“What is the best way to deploy VSTO add-ins for Outlook?” This is one of the most common question asked by our customers who are developing add-ins using Visual Studio Tools for Office(VSTO) for Outlook and other Office Applications. Simple answer is that it’s all depend on you requirements and environment. We can opt for either ClickOnce Deployment or Windows Installer.
We can refer to Choosing a Deployment Strategy and the following table compares the features of ClickOnce deployment with Windows Installer deployment to make informed decision:
ClickOnce
Windows Installer
Automatic update1
Yes
Post-installation rollback2
No
Update from Web
Does not affect shared components or other applications
Security permissions granted
Grants only permissions necessary for the application (more safe)
Grants Full Trust by default (less safe)
Security permissions required
Internet or Intranet Zone (Full Trust for CD-ROM installation)
Administrator
Application and deployment manifest signing
Installation-time user interface
Single prompt
Multipart Wizard
Installation of assemblies on demand
Installation of shared files
Installation of drivers
Yes (with custom actions)
Installation to Global Assembly Cache
Installation for multiple users
Add application to Start menu
Add application to Startup group
Add application to Favorites menu
Register file types
Install time registry access3
Limited
Binary file patching
Application installation location
ClickOnce application cache
Program Files folder
Notes:
1. With Windows Installer, you must implement programmatic updates in the application code.
2. With ClickOnce, rollback is available in Add or Remove Programs.
3. ClickOnce deployment can access HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE (HKLM) only with Full Trust permission.
Feel free to put questions related to ClickOnce or Windows Installer deployment for Office Add-ins to me.
Exchange 2010 is on it way and along with it Exchange Web Services Managed API would be one-in-all interface for developing custom applications.
So, If you are developing Exchange related application and interested to know what you can do with the new EWS Managed API and what’s new in Exchange 2010 for developers then, Here are few interesting web casts to learn more:
10/13/2009 - Exchange Server 2010 Development (Part 1 of 6): Migrating Applications to Exchange Web Services
10/14/2009 - Exchange Server 2010 Development (Part 2 of 6): A Deep Dive into Using Autodiscover Service in Exchange Web Services
10/15/2009 - Exchange Server 2010 Development (Part 3 of 6): A Deep Dive into Impersonation and Delegation in Exchange Web Services
10/20/2009 - Exchange Server 2010 Development (Part 4 of 6): A Deep Dive into Exchange Web Services Notifications (Push/Pull)
10/21/2009 - Exchange Server 2010 Development (Part 5 of 6): A Deep Dive into the Exchange Web Services Managed API
10/22/2009 - Exchange Server 2010 Development (Part 6 of 6): Best Practices for Building Scalable Exchange Server Applications
If you can’t wait for it, then have a sneak peek from quick video with Jason Henderson and David Claux of the EWS team @ Chris Mayo’s post.
Enjoy!!!