How to update an installed Window application (creating patches)

Question

I have a requirement. I created an application window and I created a setting for this application that was installed on the client machine.

Now the requirement is that if I make a further modification of the project, the client will not need to install the entire application again, instead, the client only needs to install the update of the new version. like using patches or something like that. How can I do this, and a tool in VS from which we can create updates or something else.

Please, help..

Answer 1

I solved the problem ... using ClickOne Setup VS. I publish a win form for a specific URl and every time the application launches its check of the Upgraded version, if available, it is installed and launched.

http://www.15seconds.com/issue/041229.htm

Answer 2

There are several options, but they depend on which installer you used in the first place.

Inno Setup is very easy, since (if the file elements are configured correctly) InnoSetup will detect that the application is already installed and only copy the modified files, even if you publish the entire setting. It will be automatic.

If you used the built-in installation project of Visual Studio, this is also possible, but you must set another “update identifier” in the settings. I have not worked much with this yet.

The third option is to use Windows Installer XML (WIX), which is capable of creating patch installers, but I have not worked much with WIX.

One of the last options would be to write something yourself that can exchange old files with new files, but you will need to keep UAC in mind for new versions of Windows.