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CefSharp.offscreen in LinqPad

LinqPad is my goto REPL and there isn't much I throw at it that it cant handle.
However I cannot for the life of me get CefSharp (specifically OffScreen) to run.
I'm constantly met with either of the below errors
Could not load file or assembly 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime, Version=95.7.141.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=40c4b6fc221f4138' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime, Version=95.7.141.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=40c4b6fc221f4138'. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.
I have tried
LP5/6 32 and 64 bit
Adding Cefsharp via nuget
Referencing .dll's manually from the file system
Referencing x86 or x64 .dll's
Copying .dll's into assembly search paths
Adding nuget paths to Environment path
And what seems like every combination of the above.
I don't understand the assembly resolution process that Visual Studio uses with the nuget package, but whatever it does I would like to at least simulate in Linqpad so I can avoid the VS ceremony when testing something simple.
I assume that manually referencing the correct .dll's and maybe setting a path somewhere should be sufficient, but I'm ideas=>EOF.
Can CefSharp be run outside of VS / MSBuild ?

It doesn't work because of the shadow-copying that LinqPad is using. Here is a hack to make your problem go away (spoiler alert: not really, read on):
For LinqPad v5
Copy all CefSharp libraries to a separate folder (don't forget cef.redist).
In LinqPad Preferences dialog (Advanced/Execution), set Do not shadow assembly references to True, restart LinqPad.
Write your code in the LinqPad query.
Reference CefSharp libraries from the folder you've set up on step 1.
Run the query.
For previous LinqPad (earlier than v5)
Write your code in the LinqPad query.
Reference CefSharp libraries, so you get an exception from your question
Find a LinqPad working directory (usually something like C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Temp\LINQPad5\_yyigmhzg).
Copy all CefSharp libraries to this folder (don't forget cef.redist).
In LinqPad, click Ctrl + Shift + F5; this will reset the query state.
Rerun the query.
Now all the referenced libraries should load. But you will likely face more problems after that.
I couldn't make CefSharp.MinimalExample work. LinqPad kept crashing for me with the cryptic message Query ended because an uncatchable exception was thrown and a crashdump.
Although I am not sure if you will make CefSharp work as intended under LinqPad, maybe this can get you a bit further.

Found the answer with motivation from #Sasha's post and #amaitland's note about BadImageFormatException's being more than just incorrect architectures.
The below is all in reference to LP6 and CefSharp.Offscreen.NetCore. I have not pushed the efforts into LP5 but the process should be similar.
After some trial and error I narrowed down all of the necessary dependencies and worked out why CefSharp would not run in LinqPad.
Here are the steps to make it run -
Add CefSharp.Offscreen.NetCore package as normal to query
Enable Copy all NuGet assemblies into a single local folder (F4->Advanced)
Add the OnInit() and queryPath code as below to the query
Ensure the BrowserSubprocessPath is set before Initializing Cef
Here is the code.
async Task Main()
{
var are = new AutoResetEvent(false);//my technique for waiting for the browser
var sett = new CefSettings();
sett.BrowserSubprocessPath = this.queryPath + #"\CefSharp.BrowserSubprocess.exe"; //CefSharp will complain it cant find it
if (!Cef.IsInitialized)
Cef.Initialize(sett);
var browser = new ChromiumWebBrowser("http://www.google.com");
browser.LoadingStateChanged += (sender, args) => { if (!args.IsLoading) are.Set(); };
are.WaitOne();
await browser.WaitForInitialLoadAsync();
var html = await browser.GetBrowser().MainFrame.GetSourceAsync();
html.Dump("winner winner chicken dinner");
}
//this is the location of the queries shaddow folder
string queryPath = Path.GetDirectoryName(typeof(CefSettings).Assembly.Location);
void OnInit() // Executes when the query process first loads
{
if (!Directory.Exists(queryPath + #"\locales")) //subdirectory of cef.redist
{
var nugetPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.UserProfile);
var sources = new[] {
/*paths here are hardcoded version dependant. Can get cefsharp.common.netcore version
from Util.CurrentQuery.NuGetReferences, but cef.redist not available via that method. */
#"cef.redist.x64\95.7.14\CEF", //contans all the Cef dependencies needed
#"cefsharp.common.netcore\95.7.141\runtimes\win-x64\lib\netcoreapp3.1", //mainly for ijwhost.dll
#"cefsharp.common.netcore\95.7.141\runtimes\win-x64\native"}; //contains BrowserSubprocess & friends
var dst = new DirectoryInfo(queryPath);
foreach (var path in sources)
{
var src = new DirectoryInfo($#"{nugetPath}\.nuget\packages\{path}");
CopyFilesRecursively(src, dst);
}
}
}
//curtesy of https://stackoverflow.com/a/58779/2738249 with slight mod
public static void CopyFilesRecursively(DirectoryInfo source, DirectoryInfo target)
{
foreach (DirectoryInfo dir in source.GetDirectories())
CopyFilesRecursively(dir, target.CreateSubdirectory(dir.Name));
foreach (FileInfo file in source.GetFiles())
{
var dst = Path.Combine(target.FullName, file.Name);
if (!File.Exists(dst))
file.CopyTo(dst);
}
}
The why for those interested -
CefSharp needs every dependency to be in the same directory so they can be resolved at runtime, but Linqpad only copies a few key dll's from the NuGet package. None of the cef.redist files, ijwhost.dll or BrowserSubprocess.exe et al. come across. Dependencies are scattered between NuGet packages and trying to resolve them directly from the .nuget cache just does not work. So all these need to be brought in manually to the running query shadow path.
