ApplicationDeployment Class (System.Deployment.Application)

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

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.NET Framework Class Library

ApplicationDeployment Class

Updated: July 2008

Supports updates of the current deployment programmatically, and handles on-demand downloading of files. This class cannot be inherited.

Namespace: System.Deployment.Application
Assembly: System.Deployment (in System.Deployment.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public NotInheritable Class ApplicationDeployment

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As ApplicationDeployment

public sealed class ApplicationDeployment

Visual C++

public ref class ApplicationDeployment sealed

JScript

public final class ApplicationDeployment

Remarks

You can configure your ClickOnce application to check for updates and install them automatically through the subscription element of the deployment manifest. Some applications, however, need finer control over their updates. You may want to install required updates programmatically, and prompt users to install optional updates at their convenience. By turning off subscription updates in the deployment manifest, you can take complete control of your application's update policies. Alternatively, you can use automatic subscription in conjunction with ApplicationDeployment, which enables ClickOnce to update the application periodically, but uses ApplicationDeployment to download critical updates shortly after they are released.

You can test whether your deployment has an available update by using either the CheckForUpdate or the CheckForUpdateAsync method; the latter method raises the CheckForUpdateCompleted event on successful completion. CheckForDetailedUpdate returns important information about the update, such as its version number and whether it is a required update for current users. If an update is available, you can install it by using Update or UpdateAsync; the latter method raises the UpdateCompleted event after installation of the update is complete. For large updates, you can receive progress notifications through the CheckForUpdateProgressChanged and UpdateProgressChanged events, and use the information in ProgressChangedEventArgs to notify the user of the download status.

You can also use ApplicationDeployment to download large files and assemblies on demand. These files must be marked as "optional" within the deployment's application manifest so that they are not downloaded during installation. You can download the files at any point during the application's duration by using the DownloadFileGroup or the DownloadFileGroupAsync method. You can download assemblies before they are loaded into memory by supplying an event handler for the AssemblyResolve event on the AppDomain class. For more information, see Walkthrough: Downloading Assemblies on Demand with the ClickOnce Deployment API Using the Designer.

Note:
If you update a ClickOnce application while the application is running, the user will not see the updates until you call the Restart method of the Application, which will close the current running instance of the application and immediately restart it.

ApplicationDeployment has no public constructor; you obtain instances of the class within a ClickOnce application through the CurrentDeployment property. You use the IsNetworkDeployed property to verify that the current application is a ClickOnce application.

ApplicationDeployment supports checking for updates and downloading updated files asynchronously by using the new Event-based Asynchronous Pattern Overview, which exposes completion callbacks as class events. ApplicationDeployment starts and manages the threads for you, and calls your application back on the correct UI thread. Through this class, you can update without locking up the application, so that the user can continue working while the update installs. If the user must stop all work while an update takes place, consider using the synchronous methods instead.

Note:
Performing asynchronous updates requires that your application import both the System.Deployment.Application and System.ComponentModel namespaces.

Examples

The following code example determines at application load time whether a new update is available; if a required update is available, the code example installs the update asynchronously. This code should be added to a form that contains a TextBox named downloadStatus.

Visual Basic

Private sizeOfUpdate As Long = 0

Dim WithEvents ADUpdateAsync As ApplicationDeployment

Private Sub UpdateApplication()
    If (ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed) Then
        ADUpdateAsync = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment

        ADUpdateAsync.CheckForUpdateAsync()
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub ADUpdateAsync_CheckForUpdateProgressChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DeploymentProgressChangedEventArgs) Handles ADUpdateAsync.CheckForUpdateProgressChanged
    DownloadStatus.Text = [String].Format("{0:D}K of {1:D}K downloaded.", e.BytesCompleted / 1024, e.BytesTotal / 1024)
End Sub


Private Sub ADUpdateAsync_CheckForUpdateCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As CheckForUpdateCompletedEventArgs) Handles ADUpdateAsync.CheckForUpdateCompleted
    If (e.Error IsNot Nothing) Then
        MessageBox.Show(("ERROR: Could not retrieve new version of the application. Reason: " + ControlChars.Lf + e.Error.Message + ControlChars.Lf + "Please report this error to the system administrator."))
        Return
    Else
        If (e.Cancelled = True) Then
            MessageBox.Show("The update was cancelled.")
        End If
    End If

    ' Ask the user if they would like to update the application now.
    If (e.UpdateAvailable) Then
        sizeOfUpdate = e.UpdateSizeBytes

