I have a windows application that I would like to add an “online update” feature too. I was going to implement as follows:
- Directory on server contains latest version of all application files
- Server creates a text file which has a list of all the application files and their checksums
- Updater application reads the text file on the server, checks to see if the file also exists on the client. If the file does not exist, it is downloaded, if it does exist it’s checksum is compared…if checksum does not match the file is downloaded
I’m just trying to keep this as simple as possible, any thoughts or suggestions with this design? Thanks
I would check the version inside the main app comparing versions. If new version is found I would call a paramaterized .exe who kills the main application, perform the executable/assemblies update and launch the program again.
I would also expose the update informacion through an XML so you can easily parse it with the XmlDocument class, or you can even develop a webservice for updates as we do with our CRM application in our enterprise.