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click the Start node and select Add Dialog from the context menu. Highlight the dialog titled

Checkboxes (A) from the Add Dialog window and click OK. This inserts the new dialog at the end

of the installation process. The order of the dialogs can be adjusted using the Move Up/Down items

from the right-click context menu on the nodes in the User Interface window.

Selecting Properties Window from the right-click context menu on the new dialog brings up the

Properties window. Set the property identifier for Checkbox1 to STARTAFTERINSTALL and then set

the Visible property for the remaining checkboxes to false. As discussed earlier in the chapter,

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you also needed to add /STARTAFTERINSTALL=[STARTAFTERINSTALL] to the CustomActionData

property for the assembly in the Custom Actions view of the deployment project. With this user

input you can decide whether to start the service when the installer completes.

clickonce

Using a Windows installer is a sensible approach for any application development. However, deploying

an installer to thousands of machines, and then potentially having to update them, is a daunting task.

Although management products help reduce the burden associated with application deployment,

web applications often replace rich Windows applications because they can be dynamically updated,

affecting all users of the system. ClickOnce, introduced in version 2.0 of the .NET Framework, enables

you to build self-updating Windows applications. This section shows you how to use Visual Studio

2010 to build applications that can be deployed and updated using ClickOnce.

one click to deploy

To demonstrate the functionality of ClickOnce deployment, this section uses the same application

used to build the Windows Installer, CallCentre, which simply displays an empty form. To deploy

this application using ClickOnce, select the Publish option from the right-click context menu of

the project. This opens the Publish Wizard, which guides you through the initial configuration

of ClickOnce for your project.

The first step in the Publish Wizard allows you to select a location to deploy to. You can choose to

deploy to a local web site, an FTP location, a file share, or even a local folder on your machine. Clicking

Browse opens the Open Web Site dialog, which assists you in specifying the publishing location.

The next step asks you to specify where the users are expecting to install the application from. The

default option is for users to install from a CD or DVD-ROM disc. More commonly, you will want

to install from a file share on a corporate intranet or a web site on the Internet. Note that the

location you publish to and the location the users install from can be different. This can very useful

while testing new releases.

The contents of the final step will change depending on the installation option selected. If your

application will be installed from a CD or DVD-ROM, this step asks if the application should

automatically check for updates. If this option is enabled you must provide a location for

the application to check. In the case that your users will be installing from a file share or web site,

it is assumed that the application will update from the location that it was originally installed from.

Instead, the final question relates to whether or not the application will be available offline. If the

offline option is selected, an application shortcut is added to the Start menu and the application can

be removed in the Add/Remove programs dialog in the operating system. The user will be able to

run the application even if the original installation location is no longer available. If the application

is only available online, no shortcut is created and the users have to visit the install location every

time they want to run the application.

The last screen in the wizard allows you to verify the configuration before publishing the application.

After the application has been published, you can run the Setup.exe bootstrap file that is produced

to install the application. If you are installing from a web site, you will get a default.htm file

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generated as well. This file, shown in Figure 48-17, uses some JavaScript to detect a few dependencies

and provides an Install button that launches the Setup.exe.

fiGure 48-17

Clicking the Install button at this location displays a dialog prompting you to run or save

Setup.exe. Selecting Run (or running Setup.exe from a different kind of install) shows the

Launching Application dialog, shown in Figure 48-18, while components of your application

are being retrieved from the installation location.

After information about the application has been downloaded, a security warning is launched, as

shown in Figure 48-19. In this case, the security warning is raised because, although the deployment

manifest has been signed, it has been signed with a certificate that is not known on the machine on

which it is being installed.

fiGure 48-18 fiGure 48-19

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chaPter 48 pAckAging And deploymenT

The deployment manifest of a ClickOnce application is an XML file that

describes the application to be deployed along with a reference to the current

version. Although it is not required, each deployment manifest can be signed

by the publisher to provide the manifest with a strong name. This prevents the

manifest from being tampered with after it is deployed.

Three options are available when it comes to signing the deployment manifest. By default,

Visual Studio 2010 creates a test certificate to sign the manifest, which has the format

application name_TemporaryKey.pfx and is automatically added to the solution (this happens

when the application is first published using the Publish Now button). Though this certificate can

be used during development, it is not recommended for deployment. The other alternatives are to

purchase a third-party certificate, from a company such as VeriSign, or to use the certificate server

within Windows Server to create an internal certificate.

The advantage of getting a certifi cate from a well - known certifi cate authority is that it can

automatically be verifi ed by any machine. Using either the test certifi cate or an internal certifi cate

requires installation of that certifi cate in the appropriate certifi cate store. Figure 48 - 20 shows the

Signing tab of the Project Properties window, where you can see that the ClickOnce manifest is being

signed with a certifi cate that has been generated on the local computer. An existing certifi cate can be

used by selecting it from the store or from a fi le. Alternatively, another test certifi cate can be created.

fiGure 48-20

If you want your application to install with a known publisher, you need to add the test certificate

into the root certificate store on the machine on which you’re installing the product. Because this

also happens to be the deployment machine, you can do this by clicking More Details. This opens a

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dialog that outlines the certificate details, including the fact that it can’t be authenticated. (If you

are using the certificate created by default by Visual Studio 2010, you will need to use the Select

from File button to re-select the generated certificate, and then use the More Details button.

