“ClickOnce demos may look simple, but those techniques only work for simple applications. Brian Noyes gives us the information we need to use ClickOnce in the real world, and he does it with a comprehensive and organized presentation. If you expect your smart client application to move very far beyond ‘Hello,World,’ you’ll want this book to help you deploy it.” —Billy Hollis, president/owner, Elysian Consulting, Microsoft Regional Director“Once again Brian has outdone himself. As a writer, I tend to be very critical of all technical publications, including my own . . . and it is such a pleasure to read anything Brian writes because he studies his topics well, resulting in an accurate, thorough, yet concise piece of work. ClickOnce being a new technology that deals with the pains we all have with application deployment, versioning, and security, it is important to have a text that will guide you through the learning process, give you sound advice for adopting the technology, and explain why you should even care. Brian gives his readers all of that.” —Michele Leroux Bustamante, chief architect, IDesign, Microsoft Regional Director“ClickOnce is the key to Windows and smart client deployment. Brian’s book is the key to successfully using ClickOnce. This book walks you through using ClickOnce, from the basics to advanced scenarios. It is an excellent resource.” —Rockford Lhotka, principal technology evangelist, Magenic Technologies, Microsoft Regional Director“Brian covers ClickOnce with a view to real-world deployment issues, which isobviously based on real-world experience. In and of itself, that is enough forme to buy the book. However, it is an even better investment by virtue of thefact that ClickOnce is a core part of the .NET Framework for Windows Forms2.0 now, and Windows Presentation Foundation in the future.” —Michael Weinhardt, SDK programmer/writer, Application Model,Windows Presentation Foundation, Microsoft“This book covers the most important ingredient needed for the success of asmart client application—deployment. The author’s unassuming writing style,combined with his in-depth coverage of the topic, makes this book an invaluableresource for all serious smart client developers.” —Vishwas Lele, principal architect, Applied Information Sciences,Microsoft Regional DirectorMicrosoft’s new ClickOnce auto-updating technology can radically simplify application deployment. Using it, .NET developers and architects can deliver a powerful, smart client experience along with the easy maintenance of today’s best Web applications. Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Brian Noyes has unsurpassed experience previewing and teaching ClickOnce to professional developers. In Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce, Noyes demonstrates exactly how to make the most of ClickOnce in your real-world enterprise applications. Noyes covers ClickOnce design, architecture, security, installation, updates, and Bootstrapping—each with a full case study and detailed sample code. This focused, concise book explains how to Design client applications for efficient deployment and auto-updating Perform application deployments and automatic updates quickly and easily Deliver “on-demand” client application updates Deploy prerequisites with the Visual Studio 2005 Bootstrapper Take full control of ClickOnce’s powerful publishing, update, and security options Leverage the Visual Studio 2005 and .NET 2.0 platform features that make ClickOnce possible Understand how your application will behave in the ClickOnce runtime environment The book’s sample code is available for download at www.softinsight.com/clickoncebook.

Table of Contents:
Figures xv Foreword xxi Preface xxiii Acknowledgments xxxi About the Author xxxiii   Chapter 1: Introduction to ClickOnce 1 What Is a Smart Client Application? 2 Why Choose Smart Clients? 6 Smart Client Deployment Challenges 7 Design Goals of ClickOnce 8 ClickOnce Features 9 Terminology 10 ClickOnce Deployment Modes 12 ClickOnce Deployment Architecture 14 ClickOnce Deployment Process Overview 16 First ClickOnce Deployment: ClickOnce Hello World 17 Software Requirements for ClickOnce 26 What to Deploy (and What Not to Deploy) with ClickOnce 28 ClickOnce Versus Other Deployment Technologies 30 Smart Client Architecture Overview 32 Where Are We? 34   Chapter 2: Initial Deployment with ClickOnce 37 Publishing an Application with Visual Studio 2005 38 ClickOnce Publishing Options 38 Visual Studio Publishing Step by Step 50 ClickOnce Application Initial Deployment Step by Step 64 Moving an Application to Production 76 Moving an Application into Production with Mage 77 Where Are We? 80   Chapter 3: Automatic Application Updates 83 Automatic Update Walkthrough 84 ClickOnce Update Options 91 Behind the Scenes on the Deployment Server 99 Behind the Scenes of an Update on the Client Machine 100 Removing or Restoring Applications on the Client 104 Restoring an Application Version from the Deployment Server 105 Republishing a Previous Version 105 Where Are We? 106   Chapter 4: On-Demand Updates 107 When Do On-Demand Updates Make Sense? 108 Introducing the ClickOnce API 109 Adding Synchronous On-Demand Updates 110 Performing Updates Asynchronously 114 Update Progress Notifications 122 Combining On-Demand Updates with Automatic Updates 123 Checking Detailed Update Information 125 Gathering Information about the Current Deployment 126 Where Are We? 128   Chapter 5: Application and Data File Management 131 Application Executable Deployment 132 Adding Application Files in Visual Studio 134 Configuring ClickOnce Application Files 135 Embedding Files in the Assembly 138 Localizing Your ClickOnce Deployment 141 Programmatic Download of Application Files 147 Deploying Extensible Plug-In Applications with ClickOnce 151 Managing Application Files with Mage 157 Managing Data Files Through Visual Studio 160 Dealing with Data Files on the Client 161 Data File Update Process 164 Deploying a Client Database with Your Application 167 Migrating SQL Compact Edition Database Files 168 Where Are We? 174   Chapter 6: ClickOnce Security 177 ClickOnce Security Overview 177 Internet Explorer Security Settings Affecting ClickOnce 188 Configuring ClickOnce Security Permissions 189 Understanding and Managing Publisher Certificates 197 Signing Application Updates 208 User Prompting 210 Trusted Applications’ User Security Policies 215 Trusted Publishers’ Permission Elevation 216 Adding Restricted Code Sections 219 Securing the Application Based on User Roles 221 Securing Access to ClickOnce Application Files on the Server 222 Where Are We? 223   Chapter 7: Prerequisite Deployment with the Bootstrapper 225 Bootstrapper Features 226 Bootstrapper and ClickOnce Sample Deployment 229 Adding Items to the Bootstrapper 234 Generating Bootstrapper Manifests 245 Where Are We? 248   Chapter 8: Advanced ClickOnce Topics 249 Using URL Query String Parameters 249 Executing Custom Install/Initialization Code 255 Debugging ClickOnce Applications 256 Deploying Unmanaged Applications with ClickOnce 261 Reg-Free COM 264 Deploying ClickOnce Applications with Firefox 266 Launching a ClickOnce Application Programmatically 267 Pushing ClickOnce Installations to the Client Machine 268 Web Server ClickOnce Configuration 272 MSBuild ClickOnce Publishing 273 Where Are We? 274   Appendix A: ClickOnce Deployment of WPF Applications 277 WPF Anatomy 101 278 ClickOnce Deployment of WPF Applications 280 Sample Web Browser Application Walkthrough 281 Where Are We? 284   Index 287