MSI has no built in story and ClickOnce is very limited. Some tools provide extensions for this type of update but inevitably it turns into just another annoying trayapp pop-up. Doing your check at application startup is fairly friendly to your user. Do you do the download in the background or do they have to wait while it's downloaded?
I've done many auto-update patterns over the years ( going way back to InstallFromTheWeb and before that database blog storage ). One thing I like these days is taking advantage of managed installations to allow a non-priv user to do a minor upgrade. I talk about it at the below link but in that scenario I use a drive share that only an admin can access. You could also setup local storage with locked down perms and then write a service that polls the webservice to pull the latest package down into the cache. http://blog.deploymentengineering.com/2006/10/implementing-auto-updating.html Christopher Painter, Author of Deployment Engineering Blog Have a hot tip, know a secret or read a really good thread that deserves attention? E-Mail Me --- On Tue, 6/17/08, RAYMENT Tim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: RAYMENT Tim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Auto Update Question > To: "General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset." > <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> > Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 9:02 AM > Microsoft ClickOnce. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Chris > Bardon > Sent: 17 June 2008 13:53 > To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Auto Update Question > > I've built my own auto update mechanism to recognize > when new versions > are available based on a web service, but I'm curious > to know what > solutions others have come up with. Basically, my app just > phones home > to a predefined location on startup, and if there's a > new version, > downloads and runs the MSI. This works, but it seems like > a bit of a > hack. Is there a better way to get seamless automatic > updates to an > application? > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of Rob > Mensching > Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 3:50 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; > wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Auto Update Question > > Currently, "auto-update" mechanism is something > you'd build on top of > what is provided in the WiX toolset. First, get your > installation > package installing and uninstalling well. Then get it > upgrading well. > After that, you'd need to build a system to recognize > when a new package > is available then just apply the new package to upgrade the > old one. > That last part isn't really provide by the WiX toolset > today. There are > bits and pieces of it in ClickThrough but you'll need > to glue (and > probably update) a fair bit. > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf > Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 06:25 > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [WiX-users] Auto Update Question > > Hi everyone - > > I am using Wix to create my Msi and exe for my deployment > project. > Within my deployment project, I check to make sure .Net > 2.0, SQL > Express, and a few other things are installed before the > actual install > of the program. My Wix also installs a complete database > to go with the > program. My client requested that this program have auto > updates via a > web service. > > My question is can you do auto updates when using a Wix as > the means of > installation? And if you can could someone please give me > some insight > on how this could be done. Also, what would be a good way > to update the > database too? I have never worked on a deployment project > before and > could really use some help. > > Thank you to anyone who can be of some assistance. > > Ben Stori, MCTS > Consultant .Net / SharePoint > Sogeti, USA > Two Meridian Crossings Suite 670 | Minneapolis, MN 55423 > 612-296-0612 (c) / [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > - > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2008. > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > - > Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. > It's the best place to buy or sell services for > just about anything Open Source. > http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > > > +++ Virus-scanned by MailControl for Oxford Instruments +++ > > > > ___________________________________________________________________________ThThis > e-mail is confidential and is for the addressee only. > Please refer to www.oxinst.com/email-statement for > regulatory information. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. > It's the best place to buy or sell services for > just about anything Open Source. > http://sourceforge.net/services/buy/index.php > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the new SourceForge.net Marketplace. 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