Hello, I have a .NET 2.0 Winforms client application that I need to build and deploy to numerous staff members (all are on the internal network). The application will have regular enhancements and hence installing on each individual machine every time a batch of enhancements have been built is not really an option. I want to put the executable on a network drive and simply create a shortcut on each staffs desktop pointing to that executable so that whenever enhancements are to become available, I can simply overwrite the execuable all of the desktop shortcuts are pointing to.

My question is how best to achieve this (using VS2005 to build the app) and whether this is a reasonable strategy (our internal network link speed is around 1GB)

Many thanks

Travis

Having a web page with the ClickOnce URL sounds like what you want to do. An MSI setup doesn't seem like a good fit for what you want to do.

Having a web page with the ClickOnce URL sounds like what you want to do. An MSI setup doesn't seem like a good fit for what you want to do.

Thanks for the reply Phil

From what you're saying, for aWinforms app (note that the bulk of it has already been written) that will be used regularly and enhanced regularlyyou would recommend the first optionon the ClickOnce Deployment Strategy page :-

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/71baz9ah(VS.80).aspx

Specifically "Install from the Web or a Network Share" (as opposed to the third option mentioned "Start the application from the Web or a Network Share")

As far as the software updates you would recommend the first option on the ClickOnce Update Strategy page :-

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s22azw1e(VS.80).aspx

Specifically "checking for updates on application startup"

As far as the user experience is concerned I am interested in how scalable this is - i.e. is the time greatly affected by the check each time the application is started and as the application grows will that wait become significantly longer and longer

Many thanks

Travis

I'm not a ClickOnce guru so I don't really have a feel for the performance, but yes, that sounds like what you need. Checking after application startup sounds like the effect of the background update check is minimal. In general, ClickOnce seems to fit your requirements really well, so worrying about performance before you know it's an issue might be premature.

There are security considerations. The app runs in a sandbox so by default it has limited access to the system.