date limit on beta version

[gordon]

Hi

I am ready to publish a small application in Beta - however I would like to
control the life of the beta version. So that I can release the production
version when there is a zero bug count.

Is there a simple way to do this? I imagine that putting a check that looks
at the system date would be the idea method, and to put this in the form
load part.

Any alternatives? examples of code would be useful too.

Thanks

doug

 

[Laurent Bugnion]

Hi,

Hi

I am ready to publish a small application in Beta - however I would like to
control the life of the beta version. So that I can release the production
version when there is a zero bug count.

Is there a simple way to do this? I imagine that putting a check that looks
at the system date would be the idea method, and to put this in the form
load part.

Any alternatives? examples of code would be useful too.

Thanks

doug

If you deploy your application using ClickOnce, there is a possibility
to force a version check when the application is started, and you can
specifiy a minimum version for the application.

The solution you describe will work. However, it's not very secure. By
decompiling your code and looking at it, a potential pirate will know
that he simply has to change the PC's date to make it work. Of course,
it's sufficient in most of the cases. You must now decide if it's secure
enough for you.

HTH,
Laurent

 

[gordon]

Hi Laurent

My app is free and most of my users are social researchers. I don't mind
giving people my code too - but I don't want too many people to use a
version indefinately that may have bugs. My intention is to 'force' the
upgrade to the final version.

I haven't used click once - where can I get it? Is it part of VS2005?

my code so far is :

public DateTime Date2 = System.Convert.ToDateTime("3/3/2007");

public DateTime Date1 = System.Convert.ToDateTime(DateTime.Now);



I am now tryng to work out how to check that date1 is less than date2.



doug

 

[Stephany Young]

So that it is completely unambiguous in relation to regional settings I
would recommend:

if (DateTime.Now < New DateTime(2007, 3, 3))
{
//Allow program to run
}
else
{
//Do not allow program to run
}

If you have that early in your void Main() then on the the 4th of March
2007, the program won't run.

However, if the program is started before the 4th of March 2007 and is still
running when the date changes to the 4th, the current running instance of
the program will continue to run.

 

[Laurent Bugnion]

Hi Gordon,

Hi Laurent

My app is free and most of my users are social researchers. I don't mind
giving people my code too - but I don't want too many people to use a
version indefinately that may have bugs. My intention is to 'force' the
upgrade to the final version.

I would really give ClickOnce a good look. It's a really easy way to
deploy an application. However, it has restrictions:

- Installation is on a per-user basis, you cannot install for all users
- You cannot modify the registry when you install
- The installer works only with Internet Explorer.

It's a very easy way to install simple apps.

I haven't used click once - where can I get it? Is it part of VS2005?

Yes. Choose the menu option "Build / Publish <your application name>".
Then you must choose a path (The one that works best for me is over FTP
to my web server).

To set the minimum version, use the Project properties, then "Publish /
Updates". This opens a box allowing you to specify that the application
should check for updates, when it should do it, and what's the minimum
version required.

If you want to see how ClickOnce installation works for the user, you
can try and instally the WPF demo application I made a while back.
http://www.galasoft-lb.ch/mydotnet/GalaSoftLb.Wpf.Demo/index.html

Direct URL to install:
http://www.galasoft-lb.ch/mydotnet/GalaSoftLb.Wpf.Demo/published/win/GalaSoftLb.Wpf.Demo.application

More info about ClickOnce:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa497348.aspx

HTH,
Laurent