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How can I install Selenium’s webdriver.exe in [PATH] htrough the project’s published installer?

I have a Windows Forms application that uses Selenium. I have multiple production clients that need to run this application and I’ve noticed that in every new client (and also when I need to update the webdriver) I need to copy and paste the .exe to the [PATH] location (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps) and I want to automate that with the setup file that gets generated by Visual Studio every time I publish the application.
I’ve found that you can install an extension called “Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Project”, include the .exe file on it and either make a new Form that’ll check if the webdriver is in place and if it’s not to copy it, or I can change the [PATH] of my IWebDriver object in order to reflect the new path of this file. As a bonus you can also add the the desktop icon.
But first I want to know if there’s a way to publish this webdriver.exe file to it’s proper address through the “Publish wizard” parameters before I start looking for workarounds.

This worked for my use case, for context, I'm using a windows forms project targeting .NET (framework) 4.7.1. these are snippets from my events "load" and "show" formated as a different function. I only included the logic behind the file check, download and unzip with overwite. Since the System.IO.Compression.ZipFile class for this version of .NET doesn't natively support overwrite files, I used Ionic's DotNetZip package downloaded from NuGet.
using Ionic.Zip;
using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Net;
private void DriverCheck(){
string edge, edgeVersion, edgeDriverPath, edgeDriver, edgeDriverVersion;
edge = #"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\msedge.exe";
edgeVersion = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(edge).FileVersion;
edgeDriverPath = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("LocalAppData") + "\\Microsoft\\WindowsApps\\";
edgeDriver = edgeDriverPath + "msedgedriver.exe";
try
{
edgeDriverVersion = FileVersionInfo.GetVersionInfo(edgeDriver).FileVersion;
}
catch
{
edgeDriverVersion = null;
}
if (!File.Exists(edgeDriver) || edgeVersion != edgeDriverVersion)
{
try
{
using (var client = new WebClient())
{
string winver;
if (Environment.Is64BitProcess)
{
winver = "64";
}
else
{
winver = "32";
}
string zipPath = edgeDriverPath + "edgedriver_win64.zip";
client.DownloadFile("https://msedgedriver.azureedge.net/" + edgeVersion + "/edgedriver_win" + winver + ".zip", zipPath);
using (ZipFile zip = ZipFile.Read(zipPath))
{
foreach (ZipEntry temp in zip)
{
temp.Extract(edgeDriverPath, ExtractExistingFileAction.OverwriteSilently);
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Error downloading webdriver:\n" + ex.Message);
Application.Exit();
}
}
}

Could not find a part of the path in visual studio for Mac

I am trying to code a command line interface, the beginning has a scan for DLLs in a relevant folder (/dlls) but keeps throwing this error: Could not find a part of the path '/Users/danielshroff/Projects/Meh-Rewrite/Meh-Rewrite/bin/Debug/dlls)'. The path exists and I have copied and followed it exactly using finder goto folder
edit: i also tried using the full path but no luck
using System.IO;
namespace MehRewrite
{
class MainClass
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.WriteLine("MEH System Version 1.0");
Console.WriteLine("Loading Core System");
Console.WriteLine("Declaring Startup Variables");
String dlls = null;
Console.WriteLine("Startup Variables Declared");
Console.WriteLine("Searching for dlls");
foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(#"./dlls)", "*.dll"))
{
dlls = dlls + file;
Console.WriteLine(file); }
int present = dlls.IndexOf("tinyMath.dll", StringComparison.Ordinal);
Console.Write("Enter Secure Mode? ");
variables.secure = Console.ReadLine();

The problem is you have a ')' at the end of the path string you are passing to Directory.GetFiles.
The line should be:
foreach (var file in Directory.GetFiles(#"./dlls", "*.dll"))

