Updating VB.net windows applications over the internet - vb.net

I have a windows application developed in VB.net 2005. The application is installed in several machines.
Is there anyway when I do any modifications and publish the code it updates in all the machines.
PS: All the machines are connected to internet.
thanks

There is not an "Automatic" way of doing this, but there are various ways that you could try to enhance and automate the process.
You could build your own "updater" that polls every X days for an update, and pulls it down.
You could use click once to deploy and have the users do the updates.

For an existing application, there's nothing automatic out there. For a new application, look into ClickOnce deployment.

Related

How to move a windows .net runtime frontend application to the cloud (it uses a local sql server backend database)

I had a engineer design our .net application back in 2009, my guess is that it was coded using visual studio, and all I have is the installer application. We have been using it on our 1 or 2 local client machines very well for the past few years, but now I want to move this front end to the cloud. Instead of installing it as an application on our windows 7 machines.
It is a very simple application used in our small warehouse that keeps track of cargo/shipments etc. It uses Sql Server 2008 Express as a backend which is stored locally.
I know how to get the database in the cloud, their are many options for that, using Amazon or Azure, but how do i get the local client application to the cloud?
I dont have access to the visual studio code, i just have the runtime executable file..
I am sure there is no way to do this, and many of SO users will say i need to re-write the front end.
I have tried to contact the developer and they hav since closed down. Is their anyway i can run this in the cloud?
I welcome all options and solutions!
Thanks.
I believe you have two options for hosting this application:
If you are able to configure the database connection string, you could host the database in the cloud, and distribute the application to your end users. However, you've already stated that you know how to move the database, so I assume this isn't an option.
The only alternative is to run the entire application on a cloud server, and send the user interface to a client using terminal services. This makes it appear as if the application is running locally on the user's computer, while it is actually running on the server.
For an off-the-shelf solution to achieve this, you could consider using Microsoft's RemoteApp Azure service. I'm sure there are other similar offerings available.

Publishing a VB.NET Winform Application

I have a windows form application that I need to publish, I just need some advice on what would be the best way to publish an application to a server so that multiple users can access it using a short cut on their desktop and without having to actually install the application on their local machines.
Thanks
You may run into CAS problems. It is better if users download code to their machines. Then you talking "ClickOnce"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/71baz9ah.aspx

WebBrowser multiple instance in Azure cloud

We are having requirement for multiple instance of the WebBrowser components, running simultaneously in the Windows Azure worker role instance.
What is the best approach on implementing this? Our findings so far, made us believe that every new WebBrowser instance kills previous one and then stuck itself.
Could you also recommend best way of logining in on the web page, but without use of "HttpWebRequets", "WebRequest" or "WebClient"? We believed "WebBrowser" is our magic trick, but it seems it isn't so handy, especially on Azure cloud.
Thanks a lot!
Unless I'm mistaken, the WebBrowser control is a Windows Forms control. Is your app Windows Forms based? If so, this is not a good choice for exposing a UI, as your web visitors have no way of viewing the user interface.
As far as what will and won't run in Windows Azure worker roles: Worker roles are essentially Windows 2008 Server R2 or SP2, so whatever you run locally should run in Windows Azure, aside from sharing desktop UI's. The results of running multiple WebBrowser controls in Windows Azure shouldn't be any different than running on a local server.

How do I develop a visual studio web locally then publish it

My ISP restricts access to my SQL database hosted there. I can not remotely connect to the database. I would like to set up a local database for development and then be able to publish it. (My isp also does not have front page extensions, so I can not use the one click publish) Does anyone know of any tutorials on how I could accomplish what I want?
I was able to locate a possible solution here: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/12/22/recipe-deploying-a-sql-database-to-a-remote-hosting-environment-part-1.aspx.
Thanks deltree for trying to decipher what I was wanting.

How to set up a multi-developer Biztalk environment?

If we have 3 developers working on the same Biztalk project what is the best way to set up our development environment?
We are using TFS to store the Biztalk project.
Should we use 1 sql server and 1 Biztalk server and then have 1 or more developer machines that access the sql and biztalk servers? The issue we get with this is when 1 developer compiles and deploys their changes it can effect other developers if they are also trying to compile and deploy their work.
Should we have each developer host their own complete sql and biztalk server for local development either on their machine or within their own virtual machine? The problem we find with this is that each developer could modify their server settings and those settings are not stored in source control. This can cause confusion when changes are deployed to a testing server. Another smaller issue is that each developer would need to have sql server, biztalk server and windows server installed.
Is there another way to set up a multiple developer biztalk development environment?
You will always want to have each developer have a complete BizTalk installation on their own machines. Believe me, it doesn't work otherwise, as you'll just keep getting on each other while trying to deploy/test/debug changes.
That said, you will also want a centralized dev/test environment where you deploy your code for more complete integrated testing and making sure all the changes from everyone are seen together.
Your point about configuration is true, but only up to a point. This is because you should make your solution configuration part of your source code and keep it in source control as well. This is particularly important once you're a bit ahead in your development as you'll need to start maintaining multiple versions of your binding files for each environment (dev, test, production and so on).
tomasr is right. Also, if you have decent hardware and lots of RAM, you may want to setup a VM image of your full developer environment, then share this will all your team. Not as fast as native hardware, but does allow you to roll back changes, replace your VM if you really mess up and everyone then has the same environment – ideally close to the target one.
Setting up a continuous build server is also a most, if your projects are small, you can get each checkin to cause a full build, BizTalk deploy, export of MSI and then run tests. Later as your solutions get more numerous you might have to move to a continuous build of C# changes only, then say nightly or several times a day, you do a full. We have done this with CruiseControl.net, Nant, nunit and various power shell scripts, it was pretty time consuming, but each morning we come to work to find a fully compiled, deployed, exported and tested set of BizTalk solutions ready for the test team.