Change Clickonce cache directory

Question

We have been using ClickOnce deployment for some time now and all has been fine until recently. We have one of our clients that is now deleting their clients Documents and Settings directories which inturn is totally erasing our clickonce cache. From what I have seen, there is no way of setting an alternate location for this, but many of my references online were from 2005.

I was hoping someone may be able to provide a definitive answer as to whether or not they have changed this and there is a way to change the installation directory and if not, do you have any recommendation where I may be able to find a solution to this problem.

In then end, we would like the same Clickonce functionality regarding auto updates, however a way of letting the user choose where they want to install their files to. Any info would be great! Thanks!!

Dan

Answer 1

I found a post that seems to ask the same question as you do, and according to the answers it received, it is not possible to set the destination folder of a ClickOnce application.

Anyway, I think it's a reasonable assumption to make when developing an application for a client that the application data folder will not be deleted on an ad-hoc basis (unless this is a condition that has been known during the requirement gathering of the project).

If this client of yours doesn't have a very specific (and good) reason to remove the app data folders, I think you should just explain that "no, that's not going to work with our solution".