<deployment> element (ClickOnce deployment)

Article
03/10/2023

Identifies the attributes used for the deployment of updates and exposure to the system.

Syntax


      <deployment
   install
   minimumRequiredVersion
   mapFileExtensions
   disallowUrlActivation
   trustUrlParameters
>
   <subscription>
         <update>
            <beforeApplicationStartup/>
            <expiration
               maximumAge
               unit
            />
         </update>
   </subscription>
   <deploymentProvider
      codebase
   />
</deployment>

Elements and attributes

The deployment element is required and is in the urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2 namespace. The element has the following attributes.

Attribute	Description
`install`	Required. Specifies whether this application defines a presence on the Windows Start menu and in the Control Panel Add or Remove Programs application. Valid values are `true` and `false`. If `false`, ClickOnce will always run the latest version of this application from the network, and will not recognize the `subscription` element.
`minimumRequiredVersion`	Optional. Specifies the minimum version of this application that can run on the client. If the version number of the application is less than the version number supplied in the deployment manifest, the application will not run. Version numbers must be specified in the format `N.N.N.N`, where `N` is an unsigned integer. If the `install` attribute is `false`, `minimumRequiredVersion` must not be set.
`mapFileExtensions`	Optional. Defaults to `false`. If `true`, all files in the deployment must have a .deploy extension. ClickOnce will strip this extension off these files as soon as it downloads them from the Web server. If you publish your application by using Visual Studio, it automatically adds this extension to all files. This parameter allows all the files within a ClickOnce deployment to be downloaded from a Web server that blocks transmission of files ending in "unsafe" extensions such as .exe.
`disallowUrlActivation`	Optional. Defaults to `false`. If `true`, prevents an installed application from being started by clicking the URL or entering the URL into a browser. If the `install` attribute is not present, this attribute is ignored.
`trustURLParameters`	Optional. Defaults to `false`. If `true`, allows the URL to contain query string parameters that are passed into the application, much like command-line arguments are passed to a command-line application. For more information, see How to: Retrieve Query String Information in an Online ClickOnce Application. If the `disallowUrlActivation` attribute is `true`, `trustUrlParameters` must either be excluded from the manifest, or explicitly set to `false`.

The deployment element also contains the following child elements.

subscription

Optional. Contains the update element. The subscription element has no attributes. If the subscription element does not exist, the ClickOnce application will never scan for updates. If the install attribute of the deployment element is false, the subscription element is ignored, because a ClickOnce application that is launched from the network always uses the latest version.

update

Required. This element is a child of the subscription element and contains either the beforeApplicationStartup or the expiration element. beforeApplicationStartup and expiration cannot both be specified in the same deployment manifest.

The update element has no attributes.

beforeApplicationStartup

Optional. This element is a child of the update element and has no attributes. When the beforeApplicationStartup element exists, the application will be blocked when ClickOnce checks for updates, if the client is online. If this element does not exist, ClickOnce will first scan for updates based on the values specified for the expiration element. beforeApplicationStartup and expiration cannot both be specified in the same deployment manifest.

expiration

Optional. This element is a child of the update element, and has no children. beforeApplicationStartup and expiration cannot both be specified in the same deployment manifest. When the update check occurs and an updated version is detected, the new version caches while the existing version runs. The new version then installs on the next launch of the ClickOnce application.

The expiration element supports the following attributes.

Attribute	Description
`maximumAge`	Required. Identifies how old the current update should become before the application performs an update check. The unit of time is determined by the `unit` attribute.
`unit`	Required. Identifies the unit of time for `maximumAge`. Valid units are `hours`, `days`, and `weeks`.

deploymentProvider

For the .NET Framework 2.0, this element is required if the deployment manifest contains a subscription section. For the .NET Framework 3.5 and later, this element is optional, and will default to the server and file path in which the deployment manifest was discovered.

This element is a child of the deployment element and has the following attribute.

Attribute	Description
`codebase`	Required. Identifies the location, as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), of the deployment manifest that is used to update the ClickOnce application. This element also allows for forwarding update locations for CD-based installations. Must be a valid URI.

Remarks

You can configure your ClickOnce application to scan for updates on startup, scan for updates after startup, or never check for updates. To scan for updates on startup, ensure that the beforeApplicationStartup element exists under the update element. To scan for updates after startup, ensure that the expiration element exists under the update element, and that update intervals are provided.

To disable checking for updates, remove the subscription element. When you specify in the deployment manifest to never scan for updates, you can still manually check for updates by using the CheckForUpdate method.

Note

The ApplicationDeployment class and APIs in the System.Deployment.Application namespace are not supported in .NET Core and .NET 5 and later versions. In .NET 7, a new method of accessing application deployment properties is supported. For more information, see Access ClickOnce deployment properties in .NET. .NET 7 does not support the equivalent of ApplicationDeployment methods.

For more information on how deploymentProvider relates to updates, see Choosing a ClickOnce Update Strategy.

Examples

The following code example illustrates a deployment element in a ClickOnce deployment manifest. The example uses a deploymentProvider element to indicate the preferred update location.

<deployment install="true" minimumRequiredVersion="2.0.0.0" mapFileExtension="true" trustUrlParameters="true">
    <subscription>
      <update>
        <expiration maximumAge="6" unit="hours" />
      </update>
    </subscription>
    <deploymentProvider codebase="http://www.adatum.com/MyApplication.application" />
  </deployment>

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