Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce

One of the sessions I attended at Day of .NET was on ClickOnce.  Someone asked a question about a ClickOnce book, and I recommended Smart Client Deployment with ClickOnce: Deploying Windows Forms Applications with ClickOnce (Microsoft .NET Development Series). Of course, I couldn't remember the name of the book at the time. I described it as "white with the blue checks" and "from Microsoft, but not the orange ones". In case people who asked may read my blog, and couldn't figure it out from my description (don't know why that would be true), I thought I'd do a blog post.

So, about the book itself, I really liked it.  It covers all of the basics, but also helped me jump a lot of hurdles that I may not have figured out on my own.  It was easy to read, and I've gone back to refer to it several times (currently has three bookmarks in it, which is one good sign of a book I'm actually using).  

Beyond the basics, the book discusses controlling updates yourself programmatically, localizing the deployment, handling data files (a little tricky with ClickOnce), deploying extensible applications (plug-ins), security, certificates, and adding prerequisite items to the bootstrapper. 

I find that the best books for me are usually ones that cover a narrow topic in depth, and this falls into that category.  So, if you're not interested in ClickOnce deployment, you'll probably never give this a second glance.  But if you are interested in ClickOnce, pick up this book.  I highly recommend it.