I'm looking for suggestions on keeping a program that is running on a network updated. Installation consists of 15 users, each have the program on their local pc, but they all access same date from sql server. I am looking for a clean method that would allow me to update one folder on the network and for each computer to get updated when they run the program and the programs sees a later ver on that folder on the network. (Obviously I can do this inside the program itself since it won't allow being overwritten while opened.)
+2
A:
You should have a look at
ClickOnce is a deployment technology that enables self-updating Windows-based applications that can be installed and run with minimal user interaction.
astander
2010-02-05 05:31:15
Yes, I think this is probably what I need. But it is confusing or overwhelming. Now what I do is I simply copy the Bin/Release folder on each computer (I have already made sure that .net 3.5, and other recquisites are either installed and registered or are in the release folder) so that all that needs to be done is to copy the changed files when I recompile (which is almost daily). But of course I don't want to go to each computer copy the files each time. When I run the clickonce/publish it creates this setup and all, and it is huge. What happends each time I make a small change?
bochur1
2010-02-05 17:05:30
When you make a change and republish everything will have to be re-downloaded again on the client side, but if you're on a LAN it shouldn't really matter about file size and even on regular DSL line it shouldn't take too much.
Chris Haas
2010-02-05 17:48:25
When I do the Publish it gives me the huge (large?) set plus folder with more stuff. What happens each time I make a change and recompile? What do I get and where do I put it?
bochur1
2010-02-05 18:22:35
A:
astander's answer above is correct, you can use ClickOnce for this. Another option is creating this application as a web application.
Web applications basically work the way you described, the application's files reside in a web server, all the users connect to it using a browser, and to update the application you only need to update the files in the server.
Ricardo
2010-02-05 05:35:52
A:
Another option is to create a second program that will check the network for an updated version of your application. Let's call this program "updater.exe".
You can run updater.exe on system startup like Adobe Reader or Sun Java do.
Or, when your application is started it can load updater.exe. If updater.exe finds an update, it can close/unload your application, download the newer version, restart your application and close itself.
Nismoto
2010-02-05 06:02:51