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I've been trying to find an answer to this for weeks. Hopefully you are able to help me out! :)

I've got a C# application. It has multiple classes and multiple Forms. The forms also have images on them in PictureBoxes.

These images are all stored in an Assets folder inside the bin folder i.e. /bin/Assets.

When developing, I run the application in Debug mode.

I have looked on YouTube and all areas of the internet to find how to create an installer for my application. I see a majority of posts about ClickOnce deployment, which looks like it's what I want. The issue is that the ClickOnce wizard asks you where to install the application:

  • I do not have a server to host the application on (I have tried examples I've seen such as \localhost\myfolder\myApplication) I do, however, run my own website through a NameCheap host where I could provide a link to the application for users to download. I'm not quite sure how to set this up though.

  • I do not want the users to install from a CD

  • I don't know how to do the File Share method

This is the first obstacle. Regardless of what I choose, I cannot get the setup to work. I think the big issue is that I can't find how to include my Assets in the project and I don't know where to install the application.

The next obstacle, is that when users download my application, I would like to be able to push out an update, and have them have the update automatically (or only need to restart the application to get the update). I do not want them to have to re-download the application every time there is an update, as there are updates several times per week.

Again, I believe ClickOnce handles this but since I cannot even get to this step, I am not sure.

So, in the end, this is the use-case:

User is able to download the application from a website. Once application is downloaded, all further updates to the application are pushed automatically or only require a restart of the application to obtain.

I have gone through all the documentation on ClickOnce as well. Specifically this link. My issue is on #4.

I hope you are able to help, thank you!

sej
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1 Answers1

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Sharing the installer should not be an issue you could simply do that through Dropbox.

You can host your Updater on Dropbox as well but anytime you have new Updater replace the old one so the web link remains same and that it is because you need to know the the Updater link in advance to put it in the original installer.

You mentioned that you have a website through NameCheap, I believe you could use that instead of Dropbox here is a youtube links that might help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEXcWln2Fe8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUNQphoGVwQ

I personally don't use ClickOnce but I use A Microsoft Windows Installer and I develop my own updater. ClickOnce is easier use for you at this point but later in future, you could explore other ways.

Wish my answer is clear if not just let me know, Good luck

Marwan Alkhweldi
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  • Could you clarify what you mean by "You can host your Updater on ..."? What do you mean by updater? My understanding was that ClickOnce would push updates to all applications on its own. Is that incorrect? – sej Jul 13 '17 at 21:46
  • Yes, you are right the ClickOnce would push updates to all applications on its own. The Updater for you is just a newer version of ClickOnce, so say you have the first ClickOnce file you shared it with the customer, and after a week you made some changes to your application and created a new ClickOnce file, the newer ClickOnce file will have a different version number and will be considered updater for the old version on the customer computer. Just make sure you know in advance where you are going to host these newer versions of ClickOnce. – Marwan Alkhweldi Jul 14 '17 at 14:18