How can we make a base program detect a program in an SVS layer?

Q:
Terry wrote: "I am responding to a message you had posted on Juice about an SVS package interaction with SharePoint. We came across
another similar problem of a base program that needs to detect a program in an SVS layer in order to work right. Can you point me in the right direction of how to overcome this problem?"

A:
The problem may be that the virtualized app normally does some sort of registration with the conventionally installed app. But since you're not running the install logic on the client, that doesn't happen.

Was the conventionally installed app you mention in the base on the packaging machine where the VSP was built? If so, and it still doesn't work, ideally you want to find out from the app vendor how the two apps interact.

Something we've run into is installs that modify XML config files for other apps that they are integrated with. The updated XML file with the info on the new app may get put into the layer with the new app. But since the other app still sees the pre-existing version of the XML config file (either in the base or in another layer), the pre-existing app never "knows" that the new app in the VSP got added. In this case, the solution is a couple of WiseScripts as OnEvent Actions. The first, OnPostActivate, edits the "real" version of the XML config file on initial activation (use a ref count so it doesn't run on every activation); the second, OnPreDelete, removes the changes when the VSP is deleted.

Do you use Wise Package Studio? If so, wrapping the vendor-provided install with a WiseScript to do the capture locally on the client is the "last resort" option that almost always works for things like this.