KB.12438 – Determine if your product uses the merged assembly model

Determining if your product uses the merged assembly model

To work around an issue with SharePoint solution deployment described in KB.12437 – Uninstalling or upgrading one Bamboo product causes another to stop working, some Bamboo products are packaged using a model that does not use shared assemblies. This new model is called the merged assembly model. If your Bamboo product uses this model, upgrading or uninstalling the product will not affect other Bamboo products in your farm. Products using the merged assembly model are also not affected by upgrading or removing other Bamboo products that don’t use the new model.

Note: All Bamboo products released for SharePoint 2010 use the merged assembly model.

If your product is already installed:

To check if an installed Bamboo product uses the merged assembly model, first locate the version information for your product:

If your product is a Web Part:

1. Select Modify Shared Web Part from the menu at the upper right corner of the Web Part. This menu is only accessible by users with authority to modify the page.
2. In the Web Part properties pane, scroll to the bottom and expand the About Web Part section. This will list the assemblies included with your product, along with each assembly’s version information. Your product may contain multiple assemblies.
3. If at least one assembly name in the list is Bamboo.ProductName.Core, your product is using the merged assembly model. If your product contains no assemblies ending in .Core, your product still uses shared assemblies and you may need to install the Shared Assemblies Library prior to upgrading or uninstalling any Bamboo product in your farm. See KB article 12439 for more information.

If your product is an Application or Solution Accelerator:

1. Go to the administration page for your product (consult your product documentation for specific instructions).
2. Click the link to view your product’s version information. This will list the assemblies included with your product, along with each assembly’s version information. Your product may contain multiple assemblies.
3. If at least one assembly name in the list is Bamboo.ProductName.Core, your product is using the merged assembly model. If your product contains no assemblies ending in .Core, your product still uses shared assemblies and you may need to install the Shared Assemblies Library prior to upgrading or uninstalling any Bamboo product in your farm. See KB.12439 – Install the Shared Assemblies Library for more information.

Alternative method for identifying file versions all products:

You can also check file versions directly in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC):

1. On your SharePoint server, navigate to %WINDIR%assembly (e.g., C:Windowsassembly).
2. Look for an assembly name called Bamboo.ProductName.Core. Your product may contain multiple assemblies.
3. If at least one assembly name for your product ends in .Core, your product uses the merged assembly model. If not, your product still uses shared assemblies and you may need to install the Shared Assemblies Library prior to upgrading or uninstalling any Bamboo product in your farm. See KB.12439 – Install the Shared Assemblies Library for more information.

From the product Setup screen:

If the Components list in your SharePoint 2007 product Setup screen contains an entry called Shared Assemblies Library, your product uses the new merged assembly model. If you are running Setup to upgrade from an older version of the same product, you may need to install the Shared Assemblies Library first. See KB.12439 – Install the Shared Assemblies Library for more information. SharePoint 2010 products will not contain this component, because all Bamboo products released for SharePoint 2010 use the merged assembly model and do not use shared assemblies.