Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce
ClickOnce is a take on deploying rich client software in a safe isolated manner. It uses several disparate pieces of technology to achieve this and some of this leaks out. This book gave me sufficient guidance to get a system deploying to my taste using ClickOnce.
The sections on Code Access Security were particularly illuminating, better than books with larger sections that achieved less. The sufficient coverage in areas such as controlling the update mechanism and the automatic inclusion of dependencies was useful to me.
Unfortunately with a book focused on a technology the use is becoming marginalized. MSI technology is still needed many scenarios, albeit often due to badly written applications. On the other side there is Silverlight providing rich applications in a browser cross-platform. This is a shame as ClickOnce with a good application policy provides a better fit to user needs on Windows machines.
“ClickOnce makes it easy to get your smart client application into your users’ hands. From their perspective, all they have to do is click a link that you provide. From your perspective, all you have to do is drop some files on a deployment server and your application is accessible to end users. As developers, you are probably used to hearing statements like this only to discover that when you sit down and try to actually employ a technology that claims to be this easy, it never is. However, as developers, you will discover that if you use the built-in capabilities of ClickOnce, it really is this easy.”
Recommended if you need to deploy .net applications today over the Internet with the minimal fuss but I expect the ecosystem to change soon.