I am wondering if it is possible to enable the "smart" updating features of ClickOnce on an application that would require at least an initial installation with Windows Installer?
Thanks
MacKenzie
However, this is not the "windows installer" you mentioned. I don't know if this helps at all either. The setup package is created though and would work very similarly to a windows installer, at least from the method of install point of view. Keep in mind that it doesn't install for all users and has all the other limitations that ClickOnce has.
In Beta2, there is not a great way to manually install a ClickOnce application using a Windows Installer package. Safest way I can think of is to write a custom action that shell executes the url to the ClickOnce application; however, the user may need to click through the standard ClickOnce trust dialogs.
In RTM, we will be opening up an API under System.Deployment which will allow you to programmatically install your ClickOnce app (without showing UI). When that's available, you can invoke it from a custom action in a Windows Installer package.
Cheers,
-Patrick
I have been searching the net for post regarding using Windows Installer and "smart" updating. This is the closest post to the same problem I have.
I main reason I have to use Windows Installer is because there are a couple of assemblies that need to go into the GAC. However, once the app is installed, I would like to update it via "smart" updating. I noticed that System.deployment exposes quite a bit, but how do I use this? All the examples I looked at tests for "IsNetworkDeployed" which I assume comes back as false for apps installed via Windows installer.
Basically I need a self updating app that is installed via Windows Installer. how do i do that?
Thanks,
Shawn
Well Shawn here is what I have found. Basically you have 2 choices, which are kind of similar really. You can use the UpdaterApplicaitonBlock which is a pre-written code library that will update your applicaitons. Now I never could get it to work to my satisfaction. Just as a disclaimer, that may be my fault. The other option is to write a bootstrap updater of your own. Basically write you own UpdaterApplicationBlock. All any updater really is, is a program that executes before your "main" application does. This bootstrap applicaiton checks for new version, downloads, and copies them where they need to go then starts your "main" applicaiton. There are several articles online that explain how to accomplish the various parts of this. Post if you have any more questions or you can email me
Thanks
Kenzie
