Automatically check "Run at startup" on first start

[bNobo]

This application is intended to constantly run in the background, it won't if it is not at least launched :)

[bNobo]

In order to check if the application has already been launch, I see 3 options :

1) Store a value somewhere at the end of startup and check for its existence at the beginning of startup. It the value does not exists then it means first start and "run at start" should be checked automatically. The value could be stored in a file or in windows registry. 2) Use ApplicationDeployment.IsFirstRun Property to check whether application has already been launched or not. Check documentation here 3) Similar to solution 1) but use user's Properties.Settings instead of custom storage.

Solution 1

Pros 👍

• Total control of the way it is stored and retrieved
• Total control of when it should be reinitialized or not

  Cons 👎

• More complicate to implement
• Would leave a file or a registry entry after uninstall. Could be considered a feature : if user reinstall the application its settings would be restored.

  Solution 2

  Pros 👍

• Very simple to implement
• The machine would stay clean after uninstall

  Cons 👎

• Absolutely no control on it. It is not a problem if it works properly but impossible to investigate if there is a problem
• The checkbox would be automatically rechecked each update because IsFirstRun returns true for the first run of each version.
• ClickOnce dependent. Won't work anymore in case of new setup based on another technology.

  Solution 3

  Pros 👍

• Very simple to implement
• Total control of when it should be reinitialized or not (provided that AssemblyVersion is never modified and stay 1.0.0.0, because a new settings file is created for each assembly version)

  Cons 👎

• Partial control of the way it is stored and retrieved (settings file in user AppData).
• Would leave a file after uninstall. Could be considered a feature : if user reinstall the application their settings would be restored.

[bNobo]

I think the more appropriate is solution 3)

I have created a new branch to implement this fix

[bNobo]

I have made a very simple implementation which just check "run on startup" on first run without any other verification. The menu item will be checked no matter whether it is really a first installation or an update. So an existing installation where "run on startup" is not checked will have the menu item checked after update. I'm not sure it's really an issue because currently there are very little users who have installed the application. Moreover, I consider "run on startup" REALLY should be checked for a better user experience.