I have an open source WPF application hosted on GitHub: https://github.com/tomhunter-gh/SourceLog
What I was hoping to do was add ClickOnce deployment and host the ClickOnce install on AppHarbor so that users are automatically upgraded when I push new commits to GitHub. What I'm looking for is an auto update feature similar to the GitHub Windows client, and I'm also hoping to find somewhere to host the ClickOnce install bits for free.
I have a number of questions:
How does AppHarbor actually work? As far as I can tell it expects a Visual Studio solution containing a single web application project, which it then builds and "deploys". What specifically does it look for to run, what assumptions is it making? What happens when you have non web projects, or your solution isn't in the root directory for example?
Is there any way to customise the build and deployment process, for example with custom MSBuild scripts?
How would I ensure the WPF project is "published" so that the ClickOnce bits are generated?
Is there any way to get a build number from the AppHarbor build process? E.g. a four part assembly version 1.2.3.4 and write that to the generated binaries/config?
Is there any way for AppHarbor to push the ClickOnce bits back to GitHub after a successful build, so that I could instead host the ClickOnce install on GitHub?
Should I be taking a completely different approach?
It turns out this is entirely possible and the steps are as follows:
AppHarbor
Ensure you are using a Web Worker process.
Add an application in AppHarbor and connect it to your GitHub project.
Solution
Add a web application project to the solution
Copy the v7.0A Windows SDK folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A) to a folder alongside the solution
WPF Project
Set the DefaultTargets attribute of the Project element to Publish.
Set the PublishDir property to $(OutDir)\_PublishedWebsites\{ClickOnceHostWeb}
Set the UpdateUrl property to http://yourapp.apphb.com/.
Set the following additional properties:
<GenerateBootstrapperSdkPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\Lib\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bootstrapper</GenerateBootstrapperSdkPath>
<SdkToolsPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\Lib\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin</SdkToolsPath>
Further details are available in my SourceLog blog post, and a full example is demonstrated by the the SourceLog project on GitHub.
Related
I have successfully created a Repo on Azure Devops and a Pipeline which triggers a release every time I push to the master branch. The result of the release is an .exe file that I can download from the Artifacts explorer. If I download the release and open it, the WPF app simply runs (no install required). I'm trying to wrap my head around how this whole CI/CD process would work but I just cannot find any good examples that could help me understand the deployment process(at least for WPF apps).
What I would usually do is build a WPF App, once I'm done, I add a new project to the solution (Visual Studio Installer - Setup Project) and deliver the .msi installer to the end user (for updates I send them the latest version to install).
How can I make this process a lot more smoother using CI/CD in Azure Devops? How do I generate an actual installer? Do I use some logic in the app itself to check for the latest build in Azure? Can someone please lay out some simple steps or some good resources?
You should be able to use a task like this: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dutchworkz.BuildInstaller to use the VS Installer project you have traditionally used.
This task wraps the calls to devenv that are needed to drive VS Installer to create its MSI package as it doesn't use the usual MSBuild engine to do this.
Other tools do a similar job, for example you could drive WIX or a similar tool to create the MSI package however if you are familiar with VS Installer Projects you may want to stick to this.
I've got an OSS WPF application and I want to ship a self-updating installer for it. I know that GitHub has this raw.github.com which serves just files so my question is, if I make a directory with a ClickOnce installer, will the ClickOnce self-update mechanism be able to pull updated files from GitHub?
I have developed a WPF application and I need to try it on other computers.
1- I change my project properties to build in release mode and rebuilt project. However, /bin/release folder is empty and it still generates /bin/debug folder.
2- I selected publish and install it on other computers. Funny thing is, the program is not running if that computer does not have Visual C# (.Net Framework, Sql server etc. does not cause a problem)
3- I added a installer and add project output(release) to this application. It says /bin/release/abc.exe couldn't be find.. Changed it to project output(debug) and it builds fine. However, this setup is not even working on my computer..
So my question is simple... How can I publish WPF application in release mode and how can I run them on other computers without installing Visual C#. Thank you in advance
Check properties of your project, and set output folder for Release configuration.
