Re: Best Way to Distribute a Winform Application

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• In reply to: Rockford Lhotka: "Re: Best Way to Distribute a Winform Application"
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Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 09:13:04 -0800

Rockford, I want to thank you for your comments and suggestions.

Our environment is an intranet and all of our desktops have network access
to our SQL server machine. We currently have about 70 users so I would guess
our concurrent access to be maybe 10 users at any one time. It sounds like
the Updater Application Block approach might work well for our needs. I am
starting to look into the quick start samples to better understand this
approach.

Should I instead consider looking into using the Visual Studio 2005 Beta for
possible deployment of our production software?
Would I be able to get any help with Visual Studio 2005 beta if I had
further questions?
Do you know when Visual Studio 2005 production version is going to be
available?
Do you know what ever happened to Visual Studio 2004? Was it ever released
or is it now being skipped for Visual Studio 2005?
Do you know if Visual Studio 2005 be designed to work with Windows 2003
Server or would a server upgrade be needed in order to use Visual Studio 2005?
Would there be any licensing issues regarding using a beta release of Visual
Studio 2005 for our intranet software that would be implemented in our
production environment?

"Rockford Lhotka" wrote:

> Assuming all the client workstations on the intranet have network access to
> the SQL server machine, you can use msi, xcopy or no-touch deployment as you
> choose.
>
> If you have more than around 100 concurrent users, or the client
> workstations can't physically reach the SQL server via the network, then
> you'll need to change your architecture to include an application server.
> Obviously that's more complex, so let's assume it isn't necessary.
>
> Using msi deployment is a matter of creating an msi using a setup project in
> VS.NET, and putting the msi on a central server so all users have access to
> it. You can link to it from a web page, they can click on the link and
> install the software.
>
> Using xcopy deployment is a matter of putting the software on a central
> server and having the users copy that directory to their local machine.
> Often this is done with a bat file or a custom app that does the copy.
>
> Using no-touch deployment is a matter of choosing between a couple options.
> No-touch deployment isn't entirely transparent, and there are two main ways
> to make it work nicely. You can use a launcher app like netrun
> (http://www.lhotka.net/Articles.aspx?id=2f5a8115-b425-4aa1-bae2-b8f80766ecb3),
> or you can use the AppUpdater block
> (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnbda/html/updater.asp)
> from MSDN.
>
> NetRun is great if your clients are always connected and you want
> incremental downloads and incremental updates.
>
> The AppUpdater block is great if you clients might be disconnected, or if
> you want full installs of each version of the software at all times. Note
> that the AppUpdater block is closest to the ClickOnce model coming in VS
> 2005, and so it may be a good strategic move in that regard.
>
> Rocky
> --
> Rockford Lhotka
> Microsoft Software Legend, Regional Director and MVP
> Author of the Expert VB.NET & C# Business Objects books
> rocky@lhotka.net http://www.lhotka.net
>
> "Bob Roggy" <BobRoggy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A4DFAE67-4CF1-478D-B889-B76C539CBD90@microsoft.com...
> >I have a winform application that accesses a SQL server database. I need to
> > deploy it on an intranet. It is an application that will be access by
> > several
> > end users. I would like to deploy it in one common place and let end users
> > execute the same exe thus making it easy it implement changes as they will
> > be
> > needed. How do you deploy a winform application in this manner?
>
>
>

• Previous message: news.microsoft.com: "Re: Newbie .NET Question Regarding Application Distribution"
• In reply to: Rockford Lhotka: "Re: Best Way to Distribute a Winform Application"
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