Third Shelf

Continuing the series on Automating a ClickOnce Deployment it’s time to have a look at the manifest files. There are two required manifest files that give clickonce the necessary information to deploy the application:

• an application manifest (.application);
• a deployment manifest (.manifest).

Application Manifest

The application manifest describes the application that we are going to install. So, let’s have a look at the contents of this file:

xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<asmv1:assembly xsi:schemaLocation="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1 assembly.adaptive.xsd" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3" xmlns:dsig="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns:co.v1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:clickonce.v1" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:xrml="urn:mpeg:mpeg21:2003:01-REL-R-NS" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <assemblyIdentity name="App.application" version="1.0.903.18476" publicKeyToken="0000000000000000" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" />
  asmv2:publisher="App Publishers Company" asmv2:product="App" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">App
  mapFileExtensions="true">
    <subscription>
      <update>
        <beforeApplicationStartup />
      </update>
    </subscription>
    <deploymentProvider codebase="http://deployment-server/Published/App/app.exe.application" />
  </deployment>
  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly dependencyType="install" codebase="1.0.903.18476\App.exe.manifest" size="33600">
      <assemblyIdentity name="App.exe" version="1.0.903.18476" publicKeyToken="0000000000000000" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" type="win32" />
      <hash>
        <dsig:Transforms>
          <dsig:Transform Algorithm="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:HashTransforms.Identity" />
        </dsig:Transforms>
        <dsig:DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1" />
        <dsig:DigestValue>DrLiyVjtlKhOmtuzuXhFSTqi/9Q=
      </hash>
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>
</asmv1:assembly>

One of the important things to note in this manifest is the mapFileExtensions attribute in the deployment tag. This attribute indicates that our installation files have a .deploy extension – MyApplication.exe is copied to the deployment server as MyApplication.exe.deploy and is renamed when installed on the client machine. In the deploymentProvider tag we specify where the application can find future updates and from where this application was installed.

The next interesting tag is dependentAssembly, which points to the deployment manifest to use when installing the application on the client machine. We specify the deployment manifest in the codeBase attribute which describes how the application installs. Note that the codebase attribute points to a version folder in which the deployment manifest resides – for every new release of the application this application manifest is either overwritten or updated to point to the new version of the installation files and deployment manifest.

Deployment Manifest

The deployment manifest describes the how the application installs and what files to install on the client. Once again, let’s have a look at the contents:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<asmv1:assembly xsi:schemaLocation="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1 assembly.adaptive.xsd" manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3" xmlns:dsig="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:co.v1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:clickonce.v1">
  <asmv1:assemblyIdentity name="App.exe" version="1.0.903.18476" publicKeyToken="0000000000000000" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" type="win32" />
  <application />
  <entryPoint>
    <assemblyIdentity name="App" version="1.0.903.18476" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" />
    <commandLine file="App.exe" parameters="" />
  </entryPoint>
  <trustInfo>
    <security>
      <applicationRequestMinimum>
        <PermissionSet Unrestricted="true" ID="Custom" SameSite="site" />
        <defaultAssemblyRequest permissionSetReference="Custom" />
      </applicationRequestMinimum>
      <requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
        <requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
  <dependency>
    <dependentOS>
      <osVersionInfo>
        <os majorVersion="5" minorVersion="1" buildNumber="0" servicePackMajor="0" />
      </osVersionInfo>
    </dependentOS>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly dependencyType="preRequisite" allowDelayedBinding="true">
      <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Windows.CommonLanguageRuntime" version="2.0.50727.0" />
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>
  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly dependencyType="install" allowDelayedBinding="true" codebase="DevExpress.Data.v9.1.dll" size="855552">
      <assemblyIdentity name="App" version="9.1.5.0" publicKeyToken="B88D1754D700E49A" language="neutral" processorArchitecture="msil" />
      <hash>
        <dsig:Transforms>
          <dsig:Transform Algorithm="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:HashTransforms.Identity" />
        </dsig:Transforms>
        <dsig:DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1" />
        <dsig:DigestValue>CXehkPHON56TeTj7ZWsy++QsymE=
      </hash>
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>
  <file name="GlobalConfiguration.xml" size="21074">
    <hash>
      <dsig:Transforms>
        <dsig:Transform Algorithm="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:HashTransforms.Identity" />
      </dsig:Transforms>
      <dsig:DigestMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#sha1" />
      <dsig:DigestValue>6hHtbL9F9sfgWmKLYrWRpYmILCE=
    </hash>
  </file>
</asmv1:assembly>

The first tag of interest here is the entryPoint tag that identifies the application to run once the installation completes. In order to start the application clickonce will execute the command with the parameters specified in the commandLine tag.

Every application has dependencies that must either be installed with the program or should have been installed. In the first dependency tag we see that the minimum operating system version required is Windows XP. In the second dependency tag we see that the dependencyType attribute instructs clickonce to verify that the .NET Framework 2.0 is already installed on the client.

In the third dependency tag we see that the dependencyType is install, which instructs clickonce to install this dependency on the client. Remember that the .deploy extension will automatically be removed during the installation process.

The next tag is a file tag that specifies a non-assembly file that is copied into the application installation directory. Note: by default when clickonce encounters a xml file it assumes it as a configuration file and will copy it to a data directory; along the application directory; instead of the application directory. You can find the data directory location by querying the System.Deployment.ApplicationApplicationDeployment.DataDirectory property.

In the next installment of this series we will show a build file example and generate a deployment manifest with the Mage tool.