by TimStone » Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:02 pm
We shared this in a thread a couple of years ago ... so more data lies there.
On my system, I post updates to my secured website in a compressed format.
On each company's server, there is a program running 24/7. It is unseen and runs with no display. It does data file backups every night about midnight, uploads data my customers want sent to 3rd party vendors, and every 3 hours it checks my server to see if a new version has been posted. If so, it downloads the update file, unpacks it, and puts various .exe and data files where they belong.
Client ( workstation ) .exe file are placed in a subfolder on the server. On each workstation, the program shortcut actually points to a special program that first checks the workstation .exe against the one on the server. If there is a newer one there, it moves it over to the workstation. After the check, and move if needed, it then starts the main program. If it moves across an updated version, it first shows a popup that says the program has been updated.
In this way, any bug fixes can be distributed throughout the day automatically, and it keeps my clients very happy. I've used this method now for several years and never have a problem.
Tim