.NET Software Update Manager

Question

We are developing a frame application which supports many vendor devices. Devices are installed as a plug-ins within the frame application. But the device plug-ins are not part of control panel-Add Remove programs or MSI installers.

We download the device plugins as a zip file which contains XML data and few DLLs.

What are the recommended solution available in .NET so that whenever there is latest update in the devices, our system can detect and automatically update it through internet.

ClickOnce seems to be black box. We need to inform the customer that there are updates for the list of devices.

One example could be Ubuntu Update manager.

Answer 1

What do you mean ClickOnce seems to be the block box? ClickOnce can update by asking the user or in the background without the user even knowing about it.

But since you are talking about plug-ins I suggest you take a look at the Managed Extensibility framework, this might be exactly what you need.

Allowing you to support plug-ins easiliy AND deploy updates by using simple zip files with some XML and DLL's as you said.

Answer 2

I think AppLife Update does the job well. Sure, you have to pay for it, but you have to pay a lot less than writing something equivalent from scratch would have cost.

Answer 3

Could it be that you are looking for a package manager ?

While well-established in the Python/Ruby/Linux/... eco-system, .NET is bit behind.

There is a short overview (recent) article on InfoQ on package management in .NET . And Ayende appears to enjoy Nu . It is the first result when searching for .net package management