Clickonce: setup.exe opens .application file in browser. Normal?

Question

I've just deployed our first ClickOnce application. Unfortunately it requires far more than one click to install our application.

• The user downloads the setup.exe and executs it
• The default browser pops up (e.g. Firefox) and the user has to download an ourapp.application file
• Afterwards he can start this file and after some security warnings the regular setup starts

This seems way to much for me and I guess that most of our customers will be really confused by this rather unusual method.

I've seen at Seesmic (the Seesmic Desktop app) that it is indeed possible to let the setup.exe directly start the ClickOnce procedure. Is the same possible with .NET 2.0? Or are there workarounds?

Best regards,

inTrance

Answer 1

This usually means that you have not defined the MIME types on the server. These are the MIME types you need in order to host a ClickOnce application:

.application --> application/x-ms-application

.manifest --> application/x-ms-application

.deploy --> application/octet stream

If you are deploying .Net 3.5 as a prerequisite, you need these as well:

.msp --> application/microsoftpatch

.msu --> application/microsoftupdate

If you have vsto apps, you need this one:

.vsto --> application/x-ms-vsto

RobinDotNet

Answer 2

There is a Firefox extension to make running ClickOnce applications easier.