We have several applications within our company that we deploy via clickonce. However, these applications are deployed in multiple locations, and are hooked up to webservices/databases locally to the deployment (i.e. If we deploy to Aberdeen, we set up a DB in Aberdeen, and the appropriate application webservice is published there too).

Currently, when we deploy we have to remember to change the webservice reference to the appropriate URL, and change it for each deployment. Since this is a manual process, you can imagine that its prone to human error.

Is there any way to set up clickonce so that it has a knowledge of what the settings should be separately?

I had considered writing a VS addon that would allow you to set up multiple deployment URL's, and allow settings to be modified for each URL, however I've had severe difficulty in finding resources about writing VS addins (If anyone knows of a great resource to start this off, I would be highly appreciative).

The only other way I can think of is to do something like:

    Friend ReadOnly Property wsTest() As wsTest.Service
        Get
            If _wsTest Is Nothing Then
                _wsTest = New ws_ActiveDirectory.Service
            End If

            If System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed Then
                Dim URL As String = System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.ActivationUri.AbsoluteUri

                Dim ServiceURL As String = My.Settings("ServiceURL_" & URL).ToString

                _wsTest.URL = ServiceURL

            End If

            Return _wsTest
        End Get
    End Property

I could use a Hashtable property to do the same, but you get the idea. This looks clumsy though, so I was wondering if there is a better method of doing this?

Thanks
Fergal

I can't think of a way to do it in a completely automated process. You can put them in separate config files and then make sure you deploy the right config file, you could hardcode the whole list and then comment out just the one you're using, etc., etc. You could put a central file on the local server and look for it, but then you have to change the server you look for, right?

Have you tried the code you listed above? Is the deployment URL's server the same as the web service url's server?

We did something like this with post-build commands -- we copied one of two files depending on whether it was a debug or release configuration. I don't know if the deployment URL is available in the post-build commands, but it's an idea you could check out.

I'll mull this over; If I have any brilliant ideas, I'll let you know.

RobinDotNet