Emcranks Auto Updater

[Emcrank]

Updated: 17/7/2010 [16:18 - Saturday]
Fixed writing permissions.
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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 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 )

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(FileIO.SpecialDirectories.CurrentUserApplicationData, "settings.ini") 'Path of local .INI file
    Dim fullpath2 As String = IO.Path.Combine(FileIO.SpecialDirectories.CurrentUserApplicationData, "version.ini") 'Path of downloaded .INI file
Dim newUpdaterPath As String = IO.Path.Combine(FileIO.SpecialDirectories.CurrentUserApplicationData, "Updater.exe") 'Path of Updater.exe
    Dim Version As String = My.Application.Info.Version.ToString 'DONT EDIT
#End Region
 
#Region " ON FORM CLOSING "
    Dim fullpath3 As String = IO.Path.Combine(FileIO.SpecialDirectories.CurrentUserApplicationData, "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(FileIO.SpecialDirectories.CurrentUserApplicationData, "version.ini")) Then
            My.Computer.FileSystem.DeleteFile(IO.Path.Combine(FileIO.SpecialDirectories.CurrentUserApplicationData, "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.Info.AssemblyName & """" 'Gives updater the applications name
    Dim a4 As String = a1 & " " & a2 & " " & a3
                    Process.Start(newUpdaterPath, 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

How your version.ini file should look

[settings]
version=1.0.0.0

(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