How can I open AutoCAD 2015 through the .NET API

I've been browsing for a good hour and have yet to find something that would help with this. I'm working on opening AutoCAD from the .NET API in VS2013 using C#, but for some reason, I can never get AutoCAD to actually launch. I'm using the following code:
using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
namespace IOAutoCADHandler
{
public static class ACADDocumentManagement
{
[CommandMethod("ConnectToAcad")]
public static void ConnectToAcad()
{
AcadApplication acAppComObj = null;
// no version number so it will run with any version
const string strProgId = "AutoCAD.Application";
// Get a running instance of AutoCAD
try
{
acAppComObj = (AcadApplication)Marshal.GetActiveObject(strProgId);
}
catch // An error occurs if no instance is running
{
try
{
// Create a new instance of AutoCAD
acAppComObj = (AcadApplication)Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetTypeFromProgID(strProgId), true);
}
catch //// STOPS HERE
{
// If an instance of AutoCAD is not created then message and exit
// NOTE: always shows this box and never opens AutoCAD
System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Instance of 'AutoCAD.Application'" +
" could not be created.");
return;
}
}
// Display the application and return the name and version
acAppComObj.Visible = true;
System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Now running " + acAppComObj.Name +
" version " + acAppComObj.Version);
// Get the active document
AcadDocument acDocComObj;
acDocComObj = acAppComObj.ActiveDocument;
// Optionally, load your assembly and start your command or if your assembly
// is demandloaded, simply start the command of your in-process assembly.
acDocComObj.SendCommand("(command " + (char)34 + "NETLOAD" + (char)34 + " " +
(char)34 + #"C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\All Code\main-libraries\IOAutoCADHandler\bin\Debug\IOAutoCADHandler.dll" + (char)34 + ") ");
acDocComObj.SendCommand("DRAWCOMPONENT");
}
}
Unfortunately, it always stops at the nested catch statement and always displays the popup box without opening AutoCAD. Any suggestions on how to at least make AutoCAD open for me?
EDIT: Error message

The issue is you're coding (correctly) to the AutoCAD interop interface. I recommend against that (due to potential version changes).
The other issue is that the documentation for AutoCAD plugins using the newer .net api is for plugins when AutoCAD is already running.
Final issue could be that the program Id of AutCAD is a mystery. I have resorted to making that a configurable setting, but default to "AutoCAD.Application", which will take the currently registered AutoCAD.Application on the production machine. If there are multiple versions installed on the machine and you want to be specific, then you could append the version number (which you'll need to research) to the ProgID like: "AutoCAD.Application.19", or "AutoCAD.Application.20" for 2015.
For the first issue, one technique is to use dynamics for the autoCad objects, particularly for creating instances. I have used the ObjectARX api for creating my application in a dummy project, and then switching to dynamics when I'm happy with the properties and method names.
In a standalone .Net application that starts AutoCAD you could use something like:
// I comment these out in production
//using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop;
//using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop.Common;
//...
//private static AcadApplication _application;
private static dynamic _application;
static string _autocadClassId = "AutoCAD.Application";
private static void GetAutoCAD()
{
_application = Marshal.GetActiveObject(_autocadClassId);
}
private static void StartAutoCad()
{
var t = Type.GetTypeFromProgID(_autocadClassId, true);
// Create a new instance Autocad.
var obj = Activator.CreateInstance(t, true);
// No need for casting with dynamics
_application = obj;
}
public static void EnsureAutoCadIsRunning(string classId)
{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(classId) && classId != _autocadClassId)
_autocadClassId = classId;
Log.Activity("Loading Autocad: {0}", _autocadClassId);
if (_application == null)
{
try
{
GetAutoCAD();
}
catch (COMException ex)
{
try
{
StartAutoCad();
}
catch (Exception e2x)
{
Log.Error(e2x);
ThrowComException(ex);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
ThrowComException(ex);
}
}
}

When there are several versions of AutoCAD installed on a computer, creating an instance with the ProgID "AutoCAD.Application" will run the latest version started on this computer by the current user. If the version of the Interop assemblies used does not match the version that is starting, you'll get a System.InvalidCastException with an HRESULT 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE).
In your specific case, the {070AA05D-DFC1-4E64-8379-432269B48B07} IID in your error message is the GUID for the AcadApplicationinterface in R19 64-bit (AutoCAD 2013 & 2014). So there is an AutoCAD 2013 or 2014 that is starting, and you cannot cast this COM object to a 2015 type because 2015 is R20 (not binary compatible).
To avoid that, you can add a specific version to your ProgID (like "AutoCAD.Application.20" for AutoCAD 2015 (R20.0) to 2016 (R20.1)) to start the version matching your Interop assemblies or you can use late binding (eg. remove your references to Autodesk.AutoCAD.Interop* and use the dynamic keyword instead of the AutoCAD types).
In the last case, you will lost autocompletion, but your program will work with all the versions of AutoCAD.
Check also 32-bit vs 64-bit because TypeLib/Interop assemblies are not the same.

