Deploying VB.NET Applications

Posted September 8, 2004

Chat Date: September 7, 2004

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Introduction

Moderator: Ed_H (Microsoft)
Welcome to today’s chat on Deploying VB.NET Applications. We have members of the Visual Basic team here to answer your questions today. I will ask the hosts to introduce themselves.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
My name is Elizabeth Newman. I test the design time experience for ClickOnce deployment.

Host: MWade (Microsoft)
My name is Mike Wade, and I am a developer with Visual Basic.

Host: SteveHoag (Microsoft)
Hi. I'm Steve Hoag, a Programmer/Writer on the Visual Basic team - I wrote most of the deployment documentation.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
Hi, I'm Sean Draine, Program Manager for deployment.

Moderator: Ed_H (Microsoft)
And I am Ed Hickey, Visual Basic MVP Lead. Glad you all could make it today!

Moderator: Ed_H (Microsoft)
Let's get started! Fire away with your questions for our hosts.

Start of Chat

Host: SteveHoag (Microsoft)
Q: Where can I find some good documentation on ClickOnce?
A: If you have the Whidbey Beta, there is a good bit of ClickOnce documentation in the docs under the deployment node. Otherwise, you can check out this article in the May 2004 MSDN Magazine: https://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/05/ClickOnce/

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
Q: What are the general rules or guidelines for modifying config files during installation ?
A: I don't know of any general rules or guideline for modifying config during installation. If you must, a custom action in your msi is one way to do it.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
In Whidbey, there is added support client settings in config files. You can check it out by looking at the Settings Designer and My.Settings.

Host: MWade (Microsoft)
Q: In the opinion of the experts, what is the best MSDN article on deploying a Window Forms applications build using VS 2003?
A: We rather like the Applications Lifecycle Guide: https://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829019

Host: SteveHoag (Microsoft)
Q: I have an application built in vs.net 2003. This application has an asp.net project, two windows services applications, one MSDE database, this MSDE database need to contains some data already, not just table structure. How can I start the deployment?
A: You should be able to do this using a Web Setup Project and a custom action to create and populate the database. The topic "Walkthrough: Using a Custom Action to Create a Database During Installation," https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/vsintro7/html/vxwlkWalkthroughUsingCustomActionToCreateDatabaseDuringInstallation.asp?frame=true, describes how to create a database and add a table - you could take it from there and add code to loop through and populate the database.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
Q: In vb.net, how can you determine the exact size of a datatable in memory?
A: You could write a test app that records memory usage before and after creating and loading a DataTable, and compare the two values. You can get memory usage stats from. System.Diagnostics.Process.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
Q: Does ClickOnce basically encompass all the new features that the new version of .NET will provide, deployment-wise, or are there others?
A: After ClickOnce, the next major innovation in Whidbey is probably the Visual Studio 2005 Bootstrapper, which allows you to preinstall prerequisites like the .NET Framework, Sql Server Express, MDAC, etc. The bootstrapper is generic and can be configured to handle other packages, including your own. There is an article coming in the October issue of MSDN Magazine that you should check out when it becomes available: https://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/10/default.aspx.

Host: SteveHoag (Microsoft)
Q: OK...So. let’s say I'm writing a web-client app. At install, is there anyway I can determine anything about the internet security settings....that is.....
A: Well, you don't actually install a Web client, so this isn't really deployment-related. I'm no ASP .NET expert, but I believe there is a way to retrieve information about the browser you are running in the Page Load event.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
Q: Does ClickOnce or any other Whidbey feature provide automatic checking for updates?
A: Yes, ClickOnce deployment provides automatic checking for updates. If you look at the Updates dialog (which you get to through Publish Property Page) shows all the options you have available to you for updating your ClickOnce deployed application. For example you can update every time the application is started or update every couple days.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
Q: These new deployment/update APIs will then replace the current Updater Application Block, right?
A: Yes. You can think of the Updater Application Block as one of the predecessors to ClickOnce deployment.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
Q: Why do I occasionally get the error: "Unable to contine.The application is improperly formatted. Please contact vendor." when launching a ClickOnce installer I have built?
A: You are most likely running into a Beta1 bug where we try to get the Publisher name from a registry key, but the registry key isn't always set. Ways to work around this are:

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
1) Go set the publisher value in the profile of your OS. This will fix all newly created projects. (HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\currentVersion, Registered Organization string value.)

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
2) In your .proj file, add:<PublisherName>Foo</PublisherName>Foo can be any value. This overrides the default we pull from the OS. There will be a better way to do that in Beta 2. This will fix the project the next time it is published.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
3) Use MageUI.exe (in your vs\sdk\bin dir) to edit the .application file & fill in the publisher value manually. This will fix the application manifest (until you overwrite it the next time you publish the project!).

Host: SteveHoag (Microsoft)
Q: although I find the deploy and setup a fine piece of work which is in my opinion not one of the best documented parts, do I not see what is so special at ClickOnce, can you give some what makes this unique?
A: What makes ClickOnce special is the ability to publish updates to your application and have all of the clients automatically pick up those updates. That way you can be sure that all users have the exact same version, saving on support costs.

Host: SteveHoag (Microsoft)
Q: Steve, I think I see something I maybe misread, does it publish?
A: Using the ClickOnce tools in Visual Studio you can publish your application to a Web server or file share; the client applications will then automatically pull down the new version.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
Q: although I find the deploy and setup a fine piece of work which is in my opinion not one of the best documented parts, do I not see what is so special at ClickOnce, can you give some what makes this unique?
A: In addition to updates, ClickOnce offers the following:

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
1) Makes Smart Client apps as easy deploy and update as web apps. You just publish the bits to a server and ClickOnce takes care of installing them on the client

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
2) ClickOnce apps can be installed and run by normal users. No admin privileges required.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
3) Provides a safe, isolated app model that won't destabilize the desktop. MSIs, in contrast, can do anything they want at install time, which sometimes causes problems.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
4) Support for locking down application capabilities via Code Access Security.

Host: Sean (Microsoft)
5) Simplicity for users - no long install wizards with confusing questions

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
Q: Recommendations for installing the Framework in Whidbey?
A: The generic bootstrapper can handle this for Whidbey. It may be used with an msi or ClickOnce deployed application. Check out the Perquisites dialog from a setup project property page or a windows application Publish property page.

Host: Elizabeth_Newman (Microsoft)
There is also a bootstrapper addin for Visual Studio 2003. This can be found at https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/dnnetdep/html/vsredistdeploy1_1.asp?frame=true

Moderator: Ed_H (Microsoft)
This has been a great chat. Thank you to everyone for contributing. Unfortunately, it is time to go. Thanks for participating, and we'll see you next time!

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