Application Patterns and Tips : Deploy Applications Using ClickOnce

Scenario/Problem:

You want to deploy your application via the Web, with a very simple process.

Solution:

Use OneClick deployment. Here are the steps to follow: 1. Right-click the project in the Solution Explorer and select Properties. 2. Click the Security tab. 3. Check the Enable ClickOnce Security Settings box. 4. Select the appropriate trust level. Partial trust will cut off your application from most of the computer’s resources, such as the file system. 5. Select the zone the application will be installed from. 6. Click the Publish tab 7. Select the folder to which you wish to publish the setup files. 8. Select whether the application should also be installed locally and available in the Start menu. 9. Click Options. 10. Select Deployment. 11. Enter a deployment web page, such as publish.htm.

Figure 1 shows the Publish settings in Visual Studio.

Figure 1. The Publish options allow you to specify where to put the setup files.

Once all of the options are set, you can right-click the project and select Publish.

To run the application, navigate to the generated HTML file and click Run. The .NET runtime will run your application under the restrictions you placed on it. To see the effect, the sample application lets you try to write a file both to the file system and to isolated storage. Only isolated storage is accessible.

Figure 2 shows what happens when a locally-installed ClickOnce application with limited permissions tries to touch the file system.

Figure 2. In a partial-trust application, trying to access local resources such as the file system will result in an exception.

Note

You cannot create WPF windows in a partial-trust environment: You’re limited to the browser window.