How to: Specify a Publish Page for a ClickOnce Application

When publishing a ClickOnce application, a default Web page (publish.htm) is generated and published along with the application. This page contains the name of the application, a link to install the application and/or any prerequisites, and a link to a Help topic describing ClickOnce. The Publish Page property for your project allows you to specify a name for the Web page for your ClickOnce application.

Once the publish page has been specified, the next time you publish, it will be copied to the publish location; it will not be overwritten if you publish again. If you wish to customize the appearance of the page, you can do so without worrying about losing your changes. For more information, see How to: Customize the ClickOnce Default Web Page.

The Publish Page property can be set in the Publish Options dialog box, accessible from the Publish pane of the Project Designer.

To specify a custom Web page for a ClickOnce application

1. With a project selected in Solution Explorer, on the Project menu click Properties.

2. Select the Publish pane.

3. Click the Options button to open the Publish Options dialog box.

4. Click Deployment.

5. In the Publish Options dialog box, make sure that the Open deployment web page after publish check box is selected (it should be selected by default).

6. In the Deployment web page: box, enter the name for your Web page, and then click OK.

To prevent the publish page from launching each time you publish

1. With a project selected in Solution Explorer, on the Project menu click Properties.

2. Select the Publish pane.

3. Click the Options button to open the Publish Options dialog box.

4. Click Deployment.

5. In the Publish Options dialog box, clear the Open deployment web page after publish check box.

See Also

Publishing ClickOnce Applications
How to: Publish a ClickOnce Application using the Publish Wizard
How to: Customize the ClickOnce Default Web Page