Question

When you install a ClickOnce application, the program runs after the install. Is it possible to install without running?

I know I can use a setup and deployment project and create an installer, but I’d prefer to use ClickOnce.

Answer 1

I guess you could fake it. Introduce an ‘IsInstalled’ boolean property, defaulted to false. Then in Program.cs, change your Main() method to look like this:

[STAThread] static void Main() {     Application.EnableVisualStyles();     Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);      if (!Properties.Settings.Default.IsInstalled)     {         Properties.Settings.Default.IsInstalled = true;         Properties.Settings.Default.Save();          MessageBox.Show('Install Complete');         return;     }      Application.Run(new Form1()); } 

So now when the app is first installed, it checks that property and simply displays a message to the user and then quits.

If you wanted to get tricky then you could look at parsing the Activation URI for the deployment and have a URI parameter which specifies whether the program should run when it’s first installed or just close silently.