I am switching an app over to .NET 2.0 (VS 2005) because (1) I want to
use the advanced features, and (2) I want to use ClickOnce to
distribute the Windows Form app. Previously I have been using a
custom-built solution to auto-update the app. This has worked OK, but
needs some further development - And ClickOnce really looked slick!
However, after playing around with ClickOnce I am seeing some
disturbing limitations. For instance, the app I've developed and
constantly updated uses dynamic loading to load various DLLs (in
separate prjects) - this allows our team to work independently on
'their' particular functionality (i.e. their DLL) without modifying or
loading the entire project. (This Windows Forms project contains 50+
forms, many DLLs, etc - it is a large project). However, with ClickOnce
there doesn't seem to be any way to 'specify' other files to be
included with the project within the base GUI - i.e. other DLLs that
might reside in other projects. I even tried creating a 'base' solution
that contains ALL of the necessary projects in the system - but even
then ClickOnce only 'saw' the DLLs in it's main project - not the other
ones. Plus, I need to include other items - XML files, ReadMe's, etc -
and ClickOnce makes it hard or impossible to include these unless they
reside completely in the main project. And finally, can ClickOnce only
create ONE shortcut icon - i.e. to the main application? What if I
wanted to also create a desktop shortcut, or a 'Read Me' shortcut?
I know, I know, ClickOnce is not a full-blown installer app - I do have
and use Wise for Windows Installer to install our app the first time,
then use the custom solution to install the updates. But ClickOnce
seems much cleaner, is easier for autoupdating, and I thought ClickOnce
would have a little more power than it does. I also know I can run
another MS supplied GUI (I forget the name of it now) to add files
afterward to ClickOnce, but that seems like overkill.
Sooo... Here are my questions (Finally!): (1) Is there any solutions
for the above issues with ClickOnce? And (2) If not, is there any other
auto update solution for VS 2005 apps? I don't think the Updater
Application Block was ported over to VS 2005 because of the inclusion
of ClickOnce, so I don't see that as a solution. There have got to be
other solutions out there for VS 2005 that provide auto updating of
rich clients, but I just don't see them.
Thanks in advance (and sorry for the long post).
Tom
--