        If (Not e.IsUpdateRequired) Then
            Dim dr As DialogResult = MessageBox.Show("An update is available. Would you like to update the application now?", "Update Available", MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel)
            If (System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK = dr) Then
                BeginUpdate()
            End If
        Else
            MessageBox.Show("A mandatory update is available for your application. We will install the update now, after which we will save all of your in-progress data and restart your application.")
            BeginUpdate()
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub BeginUpdate()
    ADUpdateAsync = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment
    ADUpdateAsync.UpdateAsync()
End Sub


Private Sub ADUpdateAsync_UpdateProgressChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DeploymentProgressChangedEventArgs) Handles ADUpdateAsync.UpdateProgressChanged
    Dim progressText As String = String.Format("{0:D}K out of {1:D}K downloaded - {2:D}% complete", e.BytesCompleted / 1024, e.BytesTotal / 1024, e.ProgressPercentage)
    DownloadStatus.Text = progressText
End Sub


Private Sub ADUpdateAsync_UpdateCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As AsyncCompletedEventArgs) Handles ADUpdateAsync.UpdateCompleted
    If (e.Cancelled) Then
        MessageBox.Show("The update of the application's latest version was cancelled.")
        Exit Sub
    Else
        If (e.Error IsNot Nothing) Then
            MessageBox.Show("ERROR: Could not install the latest version of the application. Reason: " + ControlChars.Lf + e.Error.Message + ControlChars.Lf + "Please report this error to the system administrator.")
            Exit Sub
        End If
    End If

    Dim dr As DialogResult = MessageBox.Show("The application has been updated. Restart? (If you do not restart now, the new version will not take effect until after you quit and launch the application again.)", "Restart Application", MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel)
    If (dr = System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK) Then
        Application.Restart()
    End If
End Sub

long sizeOfUpdate = 0;

private void UpdateApplication()
{
    if (ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed)
    {
        ApplicationDeployment ad = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment;
        ad.CheckForUpdateCompleted += new CheckForUpdateCompletedEventHandler(ad_CheckForUpdateCompleted);
        ad.CheckForUpdateProgressChanged += new DeploymentProgressChangedEventHandler(ad_CheckForUpdateProgressChanged);

        ad.CheckForUpdateAsync();
    }
}

void  ad_CheckForUpdateProgressChanged(object sender, DeploymentProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
    downloadStatus.Text = String.Format("Downloading: {0}. {1:D}K of {2:D}K downloaded.", GetProgressString(e.State), e.BytesCompleted/1024, e.BytesTotal/1024);   
}

string GetProgressString(DeploymentProgressState state)
{
    if (state == DeploymentProgressState.DownloadingApplicationFiles)
    {
        return "application files";
    } 
    else if (state == DeploymentProgressState.DownloadingApplicationInformation) 
    {
        return "application manifest";
    } 
    else 
    {
        return "deployment manifest";
    }
}

void ad_CheckForUpdateCompleted(object sender, CheckForUpdateCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Error != null)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("ERROR: Could not retrieve new version of the application. Reason: \n" + e.Error.Message + "\nPlease report this error to the system administrator.");
        return;
    }
    else if (e.Cancelled == true)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("The update was cancelled.");
    }

    // Ask the user if they would like to update the application now.
    if (e.UpdateAvailable)
    {
        sizeOfUpdate = e.UpdateSizeBytes;

        if (!e.IsUpdateRequired)
        {
            DialogResult dr = MessageBox.Show("An update is available. Would you like to update the application now?\n\nEstimated Download Time: ", "Update Available", MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel);
            if (DialogResult.OK == dr)
            {
                BeginUpdate();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            MessageBox.Show("A mandatory update is available for your application. We will install the update now, after which we will save all of your in-progress data and restart your application.");
            BeginUpdate();
        }
    }
}

private void BeginUpdate()
{
    ApplicationDeployment ad = ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment;
    ad.UpdateCompleted += new AsyncCompletedEventHandler(ad_UpdateCompleted);

    // Indicate progress in the application's status bar.
    ad.UpdateProgressChanged += new DeploymentProgressChangedEventHandler(ad_UpdateProgressChanged);
    ad.UpdateAsync();
}

void ad_UpdateProgressChanged(object sender, DeploymentProgressChangedEventArgs e)
{
    String progressText = String.Format("{0:D}K out of {1:D}K downloaded - {2:D}% complete", e.BytesCompleted / 1024, e.BytesTotal / 1024, e.ProgressPercentage);
    downloadStatus.Text = progressText;
}

void ad_UpdateCompleted(object sender, AsyncCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Cancelled)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("The update of the application's latest version was cancelled.");
        return;
    }
    else if (e.Error != null)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("ERROR: Could not install the latest version of the application. Reason: \n" + e.Error.Message + "\nPlease report this error to the system administrator.");
        return;
    }

