How to auto update my tool

Question

I am developing a tool and it is used by different users .. I normally save the new versions in a folder in the local network of my company but that is not flexible for externals and also not flexible for as i should send them all a msg telling them that there is a new version .. What i want to have is ideas from you on how can i fix this problem and make my too itself inform the user that there is a new version ..

Your help is highly appreciated

Note : I used Wix technology in sharpdevelop for my setup project and i use vb.net as a programming language

Answer 1

Usually this kind of problem could be resolved writing a web service that keeps track of the current version of your tool (via an XML file or a database table). This web service provide essentially two methods. GetCurrentVersion and DownloadUpdate, the first one returns to the caller the current version of the tool, the second one returns the binary bytes of your current version.

On the client side, your tool has an option 'Automatically check for updates at startup'. When this option is checked your tools connect to the web service asking for GetCurrentVersion method. If the version returned is newer that the client one, then ask your user if he/she wants to update, start an Updater.exe application and close the tool to be updated. The Updater connects to the WebService, call DownloadUpdate and writes the bytes received over the outdated tool, at the end restart the tool.