I did initially copy all files into the Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location path, but this approach requires adding the assembly directory to the "path" environment variable.
Internally Linqpad seems to have the shadow path set, so copying the dependencies to the shadow folder skips the need to set the environment variable.

WebApi controller tests method not found

I have a very simple WebAPI 2 controller running on .NET Framework 4.6.2, that looks like this:
[RoutePrefix("Invitations")]
public class InvitationsController : CqrsApiController
{
[HttpPost, Route("Clients/{id:long}/Actions/Cancel")]
public IHttpActionResult PostClientInvitationCancel(long id, [FromBody] ClientInvitationCancelCommand command)
{
Execute(command);
return SeeOther("Invitations/Clients/{0}", id);
}
}
and am trying to write an NUnit test for it, like this:
[TestFixture]
public class WhenExecutingAValidCommand
{
[Test]
public void ItShouldReturnARedirect()
{
var dispatcher = Substitute.For<ICqrsDispatcher>();
var urlHelper = Substitute.For<UrlHelper>();
urlHelper.Link(Arg.Any<string>(), Arg.Any<object>()).Returns("https://tempuri.org/");
var sut = new InvitationsController(dispatcher);
sut.Request = new HttpRequestMessage();
sut.Configuration = new HttpConfiguration();
sut.Url = urlHelper;
var response = sut.PostClientInvitationCancel(1, new ClientInvitationCancelCommand());
response.Should().BeOfType<SeeOtherRedirectResult>();
}
}
```
However, when I run the test, I get the following error:
System.MissingMethodException : Method not found: 'Void System.Web.Http.ApiController.set_Request(System.Net.Http.HttpRequestMessage)'.
at ApiProjectTests.InvitationsControllerTests.WhenExecutingAValidCommand.ItShouldReturnARedirect()
The same code seems to work fine in similar projects based on .NET Framework 4.5.1, so I'm wondering if there's some sort of DLL hell going on here. System.Web.Http is using Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Core.5.2.3, whereas System.Net.Http is coming from the GAC (well, C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\Microsoft.NET.Build.Extensions\net461\lib\System.Net.Http.dll to be more precise).
Update: if I try to debug into the unit test, the error occurs before I even enter the method. So although VS2017 compiles the tests just fine, when the test runner fires up, then everything falls apart. Sounds more like DLL hell to me.
Update 2: if I comment out the setting of the request, then I can debug into the test method. If I then put in a breakpoint, and then use the Immediate window to directly set the request property, it works, and there is no Method not found error. I also disabled Resharper and used VS2017's Test Explorer to run the tests, in case R# was caching something, but it made no difference.

It looks like my problem is indeed DLL hell, more specifically the DLL hell referenced by https://github.com/dotnet/corefx/issues/25773. The issue is caused by other NuGet packages that contain references to the newer version of System.Net.Http (4.2.0.0). The current solution appears to be to add a binding redirect to downgrade the assembly version to the expected version (4.0.0.0), but so far that has not helped me.
The solution that did work for me was to install the latest NuGet package of System.Net.Http, and use assembly binding redirects in my test project to ensure that it used the 4.2.0.0 version instead of 4.0.0.0.

This is often caused by early versions of nuget packages targeting .NET standard, which have dependencies on OOB ("out-of-band") packages. OOB packages are a kind of polyfill for dlls that are part of .NET framework but not .NET standard. Here is a very good explanation of what happened. In my case, the following helped:
I identified the nuget package that had a dependency on the system.net.http 4.2.0 nuget package, and upgrade that package.
The dependency was no longer present in the upgraded package, so i could uninstall the system.net.http 4.2.0 nuget package.