There seems to be an issue here, in that the details window does not show the Install Certificate

button without this additional step.) Clicking

Install Certificate enables you to specify that

the certificate should be installed into the

Trusted Root Certification Authorities store.

This is not the default certificate store, so you

need to browse for it. Because this is a test

certificate, you can ignore the warning that is

given, but remember that you should

not use this certificate in production. Now

when you publish your application and try

to install it, you will see that the dialog has

changed, looking similar to the one shown in

Figure 48-21.

Although you have a known publisher, you

are still being warned that additional security

permissions need to be granted to this

application in order for it to execute. Clicking

the rather minimalist More Information

hyperlink opens a more informative dialog,

shown in Figure 48-22. As with the security

coding within Windows Server 2008 and

Windows 7, there are three icons: green for

positive security, red for potential security

weaknesses, and yellow for informative or

best practice guidance.

ClickOnce deployment manifests are rated

on four security dimensions. You’ve just seen

how you can specify a well-known publisher,

critical for safe installation of an application. By default, ClickOnce publishes applications as

full trust applications, giving them maximum control over the local computer. This is unusual,

because in most other cases Microsoft has adopted a security-first approach. To run with full trust,

the application requires additional security permissions, which might be exploited. The Sample

Application will be available online and offline; and though this isn’t a major security risk, it does

modify the local file system. Lastly, the location from which the application is being installed is

almost as important as the publisher in determining how dangerous the application might be. In this

case, the application was published within the local network so it is unlikely to be a security threat.

Because this application doesn’t really do anything, you can decrease the trust level that the

application requires. As shown in Figure 48-23, this application is made a partial trust application

based on the Local Intranet zone. This changes the Machine Access icon to green, leaving only the

Installation icon yellow. Unfortunately, the only way you can get this to be green would be to not

install the application, which means that it would not be available offline.

fiGure 48-21

fiGure 48-22

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chaPter 48 pAckAging And deploymenT

fiGure 48-23

Ideally, you would like to be able to bypass the Application Install dialog and have the application

automatically be granted appropriate permissions. You can do this by adding the certificate to the

Trusted Publishers store. Even for well-known certificate authorities, in order for the application to

install automatically, the certificate needs to be added to this store. With this completed, you will

only see the progress dialog as the application is downloaded, rather than the security prompt in

Figure 48-21.

Once installed, the application can be launched either by returning to the installation URL

(Figure 48-17) or by selecting the shortcut from the newly created Start Menu folder with the same

name as the application.

one click to update

At some point in the future you might make a change to your application — for example, you might

add a button to the simple form you created previously. ClickOnce supports a powerful update

process that enables you to publish the new version of your application in the same way you did

previously, and existing versions can be upgraded the next time they are online. As long as you are

content with the current set of options, the update process is just the Publish process. When using

the Publish Wizard to update an existing application, all of the values previously used to publish the

application are preconfigured for you.

You can check the settings in the Publish tab of the Project Properties designer (Figure 48-24).

The designer shows the publish location, the installation location, and the install mode of the

application. There is also a setting for the Publish Version. This value is not shown in the Publish

Wizard, but by default this version starts at 1.0.0.0 and increments the right-most number every time

the application is published.

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fiGure 48-24

Along the right are a number of buttons that bring up more advanced options, most of which are

not exposed by the wizard. The Application Updates dialog (Figure 48-25) allows you to configure

how the application updates itself. In Figure 48-25, the application will update once a month after it

has started. You can also specify a minimum required version, which will prevent older clients from

executing until they are updated.

With this change, now when you publish a new version of your application, any existing users will

be prompted to update their application to the most recent version, as shown in Figure 48-26.

fiGure 48-25 fiGure 48-26

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chaPter 48 pAckAging And deploymenT

One of the most powerful features of ClickOnce deployment is that it tracks a previous version of

the application that was installed. This means that at any stage, not only can it do a clean uninstall,

but it can also roll back to the earlier version. The application can be rolled back or uninstalled

from the Programs and Features list from the Control Panel.

Note that for users to receive an update they do need to be able to contact the

original deployment URL when the application performs the check for a new

version (in this case when the application starts). You can also force all users to

upgrade to a particular version (that is, they won’t get prompted) by specifying

the minimum required version in the Application Updates dialog (Figure 49-25).

suMMary

This chapter walked you through the details of building installers for various types of applications.

Building a good-quality installer can make a significant difference in how professional your

application appears. ClickOnce also offers an important alternative for those who want to deploy

their application to a large audience, and with the changes introduced with version 3.5 of the .NET

Framework, it can now be used for a much wider range of applications.

49

Web application Deployment

what’s in this chaPter?

.

Publishing Web Site and Web Application projects

.

Publishing database scripts with Web Applications

.

Copying Web Site changes to a remote server

.

Creating Web Application packages for deployment with the Web