You need .NET 4 framework installed on PC, to run (simple) WPF application.
Should work, when you set your output folder, see 1.
Does anyone know how to specifically include a winforms setup project to be included in the code_drop folder generated when running UppercuTs zip.bat? With the default settings my web applications and WCF services are included, as are the dll's for the solutions core, but not my winforms application/installer
I was just playing around with UppercuT last night, and I ran into the same question.
One tip I found for putting console apps and windows services into the code_drop is to use this Nuget package in your console/windows service projects:
http://nuget.org/packages/publishedapplications
See this for more info:
http://devlicio.us/blogs/rob_reynolds/archive/2011/03/22/published-applications-aka-publishedapplications.aspx
Using this will cause your console/windows service projects to be "published" similary to how a web app is published in the code_drop. However, this isn't what you're asking for, just wanted to point it out if its useful. This also doesn't work for installers.
If your installers are using the default Visual Studio setup projects (.vdproj projects), I haven't tried that, so I can't help there. I do know that MSBuild refuses to build those types of projects (not sure why...), so you might be better off using WiX or another installer technology. You can do an automated build on a vdproj if you run the build by calling devenv.exe directly from the command line, but you can't build those with MSBuild. I did try adding a WiX setup project to my sln, and UppercuT will build the Wix setup project and drop the .msi in the "build_output" folder, but it doesn't copy it over to the code_drop. My thought would be to add a custom post build step to just copy that file over from build_output to code_drop. I haven't had a chance to figure out the logic in the build scripts to see how it chooses which files to copy from build_output to code_drop. If I figure anything out, I'll update this answer.
I have a WPF C# desktop application that will need to be deployed as MSI (Windows Installer deployment, not ClickOnce deployment) in VS2010. My application will generate SQL CE database in run-time, manipulate Excel Workbook, and receive/transmit data from/to COM Port - so I don't know what is the appropriate way to deploy such an application.
I am looking at Windows Installer Deployment Tasks which doesn't help me to get started.
Could anyone show me some resources that give instructions on how to deploy an application as an MSI installer?
If you don't want ClickOnce, then you'll probably need to create your own MSI. In that case, you can use:
The built-in Setup project type in Visual Studio. It does a decent job but has limitations. Works very well if you don't have many dependencies or custom actions.
A commercial tool like InstallShield
WIX (Windows Installer XML)
I've tried both 1 and 3. While WIX has a little bit of a learning curve, it is a very rich way to do what you want to do. There is a fair bit of documentation available and some very nice "out of the box" wizard sequences to handle your standard install scenarios (licenses, feature selection, dependencies, etc). WIX does have some VS integration that works quite well.
You can find out more on WIX at http://wix.sourceforge.net/
Note:
The VS setup project can do custom actions, and install dependencies, but you have to use custom actions. If you want to parameterize the custom actions, then you'll need to find the not-so-intuitive instructions on that topic.
The other limitation of the VS setup project is that the setup project can only be compiled to an MSI by VS (devenv.exe). That means that the MSI cannot be compiled on a build server unless you install Visual Studio there too. This was a show stopper for me, so I switched to WIX and was very happy with the result.
For those like me who found this post after searching high and low for how to deploy an MSI these days, you now need an extension as the visual studio team removed the built in startup project functionality. You now need to download the Visual Studio Installer Projects extension.
See this user voice post for discussion of the removal, and here is a link to the extension.
Useful for people looking for a quick solution to generating an MSI through Visual Studio rather than getting deep into Wix (although if you need more advanced deployment options, definitely go that route).
Configure your WPF application to publish as a ClickOnce application. You can do that in the 'Publish' tab of the project properties.
If you use the 'Publish Wizard' (by clicking on the aptly named button on the properties page) you can specify (on the second page) that the user will install 'From a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM'. This option will produce a setup.exe file in the publish sub-folder of your project output directory. This setup.exe program when launched by your user will install the WPF application. You may choose to include an update functionality (but you don't have to).
The ClickOnce settings also allow you to include additional files (e.g., your SQL CE database file) and pre-requisites if necessary.