Exe files on several computers

[TonyJ]

Hello!

We have an exe file that is used by several persons. This exe file is
located on their local computer and is called reports.exe. If a new version
is created and the person that is using this exe file is not here so we
can't put in the new version.

Is the best solution to this problem just to have the newest version of
report.exe on a file server. The user start a another exe file that check
the version on the file server report.exe with the local exe file report.exe
and if the file version of report.exe is newer than update(copy) the
report.exe from file server to the local computer.

Is there a better solution?

//Tony

 

[Marc Gravell]

Publish the project via ClickOnce onto a central server; then run each
client from that location (link to the .application file). When
executed using the standard "check before run" setup, it basically
says:
* has the user accepted this software? (the "click once")
* do they have it locally? (if not, copy from server)
* is it up to date? (if not, copy from server)
* execute local copy

This allows you to update the central server at any time, and all
users will get the new version automatically when they next run the
app. Sweet.

Marc

 

[TonyJ]

Hello!

We have only VS 2003. Is it possible to use ClickOnce in that version or do
I have to use my own way.

//Tony

 

[Marc Gravell]

Well, there is the update application block - but that can be a pain.
Personally I'd just upgrade to 2.0; for ref, you don't need VS 2005 -
see http://tinyurl.com/yrfb5l for MageUI approach if you only have
Express Edition (I *believe* this only uses SDK tools).

For exes, the upgrade to 2.0 is quite painless. Web projects saw most
of the breaking changes.

Marc

 

[TonyJ]

Hello!

From where can I get .NET 2.0?
Is this feature ClickOnce also possible to use for windows forms?

//Tony

 

[Marc Gravell]

Frameworks 2.0 and 3.0 (actually just additional dlls that run in the
2.x engine) are availble from MS

ClickOnce is primarily designed for windows forms

Marc

 

[Ignacio Machin \( .NET/ C# MVP \)]

Hi,

| Hello!

|
| Is the best solution to this problem just to have the newest version of
| report.exe on a file server. The user start a another exe file that check
| the version on the file server report.exe with the local exe file
report.exe
| and if the file version of report.exe is newer than update(copy) the
| report.exe from file server to the local computer.

Well, if you move the app to a network location from where everybody will
run it all you have todo is upgrade it and automatically all the users will
have the updated version

 

[Robson Siqueira]

Why don't you transform this report into a web service? Then your client
application would access it always with the most up-to-date version.