Check condition if the application is running for the first time after being installed

Question

C# 2008/3.5 SP1

I want to check to see if the application is running for the first time. I have developed an application and once this is installed on the clients computer. I want to make a check if it is first time running.

I have installed using the windows installer project.

 if (System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.IsFirstRun)
 {
      // Do something here
 }

The above code works for a clickonce development. But how can I do something similar with a windows installer.

I was thinking of added a registery when the application installs. Then check this registery item, when the program runs for the first time (true). Once it has run for the first time edit the registry to (false).

However, rather then use the registry, is there a better method that I can use?

Answer 1

Just add a boolean value to your Applications Settings. The simplest way is to use the IDE and the settings designer. It has to be user scope though, application scope is not writeable.

Don't forget to toggle the value and save the settings when you detect first-time.

The code looks like this:

 if (Properties.Settings.Default.FirstUse)
 {
     Properties.Settings.Default.FirstUse = false;
     Properties.Settings.Default.Save();

     // do things first-time only
 }

Answer 2

A good place to store application data outside of the registry is the application data folder. If you create this directory on first run then you would just need to test for it on subsequent loads. Also if your application requires it you then have a good storage location for data.

string data = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
string name = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name;
string path = Path.Combine(data, name);

if (Directory.Exists(path))
{
  // application has been run
}
else
{
  // create the directory on first run
  DirectoryInfo di = Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
}

Answer 3

Registry sounds fine. You probably want to make sure you do all first-time initialization properly before setting the value to false, and you could have an option for the user to reset this if necessary.

Answer 4

Rather than messing around with the registry, you could just store a file in the user's account folder. I can't recall the exact location, but there's a call you can do to get the location of the user settings folder.

Answer 5

To determine if an application is ever executed, I check for the file FirstTime.txt in the executable directory. I place that file in the executable directory because I know that directory is removed during an uninstall. So, when the application is redeployed, I am reassured that this file will not be there, thus I will use the static application settings to initially configure my user settings, which the user can change through the application because they are just that - user settings.

I save these user settings when form_closing event is fired. Even if had previous user settings from a previous deployment, knowing that FirstTime.txt is not present (thus letting me know that this is the first time the application is starting), I am assured that the user settings are reset to the static app settings the first time the app is run (unless, of course, the user changes these settings before closing the app).

Anyways, here's a snippet of code to check if the application has already been executed:

    /// <summary>
    /// Check if this is the first time ADDapt has ever executed
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// We know that ADDapt has run before with the existence of FirstTime.txt.
    /// </remarks>
    /// <returns>
    /// False - this was the first time the application executed
    /// </returns>
    /// <param name="ADDaptBinDirectory">
    /// Application base directory
    /// </param>
    public bool CheckFirstTime(String ADDaptBinDirectory)
    {
        bool bADDaptRunFirstTime = false;

        String FirstTimeFileName = string.Format("{0}//FirstTime.txt", ADDaptBinDirectory);
        // Find FirstTime.txt in Bin Directory

        if (File.Exists(FirstTimeFileName))
            bADDaptRunFirstTime = true;
        else
        {
            // Create FirstTime file
        }

        return bADDaptRunFirstTime;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Create the FirstTime file
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// Saving the creation date in the first time documents when the app was initially executed
    /// </remarks>
    /// <param name="FirstTimeFN">
    /// Full windows file name (Directory and all)
    /// </param>
    private void CreateFirstTimeFile(String FirstTimeFN)
    {
        FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(FirstTimeFN);
        DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;

        using (TextWriter w = fi.CreateText())
        {
            w.WriteLine(string.Format("Creation Date: {0:g} ", dt));
        }
    }