Question

I have a Setup Project and now i’m at the point where i wonder how can I provide a notification and an automatic update to the users of my programm. (ClickOnce is not an opportunity) The Solution contains several projects and a custom action to create the MSSQL Database.

• Solution

  • project1
  • project2
  • etc.
  • Setup Project

it looks like that.

So my questions are:

-How can I notify the users that there is an update available? Is there a possibilities to integrate something like that in the setup or the main project? I’ve readed something about to combine the Setup Project and Click Once Apps. (forgotten the link…)

-How can I provide an update which only newer files are installed and not the whole PreviousVersion has to be uninstalled?

-Also my application uses a MSSQL Database how can I provide a Database update?

Answer 1

How can I notify the users that there is an update available?

You need an Updater application which checks for updates and prompts the user to install them. Visual Studio doesn’t have this, but some commercial setup authoring tools have built-in updaters. If you don’t want to use a third-party updater, you can write one yourself.

How can I provide an update which only newer files are installed and not the whole PreviousVersion has to be uninstalled?

This is done through patches: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370578(VS.85).aspx

Also my application uses a MSSQL Database how can I provide a Database update?

Since your database is handled by custom actions, its update can also be performed through custom actions.