The upgraded package of course still expects the reference to the system.net.http 4.0.0 assembly, so in case of doubt, you may reinstall the upgraded package to make sure that the assembly reference is in your *.csproj file.

Opening a solution with msbuildworkspace gives diagnostics errors without details

I am trying to analyse a solution with Roslyn, with MSBuildWorkspace.
The solution is a new solution, with 2 class library projects in them, one referencing the other.
They are created in Visual Studio 2017, .Net 4.6.2.
When I open the solution, I receive two generic errors in workspace.Diagnostics, both are :
Msbuild failed when processing the file 'PathToProject'
There is nothing more in the diagnostics or output window, to indicate WHY it failed to process the project file.
The code for opening the solution:
namespace RoslynAnalyse
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
LocalAnalysis();
}
private static void LocalAnalysis()
{
var workspace = MSBuildWorkspace.Create();
var solution = workspace.OpenSolutionAsync(#"D:\Code\Roslyn\RoslynAnalyse\SolutionToAnalyse\SolutionToAnalyse.sln").Result;
var workspaceDiagnostics = workspace.Diagnostics;
}
}
}
The version of Microsoft.CodeAnalysis is 2.0.0.0.
Does anybody have any idea why MSBuild failed, how I can get more information ?

When MSBuildWorkspace fails to open a project or solution this way, it is almost always because the application using MSBuildWorkspace does not include the same binding redirects that msbuild.exe.config has in it.
MSBuild uses binding redirects to allow tasks (typically already compiled C# code using possibly different versions of msbuild API libraries) to all use the current msbuild API's. Otherwise, msbuild gets runtime load failures.
The solution is to add an app.config file to your project and copy the binding redirects (the assemblyBinding section of the msbuild.exe.config file) into your file.

Merge DLL into EXE?

I have two DLL files which I'd like to include in my EXE file to make it easier to distribute it. I've read a bit here and there how to do this, even found a good thread here, and here, but it's far too complicated for me and I need real basic instructions on how to do this.
I'm using Microsoft Visual C# Express 2010, and please excuse my "low standard" question, but I feel like I'm one or two level below everyone else's expercise :-/ If someone could point out how to merge these DDL files into my EXE in a step-by-step guide, this would be really awesome!

For .NET Framework 4.5
ILMerge.exe /target:winexe /targetplatform:"v4,C:\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.0" /out:finish.exe insert1.exe insert2.dll
ILMerge
Open CMD and cd to your directory. Let's say: cd C:\test
Insert the above code.
/out:finish.exe replace finish.exe with any filename you want.
Behind the /out:finish.exe you have to give the files you want to be
combined.

Use Costura.Fody.
You just have to install the nuget and then do a build. The final executable will be standalone.

Download ilmerge and ilmergre gui . makes joining the files so easy
ive used these and works great

Reference the DLL´s to your Resources and and use the AssemblyResolve-Event to return the Resource-DLL.
public partial class App : Application
{
public App()
{
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += (sender, args) =>
{
Assembly thisAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
//Get the Name of the AssemblyFile
var name = args.Name.Substring(0, args.Name.IndexOf(',')) + ".dll";
//Load form Embedded Resources - This Function is not called if the Assembly is in the Application Folder
var resources = thisAssembly.GetManifestResourceNames().Where(s => s.EndsWith(name));
if (resources.Count() > 0)
{
var resourceName = resources.First();
using (Stream stream = thisAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName))
{
if (stream == null) return null;
var block = new byte[stream.Length];
stream.Read(block, 0, block.Length);
return Assembly.Load(block);
}
}
return null;
};
}
}

Download
ILMerge
Call
ilmerge /target:winexe /out:c:\output.exe c:\input.exe C:\input.dll

Install ILMerge
as the other threads tell you to
Then go to the installation folder, by default
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\ILMerge
Drag your Dll's and Exes to that folder
Shift-Rightclick in that folder and choose open command prompt
Write
ilmerge myExe.exe Dll1.dll /out:merged.exe
Note that you should write your exe first.
There you got your merged exe. This might not be the best way if your going to
do this multiple times, but the simplest one for a one time use, I would
recommend putting Ilmerge to your path.

static class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
/* PUT THIS LINE IN YOUR CLASS PROGRAM MAIN() */
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += (sender, arg) => { if (arg.Name.StartsWith("YOURDLL")) return Assembly.Load(Properties.Resources.YOURDLL); return null; };
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
}
First add the DLL´s to your project-Resources. Add a folder "Resources"

2019 Update (just for reference):
Starting with .NET Core 3.0, this feature is supported out of the box. To take advantage of the single-file executable publishing, just add the following line to the project configuration file:
<PropertyGroup>
<PublishSingleFile>true</PublishSingleFile>
</PropertyGroup>
Now, dotnet publish should produce a single .exe file without using any external tool.
