Hi,

I am planning to deploy a C# WindowsApplication, this application uses a bunch of dll librariesmade in C# as well.

My question is:
How can I update those dll files regularly?

I have been told that Visual Studio .NET 2005 already has some tools for this.

NOTE: The new dll updates will be in the same LAN (intranet) as the computers with the C# Windows Application, so that, I may not need a server (I don't have one anyway). I was thinking to use a folder on a network drive. I may figure out a way of xcoping files and overwriting the oldones and so on. But, my question in any case is about if Visual Studio .NET already has tools for this scenario.

Thanks,
Enrique.

You could still use a ClickOnce app to update the dll's, and control how frequently you run it to pick up updates. If you wanted to know if there was an update and ask the user, you could either read the application file yourself and parse it for the version, or store it in a database and read it (although that would have to be updated manually, which is not a good model).

RobinDotNet

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Click here to visit my ClickOnce blog!

You might look into ClickOnce deployment, but that is designed for full application updates.

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Mitchel Sellers, C# MVP - http://www.mitchelsellers.com

What would be nice is that once that the new dlls are available, the software itself should notify the user that there is an update and if he/she would like to install it. After accepting the new dlls should replace the old ones automatically.

You could write a deployment that has a windows form and the dll's that you are using. When the user runs it, it copies the dll's to wherever you want them. You could deploy this with ClickOnce, and have the main application run it at startup. So the main application would start up, firing off the ClickOnce application.

The ClickOnce application would then check for an update, update if needed, and then run, which would copy the files (whether new or old, though) to the other folder. You could actually check ApplicationDeployment.IsFirstRun, which is only true when the app has been updated, and not copy the files unless it's true. The copy from the downloaded cache to where you want the files would run so fast, the form would never show (and of course you could make it not visible).

RobinDotNet

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Click here to visit my ClickOnce blog!

thaks for your reply,
the problem is that i would like to update the dlls not only on the first time that the app runs. i would like to update the dlls in regular times, maybe once per month, so that, the all automatically would check if the dlls are new, then show a message to the user and the user would choose to update at that time or later on

best regards,

You could still use a ClickOnce app to update the dll's, and control how frequently you run it to pick up updates. If you wanted to know if there was an update and ask the user, you could either read the application file yourself and parse it for the version, or store it in a database and read it (although that would have to be updated manually, which is not a good model).

RobinDotNet

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Click here to visit my ClickOnce blog!

Hi Kikeman,

The following MSDN will be helpful to you:

"How to:Manage Updates for a ClickOnce Application"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/1zyc39fb(VS.80).aspx

"How to: Check for Application Updates Programmatically Using the ClickOnce Deployment API"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms404263(VS.80).aspx

"How ClickOnce Performs Application Updates"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms404267.aspx

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Linda Liu

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