BarTender .net SDK and BarTender Version compatibility
Question
Will a custom application using our BarTender .NET SDK compiled using an older version be compatible with a newer version of BarTender?
Answer
When you develop an application using the .NET SDK, you are developing it for a specific version of the BarTender application. In the event that you're moving to a newer version of BarTender, generally your application will work with the newer version of BarTender. However, there are a few items and exceptions to be considered:
BarTender .NET SDK and backwards compatibility
BarTender v9.3 and earlier
In 9.3 or earlier, since the DLL’s are copied with the application, there wasn’t too much of an issue about setting up your application to work with an older version of BarTender, you’d just replace the Seagull.BarTender.Print.DLL in the /bin directory with the one from the older version. The only issue that you might run into is if you used something that wasn’t available in the older version it might cause an application crash.
** BarTender v9.3 is no longer a supported version.
BarTender v9.4 and higher
As of 9.4, since the DLL’s are referenced in the GAC (Global Assembly Cache) there’s no way to make the customer application work with a 9.3 or older version of BarTender without recompiling the application to the version of BarTender that you want to use it with.
Advice: You have to develop your application with the lowest BarTender version you intend to support, then if necessary make the appropriate changes for newer versions.
BarTender v2016 and higher
BarTender 2016 and higher offers both a 32 bit and 64 bit version. In addition, newer versions of BarTender are using a newer version of Microsoft .NET Framework. Therefore, please consider the following:
- Make sure you are using the same bit version (32 or 64 bit) of BarTender that your custom application is targeted for and compiled with. Otherwise, you will need to recompile the custom application with the bit version that matches the bit version of BarTender.
- Make sure your custom application is compiled for the Microsoft .NET Framework version used by BarTender.
- If you upgrade BarTender on your development system, you may also need to remove and re-add the references to the SDK in your project.