For internal Winform applications why not just use a fileshare to deploy code instead of clickonce?

0
votes

BACKGROUND

  • We are migrating a .NET 1.1 winforms application to .NET 4.0. (about time! :-) )

  • The application is used only internally by my organization.

  • The .NET 1.1 application is deployed to our users using the deprecated no touch deployment technology. We have an internal iis 6 web site where users enter the url of the applications .exe and the application runs (inside IEExec).

  • We update the application at least once every two weeks.

  • We simply want a shortcut on everyone's device to run the applications exe. We don't need a program group installed or any other fancy installation mechanisms.

  • I have no experience with clickonce technology for deploying applications.

  • The application consists of an .exe of course and 10 supporting dlls. It uses web services (for now) to perform CRUD operations.

QUESTIONS

  • Is clickonce even necessary for applications like mine?

  • Why not just deploy the exe and supporting dlls to a network share and let users run the application from the share?

MY THOUGHTS

  • From the research I have been doing clickonce sounds interesting but I don't know why it would apply in my situation. With any new technology comes some pain, look at all the questions on SO about clickonce.

  • I want to focus my energies on converting my application to .NET 4.0, not trying to learn and test a clickonce deployment strategy.

  • I'm leaning toward putting the files on a network share and setting appropriate permissions (file and .NET) and call it good.

Thanks for your input!

1
clickonce

1 Answers

1
votes

Your users can definitely run the app from the network share, but you could have a performance problem, depending on the robustness of your network.

Your deployment sounds pretty basic, so setting up a ClickOnce deployment would not be difficult. We have used ClickOnce deployment for our applications and our Office add-ins for 5 years now, and haven't had any problems. If you don't need to do something difficult, like have administrative access, it will probably be very effective for you.

You can check out ClickOnce Overview or How to publish a ClickOnce app for more information.