ba1-9672-b866e36607d3</Id>
</Vsix>

As you see: Withyout your "MyVSIX..". After that it will recognize your Extension and if installed also hide the "Download" Button within the Gallery

For Update:

It's enough if you increase the < Version > Content.

For The Update Cycle (my experience):

• It checks on start of the Visual Studio (once Daily, if in Option enabled)
• It checks every time you open the "Extensions and Updates". So reopen after a save of the XML should be enough.

EDIT: (thanks for the Upvote)

Here the Pictures for better understaning (made in VS2013, but almost same for VS2012)

The ID in the VSIX File.

How it should look like in the Atom-Feedfile.

<Vsix>
    <Id>d4d50729-a612-4260-9b2e-3a61ad5e2207</Id>
</Vsix>   

How it should look if you correctly linked between Gallery and VSIX File.

Answer 3

it looks like VS only checks for updates once a day, but I wasn't able to get it to detect an updated extension in an Atom gallery.