AutoUpdater.NET

AutoUpdater.NET is designed for classic desktop application projects (WinForms or WPF) and supports the following environments:

Supported .NET Versions:

• .NET Framework 4.6.2 or above
• .NET Core 3.1
• .NET 5.0 or above

Supported Windows Versions:

• Windows 8 or above
• Windows versions lower than 8: Requires .NET Framework 4.5 or above installed for ZipExtractor to function. To avoid this requirement, use an installer file instead of a zip file for updates.

By default, AutoUpdater.NET saves 'Remind Later' and 'Skip' settings in the Windows Registry. You can change this by assigning a new PersistenceProvider. For .NET 4.0+, you can use JsonFilePersistenceProvider to save settings to a JSON file.

string jsonPath = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "settings.json");
AutoUpdater.PersistenceProvider = new JsonFilePersistenceProvider(jsonPath);

Customize the appearance and interaction of the update form:

• Hide Buttons: Use AutoUpdater.ShowSkipButton = false or AutoUpdater.ShowRemindLaterButton = false to remove specific buttons.
• Form Size: Set AutoUpdater.UpdateFormSize using a System.Drawing.Size object.
• Icon: Set AutoUpdater.Icon to a project resource (recommended size 64x64).
• TopMost: Set AutoUpdater.TopMost = true to keep dialogs on top of other windows.
• Owner Window: Use AutoUpdater.SetOwner(window) to ensure dialogs are correctly focused relative to your main Form or WPF Window.

AutoUpdater.ShowSkipButton = false;
AutoUpdater.ShowRemindLaterButton = false;
AutoUpdater.UpdateFormSize = new System.Drawing.Size(800, 600);
AutoUpdater.Icon = Resources.Icon;
AutoUpdater.TopMost = true;
AutoUpdater.SetOwner(yourMainFormOrWpfWindow);

Manage where update files are stored and how they are extracted:

• Download Path: Set AutoUpdater.DownloadPath to specify the download location.
• Installation Path: Set AutoUpdater.InstallationPath if your installation directory differs from your executable path (required for Zip updates).
• Executable Path: Set AutoUpdater.ExecutablePath to specify a relative path to the executable to run after the update (overrides XML 'executable' value).
• Clear Directory: Set AutoUpdater.ClearAppDirectory = true to wipe the application directory before extracting the update.

AutoUpdater.DownloadPath = Application.StartupPath;
AutoUpdater.InstallationPath = Application.StartupPath;
AutoUpdater.ExecutablePath = "bin\\AutoUpdater.exe";
AutoUpdater.ClearAppDirectory = true;

You can customize how AutoUpdater.NET behaves by setting various configuration properties before calling AutoUpdater.Start().

Key behaviors include:

• Manual Versioning: If you don't want to use the assembly version, set AutoUpdater.InstalledVersion.
• Synchronous Checks: Set AutoUpdater.Synchronous = true to check for updates synchronously.
• Privileges: Set AutoUpdater.RunUpdateAsAdmin = false if your application does not require administrator rights to replace files.
• Error Reporting: Enable AutoUpdater.ReportErrors = true to show error messages if no update is found or the XML is unreachable.
• Download Page: Set AutoUpdater.OpenDownloadPage = true to open the URL specified in your XML instead of downloading the file automatically.

To force users to update, set AutoUpdater.Mandatory = true. You can further control the update mode using AutoUpdater.UpdateMode:

• Mode.Forced: Hides 'Remind Later', 'Skip', and 'Close' buttons on the standard dialog.
• Mode.ForcedDownload: Skips the standard dialog entirely and starts downloading/updating without user interaction. This also ignores the OpenDownloadPage flag.

AutoUpdater.Mandatory = true;
AutoUpdater.UpdateMode = Mode.Forced;

To add auto-update functionality to your WinForms or WPF application, install the Autoupdater.NET.Official package using the NuGet Package Manager Console.

PM> Install-Package Autoupdater.NET.Official

Control how the 'Remind Later' button behaves. You can disable the user's ability to choose a custom time and instead force a specific interval.

// Users will be reminded after 2 days automatically
AutoUpdater.LetUserSelectRemindLater = false;
AutoUpdater.RemindLaterTimeSpan = RemindLaterFormat.Days;
AutoUpdater.RemindLaterAt = 2;

To check for updates at regular intervals, wrap the AutoUpdater.Start method in a timer.

// WinForms Example
System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer
{
    Interval = 2 * 60 * 1000,
    SynchronizingObject = this
};
timer.Elapsed += delegate
{
    AutoUpdater.Start("https://rbsoft.org/updates/AutoUpdaterTest.xml");
};
timer.Start();

// WPF Example
DispatcherTimer timer = new DispatcherTimer {Interval = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(2)};
timer.Tick += delegate
{
    AutoUpdater.Start("https://rbsoft.org/updates/AutoUpdaterTestWPF.xml");
};
timer.Start();

Subscribe to the ApplicationExitEvent to perform custom logic (like showing a 'Closing...' message) before the application fully exits during an update process.

AutoUpdater.ApplicationExitEvent += AutoUpdater_ApplicationExitEvent;

private void AutoUpdater_ApplicationExitEvent()
{
    Text = @"Closing application...";
    Thread.Sleep(5000);
    Application.Exit();
}