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Deploy .json file with UserControl WinForms

I have built a custom User Control in Visual Studio (Win Forms).
This User Control requires a .json file to be deployed along with it.
Short Version: How is this possible?
Long Version:
When I am testing the User Control from with the Control designer itself, it works no problem.
This would be because I have set the following:
Build Action to Content and;
Copy To Output Directory - Copy if Newer
So when I'm debugging it, everything is there, as I expect it to be.
The problem occurs when I create a separate Win Forms application, and add this newly designed control to the Palette by:
Right click Toolbox->Choose Items->Browse->Browse to the Project Directory of the Control->Select the DLL->OK
It show up on my Palette, but the problem is of course when I drop the User Control onto the form itself. It has no means of getting "MyFile.json" from User Control Application/Dll to the Current Project.
How do I make this work?
Chud

One easy way is to build your json file as a EmbeddedResource instead of Content. That way it will be embedded into the UserControl's binary (the dll file itself). You can then use ResourceManager class to read it in your code.
If you're going to change the content of json file at runtime, you can instead create an application setting of string type that stores the actual json content. This setting can then be read/written easily using ProjectName.Properties.Settings.Default.YourSettingName.
Also note that if you have set your json file's Build Action to Content and Copy to Output Directory to Always Copy, and you add a reference to this project from another project that also exists in that solution, the content file (json file) should get copied to the bin folder correctly. But if your UserControl project does not exist in the current solution, or you're referencing your control through Browse button, you'll not get your content files. This may not seem obvious, but once you think about it, you'll understand that VS cannot figure out what dependencies does a DLL file has if you simply add a file reference.
In the latter case, a setting is the cheapest solution (described above) that you can use.

Raster Data Loading from FilePath in Dotspatial

I have this simple line of code in DotSpatial
var raster = Raster.OpenFile("X://Data//4mr_project.tif");
Why raster just getting null value??
I also have .aux, .ovr, .tfw files in the same directory.
EDITED:
I found that the line below works fine:
var featureSet = FeatureSet.Open("X:\\Test Data\\shap\\edited.shp")
because Dotspatial have capability to load .shp file by default. But loading raster data .tif format, Dotspatial need GDAL extensions. Now the question is how to load GDAL extensions manually in Dotspatial using C#.

GDAL extensions can be supported in your own application through the use of the AppManager component. You can drag and drop this onto your form. This allows for support from the GDAL data extensions, and will also gives support to other plug-ins. Here is a basic walk through for adding the AppManager to a new project that just has a Map on the form.
1) From the Visual Studio Toolbox, right click and click on "Choose Items"
2) From the dialog, choose "Browse" and browse to the DotSpatial.Controls.dll library.
3) Click Ok as needed to close the dialogs and get back to the Toolbox.
4) Find the AppManager component you just added in the Toolbox.
5) Drag the AppManager component onto your form. (not on the map, but on the form). A new instance should appear below your form in the non-visual components list.
6) Select this component to view it's properties in the Properties Dialog.
7) Set the map for the appManager (or other components if you are using them).
8) The GDAL component does not even require the Map to be defined in order to work, it should just work. But you will need the GDAL extension. You can find the DotSpatial.Data.Rasters.GdalExtension in the "Windows Extensions" folder. Ensure that you have a similar folder in your output directory with the necessary GdalExtension. One method is just to ensure that this is in your final distribution folder manually.
9) (Optional) One trick you can use, to ensure you have the GDAL plugin in your release folders is to add the libraries as content. This way, regardless if you are working on a debug version or a release version, it will ensure that the GDAL data extension makes it to the output folders.
10) Ensure that the directory you are using (like "Windows Extensions") is listed in the Directories property of the AppManager. The image below shows the default folders which are "Application Extensions" and "Plugins". I think it originally was "Application Extensions" but got updated to "Windows Extensions" later. Unfortunately, I don't think they updated the default folder.
11) In the code somewhere (probably in the form constructor) you need to call appManager1.LoadExtensions(); If you don't call this, it will not actually load the GDAL extension even if you have the GDAL library as part of your project.
12) Add a SpatialDockManager, SpatialHeaderManager, SpatialStatusStrip to the project. Then assign these to the properties on the AppManager, the same way you did the map. For reasons that are beyond me and were implemented after I left, the previously open ended design structure has changed, and now it will throw message box errors if the program does not include these things but you try to use Extensions. The "ProgressHandler" property takes the SpatialStatusStrip.
After following all 12 of these steps (and running the project in x86 mode) the raster code you posted in the initial question works, and you can open geotifs. I also pushed the GDAL extension into the root "Application Extensions" directory while trying to get it to work, but I don't think you have to do that. It should work if it is in a subfolder.

