Question clickonce Web Deployment

[IanDaviesUK1980]

Hi. I have build an application which I need to deploy via the web. I have uploaded the files to my smarter asp FTP but please could someone help me with running the setup and also updates. I can find the file path using a www web address on my website but it only downloads the setup file, and it will not install.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Skydiver]

You will need to find a sysadmin on your web host to run the setup for you. Any sysadmin worth their salt will tell you that they are sorry that they can't do that for you if you are not hosted on your own machine -- e.g. shared hosting services who care about security will not run random executables that Joe Schmoe tells them to run.

The better approach is to do a "xcopy deployment". In your case, it will be FTP instead of XCOPY.

 

[jmcilhinney]

So you have created a WPF application and then published it using ClickOnce? Did you publish locally and upload manually or publish directly to the FTP server? Exactly what file(s) get published? Exactly what file(s) get downloaded? Exactly what happens when you try to install?

 

[Skydiver]

@jmcilhinney : Interesting... how did you infer that this was a ClickOnce publishing issue? Or maybe I simply shouldn't be cruising the forums when I'm recovering from an illness and still tired.

 

[jmcilhinney]

@jmcilhinney : Interesting... how did you infer that this was a ClickOnce publishing issue? Or maybe I simply shouldn't be cruising the forums when I'm recovering from an illness and still tired.

That was my initial guess anyway but one of the tags on the thread is "one click".

 

[Skydiver]

Ah. I've been dazzled by the change to the SO styling of the forum that I've missed the addition of the fine print tags at the top of the post.

As noted by @jmcilhinney above, be sure to publish to the FTP site:

Specify ClickOnce Publish properties - Visual Studio (Windows)

Learn how to set the Publish properties for a ClickOnce application, such as the location where the application files and manifest are put, and the installation URL.

docs.microsoft.com

 

[JohnH]

Also see following "How to: Specify the location where end users will install from".

When it comes to browsers I not sure there is any browser today that has native support for running a Clickonce install except IE maybe, you either need an extension (Edge, Chrome, Firefox) or special browser configuration (Edge).