2005 Deployment Project, How to Update Program 2

[unclecake2]

Hi, I have a large program that I have installed on the computers in my office. When I have made updates in the past I have had to go and uninstall the current version and reinstall the new version.

I am not really sure where to look, or the correct way to do it, but what I want to do is have the installed program look to see if a new version is available on the network. If so, it would ask them if they would like to update it.

The other part is I sometimes I want the user to be forced to install it and other it would be optional as I have some remote users using a VPN with a slow connection. I would make the user reinstall if I make a database change. Otherwise it would just be form changes which are most of the time optional.

-Justin

 

[Sorwen]

Other than looking for some type of 3rd party installer package there is nothing in VS that will do that. I'm pretty sure if you Publish it then it forces and update. Still you could double check as it has been forever since I did that to remember 100%. The only other suggestion is to make your own way of updating.

-I hate Microsoft!
-Forever and always forward.
-My kingdom for a edit button!

 

[RiverGuy]

Yes, if you use Click-Once deployment, this is built in. You can choose to allow the user to only be allowed to run the app from the network, so they would always be running the current version; you can choose to allow them to install it and when they launch the app it would check for a newer version and, depending on your settings, either allow them to choose to update it or be forced to. So that is all built in with Click-Once deployment -- the "Publish" option Sorwen refers to.

However, Click-Once is a simplistic installer and may not meet the needs for packaged software. But it often works quite well for small in-house apps.

 

[unclecake2]

Thanks for the posts. I have one additional part that I forgot to say. The program is also ran locally on some of the user's laptops and use local data from tables.

I built a deployment package to deploy it. One thing that I don't understand is why you can't use the click-once deployment sometimes.

I think how it was done in VB6 is we would check the file versions and ask if the user would like to update, if it was a minor change. If it was a major change they would have to uninstall and reinstall a new version.