Free solution for automatic updates with a .NET/C# app?

Question

From searching I can see this has been asked time and time again, but not adequately enough, so here goes. I\'m a hobbyist developer with no budget. A program I\'ve been dev

Answer 1

Implement it yourself! It will be fun. Create a separate application that only contains update logic i.e., fetch the files online, download them, replace local files, and show that visually to the user.

So your main application could check for updates, and if they exist it would prompt the user with the possibility to update. If the user wants to, it will run the update program, close itself (so the update can happen) and presto.

The only things you need are readily avaliable in C#, FTP access and IO.

Edit: I know it's not something terribly easy, but it's a perfect chance to learn:

• How to (properly) download files, in an abstracted way that can be extended to ftp, http, etc.
• How to (properly) do a simple task over many files - copying or overwriting them (this implies error handling).
• Practice (because there's no "proper" way) to layer and encapsulate a piece of software.
• How to deal with the OS/other software (antivirus/firewall/etc) not cooperating.

These are all things we all need to know well - If it takes some weeks to code an updater it means you were needing some weeks of learning. If you don't need to learn, time to hone your skills! If you don't know if you need, time to find out! :)

Note: I know I do need to learn better file and network I/O