One of the great improvements in VB.NET 2005 over VB6 is the ease of publishing for simple applications by using ClickOnce Deployment. By simple applications I mean those just using controls provided by the .NET Framework.
Simply open up the properties page for the project and select the Publish tab. The Publish Wizard then steps you through the folder location to which you want to publish, the mode of installation (CD, web site, etc) and whether the applications will check for updates. Just click the Finish button and you're done.
Setup on the client machine is just as easy. Run setup.exe and the setup process will check the machine for the correct level of .NET Framework. If that's not found then it will download and install it. Then the application itself is installed and run.
But where is the application located? In the Start Menu you'll find a shortcut but it is in the form of an Application Reference, not a shortcut to a Program Files location as you might have been expecting. The application itself has been stored in the ClickOnce Application Cache. This does impose one particular restriction, namely that the application is installed for a single user, so if the machine has multiple users you will need to repeat the installation.
The information is provided 'as is'. It has worked for us,
but it may not work for you, so you use it at your own risk. We can't
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Geographical coverage: AlphaOne Computing Services
provides a range of small business computer support and I.T. services throughout Sussex, including
Brighton, Hove, Shoreham, Worthing, Steyning, Burgess Hill,
Haywards Heath, Crawley, Lewes, Newhaven, Seaford, Uckfield and Eastbourne.
