Many applications in production today can automatically detect when a new version is available, and download the update. In Part I of this article, you saw how you could enhance existing Visual Basic 6.0 applications to include such auto-updating functionality. The key was to utilize a new feature of the .NET Framework 2.0 known as ClickOnce deployment. ClickOnce provides the functionality to detect application updates, prompt the user to download, install the updates, and launch the new version of the application. ClickOnce can even be used for the initial application deployment, thus simplifying the process of getting the application out to a large number of users.
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