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ApplicationDeployment Class

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

System.Object
  System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment

Namespace:  System.Deployment.Application
Assembly:  System.Deployment (in System.Deployment.dll)
public sealed class ApplicationDeployment

The ApplicationDeployment type exposes the following members.

  Name Description
Public property ActivationUri Gets the URL used to launch the deployment manifest of the application.
Public property Static member CurrentDeployment Returns the current ApplicationDeployment for this deployment.
Public property CurrentVersion Gets the version of the deployment for the current running instance of the application.
Public property DataDirectory Gets the path to the ClickOnce data directory.
Public property IsFirstRun Gets a value indicating whether this is the first time this application has run on the client computer.
Public property Static member IsNetworkDeployed Gets a value indicating whether the current application is a ClickOnce application.
Public property TimeOfLastUpdateCheck Gets the date and the time ClickOnce last checked for an application update.
Public property UpdatedApplicationFullName Infrastructure. Gets the full name of the application after it has been updated.
Public property UpdatedVersion Gets the version of the update that was recently downloaded.
Public property UpdateLocation Gets the Web site or file share from which this application updates itself.
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  Name Description
Public method CheckForDetailedUpdate() Performs the same operation as CheckForUpdate, but returns extended information about the available update.
Public method CheckForDetailedUpdate(Boolean) Performs the same operation as CheckForUpdate, but returns extended information about the available update.
Public method CheckForUpdate() Checks UpdateLocation to determine whether a new update is available.
Public method CheckForUpdate(Boolean) Checks UpdateLocation to determine whether a new update is available.
Public method CheckForUpdateAsync Checks UpdateLocation asynchronously to determine whether a new update is available.
Public method CheckForUpdateAsyncCancel Cancels the asynchronous update check.
Public method DownloadFileGroup Downloads a set of optional files on demand.
Public method DownloadFileGroupAsync(String) Downloads, on demand, a set of optional files in the background.
Public method DownloadFileGroupAsync(String, Object) Downloads, on demand, a set of optional files in the background, and passes a piece of application state to the event callbacks.
Public method DownloadFileGroupAsyncCancel Cancels an asynchronous file download.
Public method Equals(Object) Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Protected method Finalize Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method GetHashCode Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method GetType Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method IsFileGroupDownloaded Checks whether the named file group has already been downloaded to the client computer.
Protected method MemberwiseClone Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method ToString Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
Public method Update Starts a synchronous download and installation of the latest version of this application.
Public method UpdateAsync Starts an asynchronous download and installation of the latest version of this application.
Public method UpdateAsyncCancel Cancels an asynchronous update initiated by UpdateAsync.
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  Name Description
Public event CheckForUpdateCompleted Occurs when CheckForUpdateAsync has completed.
Public event CheckForUpdateProgressChanged Occurs when a progress update is available on a CheckForUpdateAsync call.
Public event DownloadFileGroupCompleted Occurs on the main application thread when a file download is complete.
Public event DownloadFileGroupProgressChanged Occurs when status information is available on a file download operation initiated by a call to DownloadFileGroupAsync.
Public event UpdateCompleted Occurs when ClickOnce has finished upgrading the application as the result of a call to UpdateAsync.
Public event UpdateProgressChanged Occurs when ClickOnce has new status information for an update operation initiated by calling the UpdateAsync method.
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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 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 Note

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

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.


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();
    }
}


.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.
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CheckForDetailedUpdate throws an exception after the signing certificate is changed.
We have an application that was deployed using ClickOnce. It was recently upgraded to use Visual Studio 2008 and new updates to the application were installing just fine.

Now when we try to change the certificate (self-signed) we've found that the CheckForDetailedUpdate call in the application throws the following exception. Therefore our 'update on demand' code no longer works.

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationTrust.RequestTrust(SubscriptionState subState, Boolean isShellVisible, Boolean isUpdate, ActivationContext actCtx, TrustManagerContext tmc)
   at System.Deployment.Application.DeploymentManager.DetermineTrustCore(Boolean blocking, TrustParams tp)
   at System.Deployment.Application.DeploymentManager.DetermineTrust(TrustParams trustParams)
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CheckForDetailedUpdate(Boolean persistUpdateCheckResult)
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CheckForDetailedUpdate()
   at MyApplication.CheckForUpdates()

The calling code is as follows.

    If (Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed) Then
        ad = Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment
        info = AD.CheckForDetailedUpdate() ' <-- Exception thrown here.
        ...
    End If

Is this a bug with the CheckForDetailedUpdate method? Is there anything special we need to do in our code when changing certificates? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

- JC