Taming ClickOnce deployments

ClickOnce.targets

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDir>$(SolutionDir)Build\</BuildDir>
    <Rebuilding>false</Rebuilding>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(OutputType)' == 'Exe' Or '$(OutputType)' == 'WinExe'">
    <StartAction>Program</StartAction>
    <StartWorkingDirectory>$(BuildDir)</StartWorkingDirectory>
    <StartProgram>$(BuildDir)$(TargetFileName)</StartProgram>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Target Name="FlagRebuild" BeforeTargets="BeforeRebuild">
    <PropertyGroup>
      <Rebuilding>true</Rebuilding>
    </PropertyGroup>
  </Target>
  <Target Name="CopyBuildFiles" AfterTargets="Build">
    <ItemGroup>
      <BuildFile Include="$(TargetDir)**\*" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(BuildFile)" DestinationFolder="$(BuildDir)%(RecursiveDir)" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
  </Target>
  <Target Name="CleanBuildDir" AfterTargets="Clean" Condition="'$(Rebuilding)' == 'false'">
    <RemoveDir Directories="$(BuildDir)" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Launcher.targets

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDir>$(SolutionDir)Build\</BuildDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="$(BuildDir)**" Exclude="$(BuildDir)**\*.pdb">
      <Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(FileName)%(Extension)</Link>
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Target Name="CleanPublishDir" AfterTargets="Clean">
    <RemoveDir Directories="publish" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Program.cs

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class Program
{
    [STAThread]
    internal static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        try
        {
            DirectoryInfo directory = new FileInfo(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location).Directory;
            string executable = Path.Combine(directory.FullName, "Program.exe");
            Process.Start(new ProcessStartInfo
            {
                UseShellExecute = false,
                WorkingDirectory = directory.FullName,
                FileName = executable
            });
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString());
        }
    }
}