    DialogResult dr = MessageBox.Show("The application has been updated. Restart? (If you do not restart now, the new version will not take effect until after you quit and launch the application again.)", "Restart Application", MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel);
    if (DialogResult.OK == dr)
    {
        Application.Restart();
    }
}

Visual C++

private:
    long sizeOfUpdate;


private:
    void Form1_Load(Object^ sender, System::EventArgs^ e)
    {
        DoUpdate();
    }

public:
    void DoUpdate()
    {
        if (ApplicationDeployment::IsNetworkDeployed)
        {
            ApplicationDeployment^ currentAppDeployment =
                ApplicationDeployment::CurrentDeployment;
            currentAppDeployment->CheckForUpdateCompleted +=
                gcnew CheckForUpdateCompletedEventHandler(
                this, &Form1::currentDeploy_CheckForUpdateCompleted);
            currentAppDeployment->CheckForUpdateAsync();
        }
    }

    // If update is available, fetch it.
    void currentDeploy_CheckForUpdateCompleted(Object^ sender,
        CheckForUpdateCompletedEventArgs^ e)
    {
        if (nullptr != e->Error)
        {
            // Log error.
            return;
        }

        if (e->UpdateAvailable)
        {
            sizeOfUpdate = (long) e->UpdateSizeBytes;
            if (!e->IsUpdateRequired)
            {
                System::Windows::Forms::DialogResult 
                    updateDialogueResult = MessageBox::Show(
                    "An update is available.Would you like to update the" +
                    " application now?", "Update Available",
                    MessageBoxButtons::OKCancel);
                if (System::Windows::Forms::DialogResult::OK == 
                    updateDialogueResult)
                {
                    BeginUpdate();
                }
            }
            else
            {
                BeginUpdate();
            }
        }
    }

    void BeginUpdate()
    {
        ApplicationDeployment^ ad = ApplicationDeployment::CurrentDeployment;
        ad->UpdateCompleted +=
            gcnew AsyncCompletedEventHandler(
            this, &Form1::CurrentDeployment_UpdateCompleted);

        // Indicate progress in the application's status bar.
        ad->UpdateProgressChanged +=
            gcnew DeploymentProgressChangedEventHandler(this, 
            &Form1::ad_ProgressChanged);

        ad->UpdateAsync();
    }

    void CurrentDeployment_UpdateCompleted(Object^ sender,
        AsyncCompletedEventArgs^ e)
    {
        if (!e->Cancelled)
        {
            if (nullptr != e->Error)
            {
                System::Windows::Forms::DialogResult 
                    restartDialogueResult = MessageBox::Show(
                    "The application has been updated. Restart?",
                    "Restart Application",
                    MessageBoxButtons::OKCancel);
                if (System::Windows::Forms::DialogResult::OK == 
                    restartDialogueResult)
                {
                    Application::Restart();
                }
            }
            else
            {
                // Replace with your own error reporting or logging.
                MessageBox::Show(
                    "The application encountered an error in downloading" +
                    " the latest update. Error: {0}",
                    e->Error->Message);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Replace with your own error reporting or logging.
            MessageBox::Show("The update of the application's latest" +
                " version was cancelled.");
        }
    }

    void ad_ProgressChanged(Object^ sender,
        DeploymentProgressChangedEventArgs^ e)
    {
        String^ progressText =
            String::Format(
            "{0:D}K out of {1:D}K downloaded - {2:D}% complete",
            e->BytesCompleted / 1024, e->BytesTotal / 1024,
            e->ProgressPercentage);
        statusStrip1->Text = progressText;
    }

Inheritance Hierarchy

System..::.Object
System.Deployment.Application..::.ApplicationDeployment

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

Reference

ApplicationDeployment Members

System.Deployment.Application Namespace

Other Resources

Walkthrough: Downloading Assemblies on Demand with the ClickOnce Deployment API Using the Designer

Change History

Date	History	Reason
July 2008	Added new members: CheckForDetailedUpdate(Boolean), CheckForUpdate(Boolean)	SP1 feature change.

Date

History

Reason

July 2008

Added new members: CheckForDetailedUpdate(Boolean), CheckForUpdate(Boolean)

SP1 feature change.