Is it possible to use NGen with ClickOnce deployment?

Question

Is it possible to use NGen with ClickOnce deployment?

Uttermost

Answer 1

Actually you can use NGEN and clickone, but you are going to need to run the NGEN after the clickonce installation has happened, since NGEN is part of the .NET installation (for 3.5 you should refer to the 2.0 installation).

Here is an example, I think it is generic enough for you to use it without changing or doing very little changes to the code (except for the call to your form):

static class Program
{
    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        if (ApplicationDeployment.IsNetworkDeployed && ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.IsFirstRun)
        {

            string appPath = Application.StartupPath;
            string winPath = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("WINDIR");

            Process proc = new Process();
            System.IO.Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(appPath);

            proc.EnableRaisingEvents = false;
            proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = false;
            proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;

            proc.StartInfo.FileName = winPath + @"\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\ngen.exe";
            proc.StartInfo.Arguments = "uninstall " + Application.ProductName + " /nologo /silent";

            proc.Start();
            proc.WaitForExit();

            proc.StartInfo.FileName = winPath + @"\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\ngen.exe";
            proc.StartInfo.Arguments = "install " + Application.ProductName + " /nologo /silent";

            proc.Start();
            proc.WaitForExit();

        }

        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }
}

Tell

This does not work on Windows 7 (and I guess Vista), because ngen wants to run as Administrator. – Axle

This is not much practical use as it requires admin permissions. The nature of clickonce is that it doesn't require admin permissions to install, so adding this code wouldn't make sense. – Mckellar

Answer 2

No, you can not. See http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/clr/thread/a41b62c5-bdee-4bd5-9811-15a35c4a4add/. You need to create a regular installer file for that.

Eli