I am working on a little side project that happens to be a smart client application and I have gotten around to working out how to deploy and update the application. I have used the Application Updater block in the past and it worked out well, but that is supposed to be replaced by ClickOnce in .NET 2.0. So I started looking into ClickOnce but didn’t really like what I found.
I don’t want to deploy the application directly from the web. I want to have the user download and install an .msi file (or execute it from a CD, etc). This gives me more flexibility into what is installed (I need to switch some resource file settings, etc). More importantly this application is targeted at people who are not very computer savy, so the extra warnings that come with ClickOnce web deployment would scare or confuse them. There are also some limitations around Firefox support (which have been partially alleviated, but still complicate things).
All I really want is something to perform automatic updates, and as far as I can tell there isn’t a way to use the ClickOnce automatic updates framework without deploying your application using ClickOnce.
This is where ClickThrough comes to the rescue. ClickThrough is an extension to the WiX toolkit that makes it very easy to update applications on the fly, similar to the Application Updater Block, but actually uses an RSS feed to check for updates! Its part of WiX v3 which means it is still under development, but I am going to give it a shot anyway.
I haven’t actually gotten it all working yet, but so far it looks very promising.
-James
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Not usre if you realise, but you can ship a clickonce installation on a CD. You can also custom boostrap any MSI you want into the installation process….
I couldn’t find any information on how to distribute a click-once application through normal means (downloading a file and running it locally) and still get the automatic update benefits. Could you point me to that info?
I am very interested in hearing about your experience with ClickThrough as we are going to be needing something similar soon.
Hi
try this: msdn2.microsoft.com/…/31kztyey.aspx&l />
the properties to set are on the publish tab (& update button) under project properties in vs2005.
HTH
James,
Did you manage to get ClickThrough working in the end? If so, how well did it work for you? TIA
I gave up on it and went back to ClickOnce, I haven’t tried ClickThrough since then. At the time it seemed kind of half-baked.
Give me example please
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