NetRun is a utility that helps make no-touch deployment, or auto-deployment, work in .NET. This program can be installed on a client workstation, along with the .NET runtime, and can then be used to launch .NET programs from a URL. The .NET program will be automatically downloaded into a cache on the client machine and will run from there. Any dependant DLLs will also be automatically downloaded to the client machine. The program and DLLs will also automatically update when new versions are placed on the server.
This version of NetRun is documented in Expert One-on-One Visual Basic .NET Business Objects. NetRun addresses the following issues you may encounter with no-touch deployment:
- Dynamically setting security for deployed applications
- Reading application configuration files from an ASP.NET server
- Allows you to deserialize objects into autodeployed classes
- Preventing the browser from popping up when running http://myserver/myroot/myapp.exe
Note that NetRun grants FullTrust to any application it runs. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you alter the code in NetRun to only run your applications or at least alter it to only run code from the intranet zone with FullTrust.
An older version of NetRun is documented in the (now out of print) Visual Basic .NET Solutions Toolkit book from Wrox Press.
The Adventures in Visual Basic .NET column on MSDN also has relevant information, including: