How to: Enable ClickOnce Deployment for SQL Server Compact
ClickOnce is a software installation technology supported by SQL Server Compact 4.0 for deploying managed applications on desktop computers. ClickOnce simplifies deploying a Windows-based application to a Web server or network file share. Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 provides full support for publishing and updating VB and C# based applications that are deployed with ClickOnce. To enable ClickOnce for a console or Windows application, use the following procedure.
To enable ClickOnce
Open Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1.
Create a new project, and choose Windows Forms Application or Console Application or from the templates.
In Solution Explorer, right-click your new project, and Open the Properties of the project.
Go to Publish tab, click Prerequisites, do the following, and then click OK:
Check SQL Server Compact 4.0. In addition to SQL Server Compact 4.0, you can also select other programs that your new application would require to run.
In the Specify the install location of prerequisites section, select the location where the required programs are located.
Click Publish Wizard. Specify the location where you want to publish your application, and then click Next. Following are the locations where you can publish:
Disk Path
File share
FTP server
Web site
On the How will users install the application screen, specify from where the user can install the new application, and then click Next.
On the Where will the application check for updates screen, select the updates location, click Next, and then click Finish.
If you have already created the application and made some changes then to publish again, click Publish Now.