Help regarding manifest based activation ?

[sa819]

I want to know just what exactly is MANIFEST BASED ACTIVTION.

I visited the msdn site and they have some brief information about the topic .

But what I could not understand is.

1) What exactly is the meaning of activation ? Does it mean installation ?
2) What exactly is the meaning of "The manifest-based activation model uses an application manifest for activation rather than an assembly."

I am a little new to .net so I need a little help here?

Thanks in advance.

[PRR]

Manifest based activation: loading and activating applications through the use of a manifest... The entry point of assembly is its manifest and not .exe...

"This feature provides new support for loading and activating applications through the use of a manifest. Manifest-based activation is essential for supporting ClickOnce applications. Traditionally, applications are activated through a reference to an assembly that contains the application's entry point. For example, clicking an application's .exe file from within the Windows shell causes the shell to load the common language runtime (CLR) and call a well-known entry point within that .exe file's assembly."

Basically means the assembly is loaded by inspecting the manifest... Any special requirements and dependencies are known before loading and possibly notified to user..
check this