Understanding Package Delivery Modes of an App Volumes Application Package Using Horizon Cloud

In Horizon Cloud, some users might infrequently use business-critical applications. You can deliver such applications to the user only when necessary. This self-service like capability helps you set the delivery mode for each application package when creating the package and change this mode when editing the package.

The two types of package delivery modes are: Classic and On-demand. By default, package delivery mode is set to Classic.

In the default (Classic) behavior, any assigned application is delivered to an end user either at computer startup or user login even when the application is not immediately required by the end user. To deliver an application only when the user has a need for the application, you can use the on-demand delivery mode.

When an administrator selects the delivery mode of a package as On-demand, only shortcuts of the application are displayed to the end user in the Start menu or on the desktop. When an end user opens the shortcut, the application volume is delivered to the end user, virtualized, and launched. During virtualization, the App Volumes on-demand shortcuts for the application are replaced with the shortcuts of the application. If an application takes a few seconds longer to launch, a message box is displayed to the end user indicating that the application delivery is in progress.

Criteria for Delivering an On-demand Application Package

For an application package to be delivered as on-demand to the end user, there are a few eligibility criteria:

• Ensure that you have installed the Horizon Agent Installer build 23.1.0.21387799 and later.

  If an end user logs into an agent computer which is installed with an earlier version of the Horizon Agent Installer and the end user is entitled with an application as On-demand, then the package is not delivered to the end user.

• The application programs installed during the packaging process must have shortcuts.

  In addition to the OS-Installed applications, App Volumes application shortcuts are listed in the Add or Edit Multi-Session Pool Group page. To make an App Volumes application available as published application in the pool group, an administrator must select the desired application shortcut from this list.

  For more information about creating a multi-session pool group, see Create a Multi-Session Pool Group.

Characteristics of an Application Package delivered as On-demand

Some of the characteristics of an application package delivered as on-demand are as follows:

• Shortcut of the application assigned to a user is visible only to that user.

• Package attachment for an application delivered as on-demand occurs only after the end user launches the simulated shortcut of the application.

• File Type Association

  For existing packages, administrators must update the package to capture the file type association data within the package.

  • For a few applications which show context menu items, for example: 7-Zip, App Volumes agent shows only an entry point to deliver the application. The entry point displayed to the end user in the context menu is the name configured in the App Volumes - Finalize Package window during packaging. After the application is delivered to the end user, the entry point is replaced with the application-specific menu items.

  • OLE and COM, Preview Handlers, TypeLibs that are dynamic in nature are not available prior to the user launching the on-demand shortcut of the application.

  • End users can use App Paths to deliver the applications on demand.

    For example: An end user can use winword.exe to open the Microsoft Word application, where winword.exe is an App Path. For more information about App Paths, see the relevant Microsoft documentation.

  • If an administrator configures an application as on-demand which has cascaded sub-menus and other features such as shortcuts, file type associations, and App Paths then the end user can view the cascaded sub-menu only when the application package is delivered.

  • During packaging, App Volumes stores static text in the language of the operating system used in the packaging machine. If the package supports multi-language and the OS language used in the end user's agent computer is different from that used in the packaging machine, then the end user might see application names, tool tips, file descriptions, and other text elements in the OS language used in the packaging machine.

For information about how to create a package, see Add an App Volumes Application Using Horizon Cloud.