How to automatically update an application without ClickOnce?

Question

For the project I am working on, I am not allowed to use ClickOnce. My boss wants the program to look \"real\" (with an installer, etc).

I have installed Visual Stud

Answer 1

The most common way would be to put a simple text file (XML/JSON would be better) on your webserver with the last build version. The application will then download this file, check the version and start the updater. A typical file would look like this:

Application Update File (A unique string that will let your application recognize the file type)

version: 1.0.0 (Latest Assembly Version)

download: http://yourserver.com/... (A link to the download version)

redirect: http://yournewserver.com/... (I used this field in case of a change in the server address.)

This would let the client know that they need to be looking at a new address.

You can also add other important details.