Auto-Updating Program

[stickman373]

I would like to knwo the best way to update my program so the user doesn't have to do anything. I have code for a updater that updates by checking versions and seeing if there is a new one and if so downloading a zip with all the updated files in it, but i want mine to download all the files seperate to the prog directory so the user doesn;t have to unzip the file and extract. I would have pics, exe, and database to download if a new version would be availiable. How would i check to see if new files existed in a directory and download them?

Thanks!

[eiSecure]

You can create a very powerful and very simple update to your program by using InnoSetup.
http://www.jrsoftware.org

In the help file, it tells you how you can create an update for your program by using command line variables when shelling your update, so the user doesn't see anything (you can also make it so the user can see the progress of the update).

It can automatically detect an installed version, and will update only the newer files.

With that, you can just have a variable on a website or server somewhere that's stored in a text file.
Then, you can just have your program download that 1 "version file" off the server and compare the values with the local version of the file. If the server's copy of the file contains a higher number, then you can just download the exe update file, shell the program w/ the correct parameters, and exit your program so the update can update everything.

For a sample, check out my program. You can download it at: http://www.eisecure.com/download.htm

Hope this helps!

[stickman373]

So how do i link the updater to my project like u did? The Update in the menu of ur program? What would u code to launch the updater???

Thanks for your help!

[eiSecure]

the updater is a seperate exe file. I just have my main project shell it.

[stickman373]

Cool Thanks!