Hmmmm
It publishes quite easily, but I was not expecting it to install the application in a hidden folder without prompting the user for an install location.
However, this is Quite a cool for protecting your files from being directly deleted by any novice users.
It installed my game here: "C:\Documents and Settings\Binary Modular\Local Settings\Apps\2.0\GDX03ND8.X3Q\1Y85XZOT.DP9\"
I had to find where it was through search because it doesn't install a traditional shortcut file in the start menu; which does not show its location; neither did the ClickOnce guide tell me where it was going to install the file.
I'm curious as to how ClickOnce users provide customer support when explaining how to locate such a folder to run a sub-program or utility.
I'm sold anyway, on a good note, it is an easy way to create an automatic update service; as the program is launched, it checks for updates, prompts the user to install; downloads the changes and runs as normal.
Pretty flawless in that department. But I would have prefered if the user could choose what drive and directory they want the files to be installed in; but I guess this may be the future for installation packages.
However if issues arise, one could use a seperate install package create a game profile and launch folder in an easy to locate location; then the launch program could execute the ClickOnce application.
Edit:
It does not provide an uninstall link, but you can uninstall via the control panel. In XP ( I haven't uninstalled it on my Windows 7 laptop yet), it does not show its disk space usage, unlike every other program installed.
One interesting feature, is a check box in the uninstaller that allows you to restore it to a previous state.
During the download process, there is a little text block with a message says something along the lines of "Downloading, this may take several minutes". Well... it is going to take more than several minutes to download a large game. One would have to hope that most customers would overlook the message, perhaps only a minority will post a question to ask why the download didn't take several minutes.
And finally; after a number of tests on 3 machinces; with only a few install successes; I am now getting this 'Cannot continue. The application is improperly formatted. Contact the application Vendor' error. Ofcourse, I did not edit anything to cause it to become improperly formatted. The issue is with the XML settings in the manifest file, but I could not find the issue.
The problem seems to have been around for a long long time; it can be worked out but I will not bother with it. I'm done testing the install feature and will look into creating my own installer with the aid of a normal install service.
