[TUT]Updater
Ok finally i have finished my auto updater - it updates by your app passing arguments to the updater.exe in a Process.Start, it cannot be opened by clicking on it, it just says the program has stopped working. For the program to recognise there is a new update you need to upload a new version.ini file onto the same link as its previous one(again you can do this with Fileden just set option to Overwrite) with a higher version number than before(just a single number e.g 1 or 2 or 14) then when the program downloads the version.ini it checks if that version is higher than the .INI file on your computer and if this is true then it initiates update. On the internet you need links for a version.ini file(SEE BELOW FOR HOW IT SHOULD BE SET OUT) and your download link(a .zip or .exe DIRECT LINK). i suggest FileDen as it allows direct links for .zip(hardly any sites let you download a .exe) and this is what you need for this to work. First you need to obtain the updater.exe by building the project i have attached at the bottom. Then put the updater.exe in the directory of wherever your application is. Also you need to put code into your project in the specified places and change a few links.
Code for your project
Delete the #Region and #End Region parts and copy and paste the wherever the region says( Variables Go at the top not in a sub but inside the class )
This is how your version.ini should look like:
(Put whatever version you want here - if it is more than the one on your computer it will update)
To Get the Updater.exe you need to BUILD the project(Not Debug, only build because it wont run as i said earlier in this post.)
I have no problem with you using it in your project or whatever as long as you dont call it your own.
Please give me some feedback as well on this as it took me a long time to make. Thankyou
Code for your project
Delete the #Region and #End Region parts and copy and paste the wherever the region says( Variables Go at the top not in a sub but inside the class )
Code:
Imports System.Runtime.InteropServices
Imports System.Text
#Region " VARIABLES "
Dim downloadedINIpath As String = "http://www.example.com/version.ini"
Dim fullpath1 As String = IO.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "settings.ini") 'Path of local .INI file
Dim fullpath2 As String = IO.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "version.ini") 'Path of downloaded .INI file
Dim Version As String = My.Application******.Version.ToString 'DONT EDIT
#End Region
#Region " ON FORM CLOSING "
Dim fullpath3 As String = IO.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "version.ini") 'Updates Path of downloaded .INI file
Dim fileExists As Boolean = My.Computer.FileSystem.FileExists(fullpath3)
If fileExists = True Then
My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile(fullpath3, FileIO.UIOption.OnlyErrorDialogs, FileIO.RecycleOption.DeletePermanently) 'Clean up version.ini when app is shutdown
End If
#End Region
#Region " ON FORM LOAD "
If My.Computer.FileSystem.FileExists(fullpath1) = False Then
INIReadWrite.WriteINI(fullpath1, "settings", "version", Version) 'Write new local .INI file if it doesn't exist
Else
If INIReadWrite.ReadINI(fullpath1, "settings", "version") <> Version Then
INIReadWrite.WriteINI(fullpath1, "settings", "version", Version)
End If
End If
If My.Computer.FileSystem.FileExists(IO.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "version.ini")) Then
My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile(IO.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "version.ini"), FileIO.UIOption.OnlyErrorDialogs, FileIO.RecycleOption.DeletePermanently) 'If previous downloaded .INI file still exists then delete it
End If
My.Computer.Network.DownloadFile(downloadedINIpath, fullpath2) 'Download new .INI file
If INIReadWrite.ReadINI(fullpath2, "settings", "version") > INIReadWrite.ReadINI(fullpath1, "settings", "version") Then 'Check the downloaded .INI file version against the local .INI files version
If MsgBox("A new update is available, do you want to update now?", MsgBoxStyle.YesNo, "New update") = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then 'If new update found, ask if they want to update now
Try
Dim a1 As String = """http://www.example.com/myapp(.zip/.exe)""" 'Address of new program to download(Change this to yours(can be either .zip or .exe file extensions))
Dim a2 As String = """" & Application.StartupPath & """" 'Download it to the applications folder
Dim a3 As String = """" & My.Application******.AssemblyName & """" 'Gives updater the applications name
Dim a4 As String = a1 & " " & a2 & " " & a3
Process.Start("Updater.exe", a4) 'Start the updater
Catch ex As Exception
Application.Exit() 'If cannot start for some reason, exit the program.
End Try
End If
Else
End If
#End Region
Class INIReadWrite
<DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError:=True)> _
Private Shared Function GetPrivateProfileString(ByVal lpAppName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpDefault As String, ByVal lpReturnedString As StringBuilder, ByVal nSize As Integer, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
End Function
<DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError:=True)> _
Private Shared Function WritePrivateProfileString(ByVal lpAppName As String, ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpString As String, ByVal lpFileName As String) As Boolean
End Function
Public Shared Function ReadINI(ByVal File As String, ByVal Section As String, ByVal Key As String) As String
Dim sb As New StringBuilder(500)
GetPrivateProfileString(Section, Key, "", sb, sb.Capacity, File)
Return sb.ToString
End Function
Public Shared Sub WriteINI(ByVal File As String, ByVal Section As String, ByVal Key As String, ByVal Value As String)
WritePrivateProfileString(Section, Key, Value, File)
End Sub
End Class
Code:
[settings] version=1.0.0.0
To Get the Updater.exe you need to BUILD the project(Not Debug, only build because it wont run as i said earlier in this post.)
I have no problem with you using it in your project or whatever as long as you dont call it your own.
Please give me some feedback as well on this as it took me a long time to make. Thankyou






