Launching ClickOnce App from C#

Question

I'd like to be able to start a ClickOnce application from another executable. I know how to do this with the browser using Process.Start("http://PathToMyApp"). However, this is returning null for the Process. Therefore, I cannot check to ensure that the process has started or kill the process later.

How can I launch a click once application and get its Process Id and determine whether or not it launched successfully?

Answer 1

You have to find the shortcut for the ClickOnce application and do a process.start on that. Here's an example:

string shortcutName = 
  string.Concat(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Programs),
  "\\", PublisherName, "\\", ProductName, ".appref-ms");
process.Start(shortcutName);

where PublisherName and ProductName are those filled in on the Options dialog in the Publish tab for the application you want to start.

You can also pass arguments to a ClickOnce application if you start it this way, even if it's offline. Here is an article telling how to do that just in case you need that functionality as well.