WinForms Smart Client Deployment

Summary

In this chapter, we discussed various approaches to deploying WinForms smart clients. We covered NTD, OTD, and MSI installer deployment. Then we focused on the next-generation deployment solution called ClickOnce.

You learned that the ClickOnce technology builds on the previous attempts to solve the problems associated with deploying rich clients. We showed examples of deploying and updating smart clients with ClickOnce, and then demonstrated how you can use the ClickOnce API to handle deployment tasks programmatically.

Finally, we discussed the Application Updater component and the UAB. These technologies are useful for cases where you can’t use ClickOnce deployment.

In the next chapter, we will introduce XML Web Services and how smart clients can use them.