Sorry to be that late (hopefully, it's never too late), but if you wish to use the plugin without using AppManager, because you may be composing something custom and do not want to depend on the main DotSpatial application framework (note that the AppManager utilizes some slightly advanced "magic" to make it all work together), you can do yourself the following few simple tasks:
1) Add a reference to the file
(DotSpatial Release Folder)\Windows
Extensions\DotSpatial.Data.Rasters.GdalExtension.dll
to your project (this is the main GdalExtension Plugin output file).
NOTE: To make sure this step is done correctly, make sure that building your library (the one that references the GdalExtension.dll) ends up copying to this project's output directory the additional files from the same folder (i.e. gdal_csharp.dll etc.).
2) This same folder also contains a gdal subfolder. Copy the folder itself, as-is, to your output path (usually ...\bin\Release\\ or ...\bin\Debug\\, depending on your configuration). Of course in your final project, you would probably like to use a post-build copy event to automate the process, or just include the folder as content in your application build output, as Ted also mentions in step 9 of his answer.
NOTE: By output folder, I am referring to the Application Output Path, not the library output path. If your application is using a library, which undertakes the task of loading rasters (through GdalExtension), the gdal folder does not need to be in the output folder of this library. It needs to end up in your final application's output folder. The reason is that the various dll files are loaded dynamically, so they have to be found in the executing application folder.
3) As early as possible in your codebase, create a new GdalRasterProvider, which should now be referenced by the dll file added in step 1. This means, add something like the following line to your project
var grp = new DotSpatial.Data.Rasters.GdalExtension.GdalRasterProvider();
Thereafter, the first line of code in your post should work as expected. So, technically, the answer to the original question is that the DefaultDataManager class did not find any suitable provider to perform the task of actually loading the Raster file. Therefore, you are left with a null variable.
Interestingly, you don't need to hold the reference anywhere (i.e. do anything with variable grp). If you check the source code, the constructor itself undertakes the task of adding itself to the DefaultDataProvider.PreferredProviders dictionary, which is eventually invoked behind the scenes in the call to Raster.Open(string) method. The only "tough-to-figure-out" part is simply to copy the gdal folder in your application output path, because the GDAL extension loads a number of references located therein upon instantiation of any provider, and the loading is based on a "gdal" subfolder located in whichever folder your application resides and is executed from.
(Note that the Plugin also contains two more providers (GdalImageProvider and OgrDataProvider). To make these two work, you need to instantiate them but also to manually add them to the PreferredProviders dictionary of the DefaultDataProvider, typically also up early in your application code)

Windows Form Localization

I'm trying to get localization to work in my application. I can follow the typical example online and get it to work in a sample project. (ie. setting the Localizable property and the cultures).
When I try to use it in my application, it always uses the default resource file no matter what language I choose.
EDIT: If I go to the properties of my startup project, select Debug, and set the Start Action to Start Project, it will work. If I run the executable that gets created when building by selecting it in "Start external program", it will not work. Any idea why?
EDIT: When I use the Start External Program, the executable I am pointing to is not pointing to the bin/Debug folder of the project. I have a post build event to copy it elsewhere and am pointing to that. Because of this, maybe it is not able to see the reference files that are in the Debug folder?

When you localize a form, it creates a folder per language in the build's output path that holds a resource file projectname.resources.dll.
I have a post build command that puts our .dlls elsewhere. I needed to change the command to also push out the resource files so that they were in the same directory. Once I did this, I was able to get it to work.

C# Xml files when creating exe application

I'm planning to build my winform into a .exe file. I'm just wondering what to do with the XML files that my application needs?
I did some research and found out that I can add the XML files in the Resource folder before creating a .exe file.
Or I need to create a setup file? When the user runs the setup file, the XML files will be installed into their pc.Now I wonder which one is the best way to go for,
Note: XML files might get modified by the user.

If you want to ship the XML files as seperate to the .EXE then you can set the Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer. (click on file and then go to properties).
OR if you want it as part of the .EXE I think you can change the Build Action to Embedded Resource.
I personally would create a Setup as per your edit and include the XML files. I usually just add everthing from the bin/release folder that is needed when I create a setup file.

You could either deploy the necessary files along with the executable in the same folder or embed them as resources (if they are read-only). If you need to modify them do not embed them as resources into the executable.

The correct way depends on how you intend to use the files. If the files always are deployed together with your application, the application never writes to them and they are never upgraded without upgrading the application, you can go with them embedded as resources.
If you need to update them separately from the application, you need to have them as physical files.
You don't necessarely need a installation package, unless you need to apply some logic during setup, such as updating the content of the setup based on user input or to check preconditions. The application can just be copied into place regardless of if you have embedded the files or not.

Integrating a .exe file into a visual studio project

broken to bare-bones scene:
I have a program in c# that calls a .exe inside cmd(using process.start), passing some required arguments.
What i'm trying to do: Include the exe into the project so that i don't have to call cmd.
Any idea?

If you just want to include so you don't have to ship two files then just include it into the project as "embedded resource" (see project item options) and then you can call ResourceManager.GetStream and write it to file and call Process.Start.
If you want integrate the functions of that exe so that the exe is not needed anymore (no Process.Start) then you need the source code...
EDIT:
the "write to file" is not necessary if the exe is .NET - then you can directly load it from the resource stream as Assembly/AppDomin and execute it.

You can add an exe as an embedded resource (just right click on a folder in the Solution explorer, Add Existing Item, then get properties on it and set it to be Embedded Resource). However, you may not be able to easily execute it in place - you'll need to save it to disk and then execute it (which doesn't solve your stated problem of having to ShellExecute the .exe file, but does solve the problem of having to ship more than one file to the end user).
If you have the source code, then you'll be able to repackage the exe as a dll, or integrate it directly into your program code.

If the exe is a .NET assembly, you could use ILMerge to merge the exe into your main assembly. You can then invoke the code in the exe directly.