More documentation for this feature is available at https://github.com/dotnet/designs/blob/master/accepted/single-file/design.md.

Also you can use ilmergertool at codeplex with GUI interface.

Here is the official documentation. This is also automatically downloaded at step 2.
Below is a really simple way to do it and I've successfully built my app using .NET framework 4.6.1
Install ILMerge nuget package either via gui or commandline:
Install-Package ilmerge
Verify you have downloaded it. Now Install (not sure the command for this, but just go to your nuget packages):
Note: You probably only need to install it for one of your solutions if you have multiple
Navigate to your solution folder and in the packages folder you should see 'ILMerge' with an executable:
\FindMyiPhone-master\FindMyiPhone-master\packages\ILMerge.2.14.1208\tools
Now here is the executable which you could copy over to your \bin\Debug (or whereever your app is built) and then in commandline/powershell do something like below:
ILMerge.exe myExecutable.exe myDll1.dll myDll2.dll myDlln.dll myNEWExecutable.exe
You will now have a new executable with all your libraries in one!

I answered a similar question for VB.NET. It shouldn't however be too hard to convert. You embedd the DLL's into your Ressource folder and on the first usage, the
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve event gets fired.
If you want to reference it during development, just add a normal DLL reference to your project.
Embedd a DLL into a project

NOTE: if you're trying to load a non-ILOnly assembly, then
Assembly.Load(block)
won't work, and an exception will be thrown:
more details
I overcame this by creating a temporary file, and using
Assembly.LoadFile(dllFile)

I Found The Solution Below are the Stpes:-
Download ILMerge.msi and Install it on your Machine.
Open Command Prompt
type cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\ILMerge Preess Enter
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\ILMerge>ILMerge.exe /target:winexe /targetplatform:"v4,C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319"
/out:NewExeName.exe SourceExeName.exe DllName.dll
For Multiple Dll :-
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\ILMerge>ILMerge.exe /target:winexe /targetplatform:"v4,C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319"
/out:NewExeName.exe SourceExeName.exe DllName1.dll DllName2.dll DllName3.dll

The command should be the following script:
ilmerge myExe.exe Dll1.dll /target:winexe /targetplatform:"v4,c:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.0\" /out:merged.exe /out:merged.exe

Tesseract 3 (OCR) - .NET Wrapper

http://code.google.com/p/tesseractdotnet/
I am having a problem getting Tesseract to work in my Visual Studio 2010 projects. I have tried console and winforms and both have the same outcome. I have come across a dll by someone else who claims to have it working in VS2010:
http://code.google.com/p/tesseractdotnet/issues/detail?id=1
I am adding a reference to the dll which can be found in the attached to post 64 from the website above. Every time I build my project I get an AccessViolationException saying that an attempt was made to read or write protected memory.
public void StartOCR()
{
const string language = "eng";
const string TessractData = #"C:\Users\Joe\Desktop\tessdata\";
using (TesseractProcessor processor = new TesseractProcessor())
{
using (Bitmap bmp = Bitmap.FromFile(fileName) as Bitmap)
{
if (processor.Init(TessractData, language, (int)eOcrEngineMode.OEM_DEFAULT))
{
string text = processor.Recognize(bmp);
}
}
}
}
The access violation exception always points to if (processor.Init(TessractData, language, (int)eOcrEngineMode.OEM_DEFAULT)). I've seen a few suggestions to make sure the solution platform is set to x86 in the configuration manager and that the tessdata folder location is finished with trailing slash, to no avail. Any ideas?

It appeared to be the contents of the tessdata folder that was causing the problem. Obtained the tessdata folder from the first link and all is now working.

I have just completed a project with tesseract engine 3. i think, there is a bug in the engine, that need to be rectified. What i Did to remove "AccessViolationError" is, add "\tessdata" to the real tessdata directory string. I don't know why, but the engine seems to be truncating the innermost directory in the Tessdata path.
Just made Full OCR package (Dlls+Tessdata(english)) that works with .net framework 4.

If somebody has the same problem and advice with trailing slash doesn't work, try... TWO ending slashes! Seriosly. It works for me.
if (processor.Init(#".\tessdata\\", "eng", (int)eOcrEngineMode.OEM_DEFAULT))

Seems your problem relates to stability issue mentioned here. On the official site there is a recommendation to use previous stable release 2.4.1. You can install it from nuget.org via the package manager command: Install-Package Tesseract -Version 2.4.1