Is it possible to install a WPF4 Net 4.0 application using a MSI Installer (Advanced Installer) and still leverage ClickOnce's application updates? I'm not talking XBAP but a full desktop app.
I'm asking this question because I've read conflicting statements on the web and here on SO.
Can you wrap that in an MSI and deploy it as a prerequisite to the ClickOnce application?
You can't install an application with an MSI and then use ClickOnce to update it -- it must be installed as a ClickOnce app to start with.
You might be able to zip up the ClickOnce deployment and then unzip it on the customer size and install it from the local folder. If the Installation URL in the manifest is correct, I think that will work. I can't advise further on that, since my expertise is only in ClickOnce deployment.
Related
I'm trying to move to MSIX to install our application, which is currently deployed to our customers via a ClickOnce installation which requires updating on startup, if there is an update. Its a .Net Framework (4.7.2) WinForms app. I'm a bit lost on how to begin; the documentation seems to start from an existing installer package (including ClickOnce), but I'd like to generate this without an intermediate step on our build server as we want to phase out the ClickOnce installation completely once we've proven MSIX will work for us.
I found the Windows Application Packaging Project, but it seems targeted to UWP app, which ours is not, and we have the need to install on Windows 7 SP1 or higher.
What tool would I use to create an MSIX package non-interactively? Would the WAPP play any role in the process?
Here is a similar thread on MSFT's MSIX community. It's talking about VS 2017, but most of the info applies to 2019 too.
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/msix-packaging-and-tools/build-msix-from-vs-2017-pro-v-15-9-4/m-p/952246
An extract from the above link:
You should be able to use the windows application packaging project to package MSIX. Please see: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/desktop/desktop-to-uwp-packaging-dot-net
Alternatively, you could package your MSIX by hand using: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/desktop/desktop-to-uwp-manual-conversion
Additionally, if you want to use the MSIX Packaging Tool, you might be able to leverage our pre-made VM: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/packaging-tool/quick-create-vm even if your enterprise is still on an older release of windows.
You can also try partner solutions, like Advanced Installer's VS extension which can build an MSIX and MSI from the same project, if you need to target different users. The extension also supports debugging apps inside the msix container.
Disclaimer: I work on the team building Advanced Installer.
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've created a wpf application. Now I need to make an application to download it from a web site to various client machines with no server software. What are the essential requirements that need to be installed from the web to the client in order for the application to work? I am very new to this and am learning as i go along
As stated by the others you may publish your application using clickonce. An alternative approuch is to use a third party installer like wise(yee old .msi is removed from newer visual studios). MS wants you to use clickonce for deployment it may be done manually using mage, through MageUI or visual studio directly. I only use mage.exe for deployment of WPF and XBAP applications, it's nice if you have a buildserver set up and all. Just make some scripts for the deployment that you may reuse, once deployed check your manifest file to see what's included and not.
General information about clickonce.
Mage.exe located in your windows sdk for manually deployment
MageUI, useless for any live production envirnoment...
Hope it helps you some, I know this can be a pain.
Cheers,
Stian
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.
MSDN does not list a WPF .exe as a supported type of application for ClickOnce
A ClickOnce application is any Windows Presentation Foundation
(.xbap), Windows Forms (.exe), console application (.exe), or Office
solution (.dll) published using ClickOnce technology.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t71a733d.aspx
I do find evidence around the web that non-XBAP WPF apps work with ClickOnce, but are they officially supported?
Yes, ClickOnce does support WPF applications compiled to executables. ClickOnce is nothing more than an installation distribution method. The primary difference between creating an installation package and ClickOnce (other than being web-based) is that ClickOnce applications are installed within obfuscated folders within the end user's Windows directory.
The means that ClickOnce applications can be installed with a non-administrator account. The caveat to this method is that an application can not be installed on a PC and shared across other user accounts on the PC-- each user must re-install the application.
WPF requires the .NET 3.0+ framework. When you publish your ClickOnce application, you will need to include the .NET 3.0 (or 4.0) framework. Once you add the prerequisite to your project, ClickOnce will check the user's PC to see if the framework is installed. If not, it will pre-install it before installing and running your application. If it already exists, it will skip the download and installation of the framework.
If you need to install a third-party library or application, custom pre-requisites can be created and added to your projects. It is worth noting, prerequisites may need to be installed by an administrator, depending on the rights of the end user. This may seem a bit counter-intuitive, but it's just the nature of the installation process.
ClickOnce is a very simple, but robust installation mechanism, and I've used it extensively. It's not appropriate for every circumstance, but it can certainly accomplish what you are asking.
For ClickOnce, there is no difference between a Windows Forms executable and a WPF executable. Both are .NET executables and as such fully supported by ClickOnce...
I have personally deployed several WPF desktop applications using ClickOnce, and it worked exactly the same as with my Windows Forms applications...