Configuring Dependent Applications Using the Application Utility

The Application Link utility keeps shared components or dependent applications in separate packages. In the Package.ini file, you can use the OptionalAppLinks and RequiredAppLinks entries to dynamically combine ThinApp packages at runtime on end‐user computers. This process enables you to package, deploy, and update component pieces separately and keep the benefits of application virtualization.

ThinApp can link up to 250 packages at a time. Each package can be any size. The links must point to the primary data container of a package.

Sandbox changes from linked packages are not visible to the base package. For example, you can install Acrobat Reader as a standalone virtual package and as a linked package to the base Firefox application. When you start Acrobat Reader as a standalone application by running the virtual package and you change the preferences, ThinApp stores the changes in the sandbox for Acrobat Reader. When you start Firefox, Firefox cannot detect those changes because Firefox has its own sandbox. Opening a .pdf file with Firefox does not reflect the preference changes that exist in the standalone Acrobat Reader application.