Publishing C# application with VisualStudio

Question

I have an application written in C# using VisualStudio 2015 and I want to publish it (eg give an exe or installer to somebody to use it on its PC). From VisualStudio there is possibility to click "publish" in solution explorer. The result files are:

-Application files (File folder)

-project.application (Application manifest)

-setup.exe (Application)

As far as I know "manifest" file should be some metadata, but I can execute that file and it gives me an installer (the same as setup.exe). After installing it runs an application (just like setup.exe). It makes me confused - what exactly project.application is? Can I delete it and use only setup.exe? What is the correct way of publishing an app? One last thing: why does the installer run installation on first execution and run an application on any other? I would expect to run installation any time (just like other software).

Thanks

Jimi · Accepted Answer · 2018-07-22 23:50:10Z

1

It sounds like a ClickOnce application. See the following link for more information:
ClickOnce security and deployment

In a nutshell:
The installer copies the files to the users AppData and then runs the application.
There are also other options such as checking for updates from a network location or web address. Then when you run the application it checks for updates and uses the manifest to do an incremental update of the application files.

edited Jul 22, 2018 at 23:50

Jimi

33.3k8 gold badges52 silver badges84 bronze badges

answered Jul 22, 2018 at 21:22

Shane Ray

1,4691 gold badge13 silver badges18 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Publishing C# application with VisualStudio

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related