You can publish ClickOnce applications from Visual Studio 2008 or 2010 using an SDK tool named the Manifest Generating and Editing tool (Mage) or a custom tool that uses the ClickOnce publishing APIs. Visual Studio exposes most of the capabilities needed for ClickOnce publishing. However, Visual Studio may not be available or desired for IT administrators who manage ClickOnce deployments on the server. Mage is designed to address most common administrative tasks for ClickOnce; it is a lightweight .NET Framework Windows-based application that can be given to your administrators. However, Mage requires many very detailed steps, performed in the correct order, for common tasks such as modifying the application files listed in the application manifest.
To make these tasks simpler, a custom utility is needed.
The Manifest Manager Utility sample utility here demonstrates how to use the ClickOnce publishing API to manage deployment and application manifests in a simpler way. This utility is used for updating application manifest file lists and deployment manifest settings in automated procedures for the How-to topics of the Composite Application Library.