what is the difference between publish project and setup project

Question

I have a project in c# VS2010 and I want to make .exe file and make a setup.Here I will make it with add setup and deployment project. But I have one more option of publish project.

I don't know

1. what is the meaning when I create the .exe with Publish project.

2. What is better and why & where I can use Publish project.

Answer 1

When To Use Click Once Deployment:

1. ClickOnce is a new deployment technology that Microsoft developed to address several problems with deployment namely

2. Difficulty in providing regular updates The inability of nonadministrative users to install applications

3. The dependence of multiple programs on shared components

4. Installation folder will be isolated storage

   ClickOnce deals with all of these problems and allows you to create a deployment strategy that is easily updateable, isolated from other applications, and installable by nonadministrative users.

When to use the Setup Project:

Although ClickOnce provides simple and easy deployment for a variety of applications, you might need a more configurable environment for complex programs. Setup projects allow you to create highly confi gurable deployment plans.

1. Allows you to create the directories on the target computers
2. Windows Service installation
3. Registry Modifications during installation
4. Execute Custom Actions during installation
5. Copy files to target machine

Hope It Helps :)

Answer 2

I guess what you're talking about is ClickOnce technology. ClickOnce allows you to publish the application and all accompanying files to a location (for example a network share or a web site) and users can just install it by navigating there. You can even publish your application to a shared hosting provider and people can just install your application.

The application will then be installed in the user's profile.

The advantage of this is: You can publish updates easily if you configure your application to automatically check for updates - just publish the new version to the previous location. Every user will get the update upon the next start of the application. Users don't need admin rights to install your tool!

The drawback is: Every user (even on the same machine) will need to install the application in his own profile. There's no common installation for all users.

The advantage of creating setup projects is of course that you follow the traditional approach of installing an application on the system, making it available for all users. The drawback is that installing updates is far more difficult, and users need admin rights to install it!