i'm having problems with publishing an app to be run via clickonce.

if i manage to publish the app it all works perfectly.

i've set up both the"publish location" and the "installation url" to point to the correct paths.

the publish location is set to a drive letter pointing to a UNC share:

y:\builds\app\ (where y: is //server/dev$)

and the installationurl is set to a virtual directory which resolves to the same folder on the server (wrong slashes to stop link):

http:\\server\dev\builds\app\

however, if i try to publish the app using the defaults (right click on the project and choose "Publish", finish) it tries to publish the app to:

<local.approot>\bin\<buildmode>\app_version

and protests that it can't.

if i use the publish wizard, the "publish location" is remembered, but the"installation url" is consistently blank.

sometimes even if, using the wizard, i fill in both with the correct paths it still exhibits the aberrant behaviour described above.

many thanks in advance,

e.

exotericist,

Based on your post, you would like to set both Publish Folder Location" and "Installation Folder Location" from a UNC path or file share in your ClickOnce deployment. I would like to provide you the suggestions as follows:

1. The default "Publish Location" is published as "Local IIS" like http://localhost/yourApp/. The default "Installation Location" is blank and from Website that you need to specify the URL. Please open the "Properties" of the project, choose "Publish" Tab, then you can change the both path in the configuration. In your project, you need to choose "File System" option and make the correct folder to deploy.

2. The Installation URL is the actual deployment url that the program uses to find and download new versions. It is only different from the Publishing location if, as I do, you wish to first publish files to a local location and then xcopy them to the actual deployment site.

Each published version needs to be self-contained and complete (in a separate version folder). ClickOnce preserves the earlier versions so that the user can rollback an update if it proves buggy.

For further information, please take a look at the thread Publishing Location, Installation URL, Update Location with the reply by bschaldon.

3. You can consider to use Manifest Generation and Editing Tool, Graphical Client (MageUI.exe). I would like to provide you an example on the issue:

Walkthrough: Deploying a ClickOnce Application Manually

If you do not use Visual Studio regularly, need to automate the deployment process, or need to use advanced deployment features such as Trusted Application Deployment, you should use the Mage.exe command-line tool to create your ClickOnce manifests. The walkthrough takes you through all of the steps required to generate a full ClickOnce deployment using either the command-line version (Mage.exe) or the Windows Forms version (MageUI.exe) of the Manifest Generation and Editing Tool.

Hope that can help you.

i don't have IIS running locally. IIS is running on the server from which the users run the application.

the application is always run online only, there is no offline content.

i don't understand what this sentence means.

i've changed both paths, and they are as i'd like them. however, using the publish wizard or the "publish now" button, VS forgets what i've specified for the "installation url". in the publish wizard the field is blank, or if i use the publish now button it tries to publish the application to a subfolder of the current build folder.

i can't see the "file system" option on the "properties" pages.

while this is undoubtedly informative, i don't see how it is relevant.

the link doesn't work. i can't see how to search the forums for a particular post, either.

thanks for the pointer, i feel sure this will come in useful. unattended builds are something i fully intend to implement.

many thanks,

e.

this is a known problem with VS2005, which has to do with changing from one build profile to another. were you unaware of this?

exotericist,

The default Publishing Folder Location is http://localhost/ProjectName/and you can also find the setup.exe file and ProjectName.Application file in C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProjectName directory except the \bin\ folder mentioned. This is just like publishing the website and you will install it from the web browser. In my opinion, it is publishedas Local IIS site.

It is better to change the default Publishing Folder Location to the file system location in order to make your deployment application before publish.

so what? i'm trying to change the defaults.

setup.exe? i've explained three times already that this is online only.

i don't see that this is relevant.

this sounds like you're giving me advice. unfortunately i don't understand what you mean.

are you telling me that the way i am trying to publish it is wrong?

are you telling me to publish to a different place?

or are you simply telling me that this bit of Visual Studio is broken and I just have to get used to it?

many thanks for your time,

e.