Publishing a Managed Packaged Extension in the AppExchange

Question

If I create a managed package extension and want to list that on the AppExchange, Im assuming the end user would need to have the Base Package first installed in their org.

Is there a way where you can note this dependency in the AppExchange?

Use Case:

1. Base Package - Bundled up in Dev Org 1
2. Package Extension - Bundled in a different Dev Org (2)

If we listed our managed package extension/solution and if an end user ends up browsing the AppExchange store and saw this Package Extension what would happen when they try to Install it in their env?

Would it fail because they haven't yet installed the base package? Would it let them know about this dependency? Is it possible to bundle up both the base and extension into 1 listing?

Answer 1

If I create a managed package extension and want to list that on the AppExchange, Im assuming the end user would need to have the Base Package first installed in their org.

That is correct.

Is there a way where you can note this dependency in the AppExchange?

No, other than your free-text fields.

If we listed our managed package extension/solution and if an end user ends up browsing the AppExchange store and saw this Package Extension what would happen when they try to Install it in their env? Would it fail because they haven't yet installed the base package?

Yes, it will.

Would it let them know about this dependency?

Kind of. The error message will point to the missing dependency, but it's not exactly user-friendly. It won't, for example, point the user to your base package listing; it'll just say "You have to have Package X".

Is it possible to bundle up both the base and extension into 1 listing?

No.

We (Salesforce.org) use MetaDeploy (docs) to deliver multi-package products for this reason. It's a free and open source tool you can run in your Heroku account to provide installs. We point all of our AppExchange listings to MetaDeploy as an external installation URL.

In case it wasn't clear, I'm on the team at Salesforce that builds this tool.