Automatic Update Notification

[maarten]

I purchased TrueUpdate last week and one of the key functionalities missing (but which shouldn't be too dificult to develop) is an automatic notification of when an update is available. I am looking for a similar functionality like Windows Update.

Rather than have a pull approach where the user needs to check regularly, I would like to be able to notify him of an update.

If this feature is already available then please let me know and otherwise I would appreciate it if someone of development could provide me some insight if this feature is going to be available.

Thanks


Maarten

[Adam]

Maarten,

I do not know if it is possible for the server to notify the clients when an update is available. If it seems that the server is notifying the clients of an update then it is most likely that the client is silently checking for an update in the background. This can be accomlished using True Update.

In the case of Windows I assume that Windows checks for updates in the background when you start your machine.

You can use the screen mask and silent mode command line switches to accomplish a silent update.

You can see info on this under: Help | Command Reference | Command line options.

I hope this helps.

Adam Kapilik

[maarten]

I could imagine that one could define in the client that it checks every n times for an update.

If an update is available (by the client polling the server) then the client interface is started and informs the user that an update is available. It is then the user's decision whether to install it or not.

Doing it in silent mode would not be possible because our app is mission critical for our clients and can not be stopped like that (so in a silent mode). The administrator of the app needs to decide himself when he wants to perform the update he was informed about.

[Adam]

Maarten,

The running of the client has been left in the hands of the developer. Basically True Update outputs an exe and a dependency file that you can run whenever you desire.

You can create an update that will only show a screen if an update is available by simply hiding certain screens in the client config utility. If you hide the following screens you can accomplish a semi silent update:

Welcome
Check For Update
Already Updated
Update Failed

I hope that this helps.

Adam Kapilik