{"id":394,"date":"2009-05-19T21:01:18","date_gmt":"2009-05-19T20:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamlor.info\/wordpress\/?p=394"},"modified":"2021-03-11T09:44:41","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T08:44:41","slug":"depoy-a-clickonce-app-from-a-build-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gamlor.info\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/depoy-a-clickonce-app-from-a-build-server\/","title":{"rendered":"Depoy a ClickOnce-App from a Build-Server"},"content":{"rendered":"

ClickOnce<\/a> (Wikipedia<\/a>, MSDN<\/a>) is an easy way to deploy and update your .NET-application. Its also easy to set it up in Visual Studio and run it from there. It increments the version-number, compiles and deploys the application in one and simple step. But I really don\u2019t want to publish software with my IDE on a developer-machine. Of course I want initiate the deployment from a build-server. While ClickOnce-deployment works nicely within Visual Studio, it can be a real bitch running stand-alone.<\/p>\n

Visual-Studio uses MSBuild<\/a> to build stuff, so the first step is obvious. The \u2018publish\u2019-target creates the ClickOnce-Installer etc. Go to your project, open the console and try it.<\/p>\n

%windir%\\Microsoft.Net\\Framework\\v3.5\\msbuild.exe \/target:Publish \/property:Configuration=Release<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However running the \u2018publish\u2019-target won\u2019t update the version-number nor copy it to the target (documented here<\/a>). This only works within Visual Studio. But this isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing, because now you have full control over it. The revision is set with the\u00a0 ApplicationRevision-property:<\/p>\n

%windir%\\Microsoft.Net\\Framework\\v3.5\\msbuild.exe \/target:Publish \/property:Configuration=Release;ApplicationRevision=42<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This way you can set this property with your build-server. So its possible to synchronize application-versions with build-runs or something else. The published files are in the \u201c%Project%\/Release\/app.publish\/\u201d-Directory, ready to copy to the server. So the best way is to write a little MSBuild-script. In my example I invoke just the ordinary-build-target and copy then the files to a server. The ApplicationRevision-property is set externally by the build-server or command-line:<\/p>\n

<?<\/span>xml<\/span> version<\/span>=\"1.0\"<\/span> encoding<\/span>=\"utf-8\"<\/span>?><\/span>\r\n<<\/span>Project<\/span> ToolsVersion<\/span>=\"3.5\"<\/span> DefaultTargets<\/span>=\"Publish\"<\/span> xmlns<\/span>=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/developer\/msbuild\/2003\"<\/span>><\/span>\r\n  <<\/span>PropertyGroup<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <!-- project name--><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>ProjectName<\/span>><\/span>MyExampleProject<\/<\/span>ProjectName<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <!--properties for the project-build--><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>DefaultBuildProperties<\/span>><\/span>Configuration=Release<\/<\/span>DefaultBuildProperties<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <!-- location of the click-once stuff, relative to the project --><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>ProjectPublishLocation<\/span>><\/span>.\\bin\\Release\\app.publish<\/<\/span>ProjectPublishLocation<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <!-- Location you want to copy the click-once-deployment. Here an windows-share--><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>ProjectClickOnceFolder<\/span>><\/span>\\\\TargetServer\\deployments<\/<\/span>ProjectClickOnceFolder<\/span>><\/span>\r\n  <\/<\/span>PropertyGroup<\/span>><\/span>\r\n  <<\/span>Target<\/span> Name<\/span>=\"Publish\"<\/span> DependsOnTargets<\/span>=\"Clean\"<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>Message<\/span> Text<\/span>=\"Publish-Build started for build no $(ApplicationRevision)\"<\/span> \/><\/span>\r\n    <!-- run the original build of the project --><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>MSBuild<\/span> Projects<\/span>=\".\/$(ProjectName).csproj\"<\/span>\r\n    Properties<\/span>=\"$(DefaultBuildProperties)\"<\/span>\r\n    Targets<\/span>=\"Publish\"<\/span>\/><\/span>\r\n    <!-- define the files required for click-once--><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>ItemGroup<\/span>><\/span>\r\n      <<\/span>SetupFiles<\/span> Include<\/span>=\"$(ProjectPublishLocation)\\*.*\"<\/span>\/><\/span>\r\n      <<\/span>UpdateFiles<\/span> Include<\/span>=\"$(ProjectPublishLocation)\\Application Files\\**\\*.*\"<\/span>\/><\/span>\r\n    <\/<\/span>ItemGroup<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <!-- and copy them --><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>Copy<\/span>\r\n    SourceFiles<\/span>=\"@(SetupFiles)\"<\/span>\r\n    DestinationFolder<\/span>=\"$(ProjectClickOnceFolder)\\\"<\/span>\/><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>Copy<\/span>\r\n    SourceFiles<\/span>=\"@(UpdateFiles)\"<\/span>\r\n    DestinationFolder<\/span>=\"$(ProjectClickOnceFolder)\\Application Files\\%(RecursiveDir)\"<\/span>\/><\/span>\r\n  <\/<\/span>Target<\/span>><\/span>\r\n  <<\/span>Target<\/span> Name<\/span>=\"Clean\"<\/span>><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>Message<\/span> Text<\/span>=\"Clean project\"<\/span> \/><\/span>\r\n    <<\/span>MSBuild<\/span> Projects<\/span>=\".\/$(ProjectName).csproj\"<\/span>\r\n    Properties<\/span>=\"$(DefaultBuildProperties)\"<\/span>\r\n    Targets<\/span>=\"Clean\"<\/span>\/><\/span>\r\n  <\/<\/span>Target<\/span>><\/span>\r\n<\/<\/span>Project<\/span>><\/span><\/pre>\n
After running, testing and improving the deploy-process, try it out on your build-server. If it runs your lucky. But, your build will probably fail with a message like: \u201csetup.bin\u201d not found in \u201cExampleProject\/Engine\u201d.<\/p>\n
Now things start to get ugly, really really ugly. You need the \u2018bootstrapper\u2019-files to build the click-once-setup. This files are located normally under \u2018C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v6.0A\\Bootstrapper\u2019. (And installed by Visual Studio. But I really don\u2019t want Visual Studio on my build-machine). So copy them to your build-machine. Then you add this registry-key:<\/p>\n
Key Name:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\GenericBootstrapper\\3.5<\/p>\n
Value Name: Path
\nType: REG_SZ
\nData: c:\\CopiedFiles\\ <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Run the build-scrip again on the server. If it works now, well done. If it still fails with an error like this: \u201cSigntool requires CAPICOM version 2.1.0.1\u201d it gets even uglier!<\/p>\n
Download the CAPICOM SDK here<\/a>. Install\/Extract it. There will be a \u2018capicom.dll\u2019 in it. You can copy it to the %windir%\/system32. Then you need this register it. Run with administrator-privileges \u201cREGSVR32 capicom.dll\u201d. Finally your build should run.\u00a0 \\o\/<\/p>\n
If you know a better way to run ClickOnce-deployment without Visual-Studio and without hacks, please tell me. Its really ugly at the moment.<\/p>\n
Sources and references:<\/p>\n