"Administering ClickOnce Deployments"

Administering ClickOnce Deployments

"Summary: ClickOnce provides an easy-to-use and flexible deployment mechanism for smart client applications built for the .NET Framework 2.0. ClickOnce offers end-user deployment, ready-made installation dialogs, a built-in security model, and automatic or on-demand updates. But while it's great to have so many built-in features, one area that users often request more control is in tracking who uses which applications, controlling access to those applications, and knowing when something goes wrong. You may just need to keep track of who is using which versions of each application at the user level. You may want to restrict access to certain applications and updates based on a user's identity or their association with a role or group. You may want to know when launch errors have occurred for particular users so that you can troubleshoot deployment problems if they exist.

This whitepaper discusses all of these scenarios...

Contents

Introduction
Publishing and Deploying a ClickOnce Application
Installing and Launching a ClickOnce Application

Tracking ClickOnce Application Usage
Using Windows Authentication
Using Custom Application Authentication
Using Query String Parameters
Using a Custom Client Proxy to Establish an Application Session
User Authentication Summary

Limiting Access to ClickOnce Applications
Using Windows Authorization Custom Authorization
Using Query String Parameters
Using a Custom Client Proxy User Authorization Summary

Dealing with Launch Errors

Summary

Additional Resources

Appendix
Publish Directory Structure
Setting and Changing the Deployment Provider"

What interested me in this article was the "Tracking ClickOnce Application Usage" topic...

I've been thinking of tracking who installs my internal ClickOnce apps so I know who I'll be supporting, who to ask for feedback, etc. I was thinking of baking it into each app, but doing it externally would be much cooler and easier to reuse...