Publish, ClickOnce

[Ryan Liu]

hi,

I like the Publish function comes with VS2008.

But 3 questions remain: how to make update path to be flexiable? Because I
will give those updates to my cutomers, and different cutomer will use
differnt server/shard path.

And after install on client machine, where does it copy all files? Because I
have a configure file need user to modify it. Each cutomer has hundrends
of users.

So the next question, which is not as important , how to install this file
in original package but should not be updated?

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Marc Gravell]

But 3 questions remain: how to make update path to be flexiable?
his is burned into the manifest; if you want to use ClickOnce, I'd
simply setup a build script that build it <n> times with different
values. You can't change the manifest by hand without triggering the
security checks.

And after install on client machine, where does it copy all files?

ClickOnce "installs" (not quite the right word) into a special area
under the user's profile - somewhere like:
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Apps\2.0

Because I have a configure file need user to modify it.

If you mean the user-settings file, then fine; probably easiest to
edit via code, though.
If they edit any of the core files, there is a very good chance that
ClickOnce will refuse to run it; there is a security hash stored with
the files, and any mismatches are considered terminal. There may be
ways to disable this for specific files, but I've never had cause to
look...

Of course, you could solve this and the "not be updated" issue at the
same time by handling this file manually somewhere *else* in the
user's profile - if it doesn't exist yet, then copy the master from
the ClickOnce folder, otherwise just load the user's file and ignore
the ClickOnce version - then it doesn't matter if the master gets
updated.

Marc

 

[Ryan Liu]

Marc, Thanks! And

his is burned into the manifest; if you want to use ClickOnce, I'd
simply setup a build script that build it <n> times with different
values. You can't change the manifest by hand without triggering the
security checks.

ClickOnce "installs" (not quite the right word) into a special area
under the user's profile - somewhere like:
%userprofile%\Local Settings\Apps\2.0

Then this might be a problem, another user log in then won't see the
application.

If you mean the user-settings file, then fine; probably easiest to
edit via code, though.
If they edit any of the core files, there is a very good chance that
ClickOnce will refuse to run it; there is a security hash stored with
the files, and any mismatches are considered terminal. There may be
ways to disable this for specific files, but I've never had cause to
look...

Yes, just an .ini file for user to set.

 

[Marc Gravell]

Then this might be a problem, another user log in then won't see the

application.

Correct. If you want all-users install, I'd use an msi. One feature of
the ClickOnce approach is that it allows the user to install even on
locked-down PCs, where they can't run standard (system-wide)
installers. Swings / roundabouts...

Marc