Make compiling force install the compiled esriAddinX, even if it is an older version.

FanisDeligiannis

I am working on multiple git branches of the same Add In. Some of them are left in a previous version in the config daml. When switching to an older branch and compiling on visual studio, the addin is not installed.

Instead, I need to find the esriAddinX file and manually install it, and press yes when it asks me if I'm sure I want to overwrite the existing version with an older one.

If I don't do that, ArcGIS will install with whatever version I had previously installed.

I feel like compiling from visual studio should install the compiled addin 100% of the time no matter what. And if it can't, for whatever reason, it should throw an error and not open ArcGIS. Opening it on an previously installed version without warning, should not be intended behavior

StephenRhea_NV5 · ‎02-09-2024

I definitely see your point and agree that it should be implemented; there are a couple of workarounds you can try in the meantime instead of manually installing the esriAddinX file:

In Visual Studio, instead of using the Build command, you can Clean first or always run Rebuild. The Esri SDK extension uninstalls the add-in with those commands.
You could add the uninstall command line call to the pre-build event (shown below) to force the uninstallation. This seems like the ideal way Esri would implement it.