ClickOnce Technology - Easy way to distribute updates(Auto update) of .NET based Windows application to workstations

ClickOnce Technology is Windows application publishing technology which can be used for any Windows Presentation Foundation (.xbap), Windows Forms (.exe), console application (.exe), or Office solution (.dll).

Applications which is published using ClickOnce technology is called ClickOnce application.

ClickOnce applications can be self-updating; they can check for newer versions as they become available and automatically replace any updated files.

The developer can specify the update behavior; a network administrator can also control update strategies for example, marking an update as mandatory. Updates can also be rolled back to an earlier version by the end user or by an administrator.

ClickOnce applications are self-contained; each ClickOnce application is installed to and run from a secure per-user, per-application cache.

ClickOnce applications run in the Internet or Intranet security zones. If necessary, the application can request elevated security permissions.

The core ClickOnce security is based on certificates, code access security policies, and the ClickOnce trust prompt.

The core ClickOnce deployment architecture is based on two XML manifest files: an application manifest and a deployment manifest. The files are used to describe where the ClickOnce applications are installed from, how they are updated, and when they are updated.

When the application developers create an updated version of the application, they generate a new application manifest and copy files to a deployment location—usually a sibling folder to the original application deployment folder. The administrator updates the deployment manifest to point to the location of the new version of the application.