Silverlight Issues

[etienne_marais]

I have an Out of Browser application running on about 120 clients throughout the country.

I keep on running in to the following problems:

1) Application icon dissapears, sometimes it is simply a matter of a person having moved the icon, typically to the documents folder (I suspect by accident) but often the icon is just gone and the client swears they did not delete it. Checking 'program and features' shows that the application is still installed.

2) Automatic Updates (Silverlight) seems to break the application on some computers (let's say typically four out of the 120 instances typically break after each minor SL update). The OOB opens but fails to initialize. A re-install of the application gives the same problem unless Silverlight is uninstalled and re-installed first.

3) Something removes the application from the computer, the client will swear that they did not remove the application, typically the application does not show under 'programs and features' anymore but the icon remains on the desktop. It is easy to accidentally remove the OOB app. because you can right-click while the app. is running and click on 'remove this application' but when you do it that way, the icon is removed as well...

Anybody running in to similar problems ? Any advice ?

 

[diabolus]

I've had similar of issues with this, but not so that i would feel concerned , primarily it is to do with updates (of the app itself) and certificates (when i'm using them). Especially when the updates from the server goes wrong then above mentioned things happen (icons going missing or icon is there but points to wrong/non-functional version / application just gone etc) .

Also, assuming you publish to an IIS server, i noticed the web address you use is actually case sensitive, i.e. http://myapp/client vs. http://MyApp/client have different quirky results. In both cases user will still be able to hit the app and install, but the second time you publish with a different case, then i've found some issues, especially in terms of the app disappearing and not being updated on end user PC.

My solution? Make it in-browser , as in users get a web link to the app either on their desktop (which will open IE) or in their IE favorites.

I am using MS Lightswitch , which allows me to publish both in-browser and desktop versions of the app without any code changes , so i tend to do both for the ones that needs certain desktop specific features that is tricky in the browser (i.e. file access to local drive) . So the web version is always a fallback or "quick" alternative , especially for the users that only use it once in awhile, since there is no installation needed.


Either way, in the longer run, i am moving over to HTML5 rather than Silverlight, since it works on mobile, but i must say, users (windows desktop users) do seem to prefer the Silverlight version of the apps (it tends to feel more like a desktop app).

 

[etienne_marais]

I've had similar of issues with this, but not so that i would feel concerned , primarily it is to do with updates (of the app itself) and certificates (when i'm using them). Especially when the updates from the server goes wrong then above mentioned things happen (icons going missing or icon is there but points to wrong/non-functional version / application just gone etc) .

My solution? Make it in-browser , as in users get a web link to the app either on their desktop (which will open IE) or in their IE favorites.

I am using MS Lightswitch , which allows me to publish both in-browser and desktop versions of the app without any code changes , so i tend to do both for the ones that needs certain desktop specific features that is tricky in the browser (i.e. file access to local drive) . So the web version is always a fallback or "quick" alternative , especially for the users that only use it once in awhile, since there is no installation needed.

Thanks for the advice, I indeed have different types of users, the reason why it is OOB is because I use p/invoke to access a USB device but many users use the application for other purposes that does not require p/i, so a dual publish (OOB/conventional) may just be the solution. First time I hear of Lightswitch, thanks for that.

 

[diabolus]

Thanks for the advice, I indeed have different types of users, the reason why it is OOB is because I use p/invoke to access a USB device but many users use the application for other purposes that does not require p/i, so a dual publish (OOB/conventional) may just be the solution. First time I hear of Lightswitch, thanks for that.

Oh, i added a bit there about the publish address, some sub component somewhere seems to be case sensitive , read my bit in my original post.

EDIT: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/lightswitch.aspx (i am personally surprised not more devs are using this, alot of people are re-inventing the wheel to create basic database/line of business apps, hell knows why)