I don't know where to post this question, I hope someone can help. :-) I am using VS 2008 Express Edition and to edit an build my VB app. I am very happy with it in general and ClickOnce definitely makes it easy to build an "install package" that handles all the dependencies such as Visual Basic Power Pack and .Net Framework. HOWEVER, I have run into issues related towhere and how the app gets installed on a client computer.Issues:
1.After an app has been installed on a client computer, how can an included file, specifically a Help file or software manual,later be updated/replaced without republishing the whole project?I want todeliver a pdf"operation manual" with my app (it can be opened via a Help menu item), soI included it as a file in the project, and on the publish tab, in Application Files, I have it set to Include (Auto). This works and I see the pdf in the final application installed directory. But, if later I need to supply an updated version of this manual, there is no straightforward way that I can see to instruct the client on where to store it on his computer. I am going about this wrong?
2. Client computers may not have internet access, so the published appwill be installed from a CD, USB drive, orperhaps a local hard drive. When I install an updated version of the app, I get an error, "You cannot start application XYZ from this location because it is already installed from a different location."Further details say I can uninstall the previous version and then reinstall, but I thought we were supposed to be able to have "side-by-side installs".

These issues have pushed me to considerbuying VS 2008 Standard Edition in the hope that I can have more control over the build process and resolve these issues.Is VS 2008 Standard Editionthe answer?

thank you,
Deb

For clickonce question, try its forum http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/threads
kaymaf

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I hope this helps, if that is what you want, just mark it as answer so that we can move on

Hi Deb,

1. It can't. You have to republish the whole project. A ClickOnce deployment is a package of files, and if you want to update any, you have to deploy the whole package. If the files are huge, you could shoot off a background thread in your application and download them using an http request, and then in the future have the application check to see if it needs to re-pull it, or something like that.

Also, with a ClickOnce app, you have write access to very few places (especially if you are using Vista.You cancopy the file from your deployment over to somewhere the user can get to it pretty simply. Something like thefollowing with get you the path to MyDocuments, where you could create a folder andstick it in there, then have your application access it from that location if needed. Plus, the user could find it independently of your application.

string userFilePath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.MyDocuments);

2. A ClickOnce application is partially defined by the installation path. So if you deploy it to a web server, you can't then copy the deployment to a file folder and install it from there. If you change the location of the deployment, then ClickOnce doesn't see it as the same application. If you want the user to copy it to a folder on the hard drive, then you need to deploy it to a folder of the same name and path on YOUR hard drive, so they look like they are installing it from the same folder you deployed it to.

If you want to have multiple versions of the same application installed (like test and production versions), you can do that; here is an article telling you how: http://robindotnet.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/clickonce-installing-multiple-versions-concurrently/

See if this provides you with the answers you need, and if not, please feel free to post back with more questions.

RobinDotNet

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