Use ClickOnce to Deploy Windows Applications

By Wei-Meng Lee

In this step-by-step guide you'll learn how to use ClickOnce, a new technology in Visual Studio 2005, to quickly get your Windows application into the hands of your customers. You'll also learn how ClickOnce can help you customize the installation of your application, how to add security to your distributions, how to update COM files without corrupting DLLs, and more.

Deployment is a key to success for your software productif you can't deliver your application, you're sunk. This PDF shows you how easy it is to use ClickOnce to deploy, update, and maintain your Windows apps through web servers, file servers, or even CDs.

Deployment is a key to success for your applicationif you can't get your product to market, you're sunk. ClickOnce, a new technology in Visual Studio 2005, lets you quickly and easily deploy your Windows apps via web servers, file servers, or even CDs.

ClickOnce delivers web-style deployment of your application, but that's only part of the story. Once your users have installed an application using ClickOnce, it can automatically check for new updates, which saves time in maintenance and upgrades. And on the security front, a ClickOnce application runs within a secure sandbox and you configure it using the Code Access Security model.

So how can you take advantage of this new technology? In this step-by-step guide to using ClickOnce, you'll learn how to use ClickOnce to quickly get your product into the hands of your customers. You'll also learn key installation customizations, how to add security to your distributions, how to update COM files without corrupting DLLs, and more. The Appendix covers how to create an application in Visual Studio 2005. The application will be used to illustrate the security features of applications deployed using ClickOnce.

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Note: Currently, ClickOnce works only with Internet Explorer.

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