Side-by-Side Manifest Maker

Side-by-Side Manifest Maker History - continued

Bug fixes:

signtool.exe path setting did not work right. You may need to reselect this path, if you configured it previously.
tlbexp.exe path setting did not become effective immediately upon accepting the dialog.
CLR assembly ComVisibleAttribute was ignored.
CLR Class ComVisibleAttribute was incorrectly processed which caused wrong <clrClass> elements in the manifest file.
Added new information on using the activation context API.

The ASP.Net 2.0 HTTP module example included with Manifest Maker has a bug. This has been corrected in the latest version of Manifest Maker installation.
The online documentation and the downloadable help file are also updated.

A side-by-side security hotfix is now available from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms06-075.mspx
A Vista-related problem with Windows XP side-by-side has been fixed:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921337/en-us

New: Visual Studio 2005 integration. Build manifests in Visual Studio 2005. Read more...
Improved: Command line manifest building got better. Learn how to use the command line Manifest Maker in your own projects and diverse build environments. Read more...
Fixed: Setup failed to create Start menu shortcuts; manifest build sometimes failed with error "COM not initialized", other minor errors fixed.

Added ASP .Net 2.0 information. Learn how to isolate ASP .Net 2.0 web applications' use of COM. Read more...
Simplified the shared assembly MSI file. Shared assemblies built by Manifest Maker are now packaged in a simpler MSI file with no superfluous dialogs.
External build process. Manifest Maker now loads project DLLs into a separate process. Some DLLs perform unexpected actions when loaded into the process and can destabilize the main program. This is no longer a problem with Manifest Maker.

Added command line project builder. Manifest Maker now includes a command line project build tool. Read more...
Now using the latest SDK tools. Some SDK tools changed or are no longer distributed by Microsoft. This version of Manifest Maker uses the current tools. Note that Manifest Maker tries to locate the necessary tools as needed. In case this does not work you may need to manually configure tool paths using the Build / Options / Paths dialog. Read more...

Added path auto-complete in program dialogs. All edit boxes where a path is expected now offer path auto-complete.
Fixed minor bugs. Manifest Maker did not allow using the root of a drive as a project target directory. Build options were not effective immediately after executing File / New menu option. File paths were sometimes incorrectly parsed.

Added 'Automatic' button in the manifest build error dialog. Manifest Maker can now automatically fix more build errors. Whenever the error can be fixed automatically a new button, Automatic, is available in addition to other choice buttons.
Improved duplicate ProgID error correction. Detection and correction of duplicate ProgID's has been improved. Read more...

Feature added: manifests for CLR (.Net) classes. Windows XP sp1 and Windows 2003 Server include support for using CLR (.Net) classes without registration. Manifest Maker can now build special manifests. Read more...
New manifest features now supported. Windows XP sp2 (or SP1 with hotfix 843524) implements new miscStatus attribute that may be required to properly render some ActiveX controls. Manifest Maker now supports all attributes listed in KB article 828629. If you need to target Windows XP sp1 without this hotfix, you may choose to temporarily disable this attribute. Read more...
Program paths property page added. While building manifests Manifest Maker needs to run various tools. Version 2.4 makes it easier to configure tools' paths. Read more...

Top requested feature added: relative paths. Manifest Maker can now locate project files using relative paths. Read more...
Minor change in program graphics. We had reports that some of the toolbar buttons did not display clearly on some machines and were confusing. This release updates some of the buttons with new graphics. Read more...
Bug fixed. Manifest Maker displayed an empty list of shared assemblies after Visual Studio 2005 was installed on the machine.

Manifest Maker is now digitally signed. You can now be assured that the copy you download is authentic and not damaged. Read more... Cannot verify the signature? Read more...
Full Unicode support. Manifest Maker is now built as a 100% Unicode application.
Unicode manifest support. Manifest Maker now reads both UTF-8 and UTF-16 LE (little-endian Unicode) manifests. Output manifests are written as UTF-8.

New program graphics. New, high color, icons and buttons.
Simpler license distribution. Program license is now distributed as a plain text file (sxs32mm.license) that just needs to be copied to the program directory. No extra processing is necessary.
Separated user and machine preferences. User settings now default to machine settings (HKLM) but can be overridden by the user (HKCU).
Fixed minor bugs. A few non-critical bugs were fixed.

Based on the generous feedback and cooperation of our customers we added the following functionality:

Private assembly library. If you package private assemblies as merge modules you can now arrange them in a library and use that library while building application side-by-side manifests. Use the new Cleanup button to clean up the library manifests from your destination directory.
It is now possible to override default file handling. You can force Manifest Maker to always move or always copy project files. Manifest Maker will perform safety checks and will change move to a copy whenever source files are in Windows directory or in any subdirectory.
New 'Add All Files' button. You can now add all suitable files to your project with a single click of the button.

Brand new clean, uncluttered interface. Large ListViews display detailed information about the status and intended use of all project files.
The whole project can now be built with a single click. The new Auto mode builds a private assembly out of all suitable files in the project then builds an application manifest for all programs in the project.
Auto-Fix technology. Manifest Maker can now automatically fix many errors and almost all errors can be fixed with a single click.
Automatic detection of private assemblies available for the project in the target directory. No more hunting for manifest files, just choose from a list.
Unrestricted selection of build-time items. You can now use DLLs, private assemblies and shared assemblies during manifest building. No more manual setting up of the build environment for those more pesky products.

Support for all builds of version 1 of Manifest Maker was phased out as of October 31, 2004. We no longer support version 1.

Manifest Maker Links
Click here for the introduction to side-by-side technology.
Manifest Maker help is available online.
How to build manifests with Visual Studio 2010.
Planning corporate deployment using side-by-side? Read this quick guide.
Isolating web applications? ASP .Net 1.x? ASP .Net 2.0? Read more...
Generate manifest reports. Read more...
Buy your license online. Check Manifest Maker pricing.
Request your free evaluation license online.
Download the latest version.