I open the application in a much straight-forward way. First, be sure to reference the correct type library. The one I am using is AutoCAD 2014 Type Library, located at:
c:\program files\common files\autodesk shared\acax19enu.tlb
To initialize the application:
using AutoCAD;
namespace test
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
AutoCAD.AcadApplication app;
app = new AcadApplication();
app.Visible = true;
Console.Read();
}
}
}

Try this:
"sourcefile" is the original file
"newfile" is the new file
[CommandMethod("ModifyAndSaveas", CommandFlags.Redraw | CommandFlags.Session)]
public void ModifyAndSaveAs()
{
Document acDoc = Application.DocumentManager.Open(sourcefile);
Database acDB = acDoc.Database;
Transaction AcTran = acDoc.Database.TransactionManager.StartTransaction();
using (DocumentLock acLckDoc = acDoc.LockDocument())
{
using (AcTran)
{
BlockTable acBLT = (BlockTable)AcTran.GetObject(acDB.BlockTableId, OpenMode.ForRead);
BlockTableRecord acBLTR = (BlockTableRecord)AcTran.GetObject(acBLT[BlockTableRecord.ModelSpace], OpenMode.ForRead);
var editor = acDoc.Editor;
var SelectionSet = editor.SelectAll().Value;
foreach (ObjectId id in SelectionSet.GetObjectIds())
{
Entity ent = AcTran.GetObject(id, OpenMode.ForRead) as Entity;
//modify entities
}
AcTran.Commit();
}
}
acDB.SaveAs(newfile, DwgVersion.AC1021);
}

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
namespace Tekkit
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
//make sure to add last 2 using statements
ProcessStartInfo start = new ProcessStartInfo("calc.exe");
Process.Start(start);//starts the process
}
}
}

Using Microsoft.Build.Evaluation to publish a database project (.sqlproj)

I need to be able to publish an SSDT project programmatically. I am looking at using Microsoft.Build to do so but can not find any documentation. It seems pretty simple to create the .dacpac, but how would I either publish to an existing database or at the very least to a .sql file. The idea is to have it do what it does when I right click on the project and select publish. It should compare with a selected database and generate an upgrade script.
This is what I have so far to create the .dacpac:
partial class DBDeploy
{
Project project;
internal void publishChanges()
{
Console.WriteLine("Building project " + ProjectPath);
Stopwatch sw = new Stopwatch();
sw.Start();
project = ProjectCollection.GlobalProjectCollection.LoadProject(ProjectPath);
project.Build();
//at this point the .dacpac is built and put in the debug folder for the project
sw.Stop();
Console.WriteLine("Project build Complete. Total time: {0}", sw.Elapsed.ToString());
}
}
Essentially I am trying to do what this MSBuild Example shows but in code.
Sorry that this is all I have. The doecumentation on the Build classes is very poor. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

I had to do something similar to this because VSDBCMD which we previously used does not deploy to SQL Server 2012 and we needed to support it. What I found was the Microsoft.SqlServer.Dac assembly which seems to come as part of the SQL Server data tools (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/tools.aspx)
When you run this on the client machine you will need the full version of the .NET 4 framework and the SQL CLR types and SQL T-SQL ScriptDOM pack found here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29065
Code below is from a mockup I made for testing the new deployment method and deploys a given .dacpac file
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dac;
using System.IO;
namespace ConsoleApplication3
{
class Program
{
private static TextWriter output = new StreamWriter("output.txt", false);
static void Main(string[] args)
{
Console.Write("Connection String:");
//Class responsible for the deployment. (Connection string supplied by console input for now)
DacServices dbServices = new DacServices(Console.ReadLine());
//Wire up events for Deploy messages and for task progress (For less verbose output, don't subscribe to Message Event (handy for debugging perhaps?)
dbServices.Message += new EventHandler<DacMessageEventArgs>(dbServices_Message);
dbServices.ProgressChanged += new EventHandler<DacProgressEventArgs>(dbServices_ProgressChanged);
//This Snapshot should be created by our build process using MSDeploy
Console.WriteLine("Snapshot Path:");
DacPackage dbPackage = DacPackage.Load(Console.ReadLine());
DacDeployOptions dbDeployOptions = new DacDeployOptions();
//Cut out a lot of options here for configuring deployment, but are all part of DacDeployOptions
dbDeployOptions.SqlCommandVariableValues.Add("debug", "false");
dbServices.Deploy(dbPackage, "trunk", true, dbDeployOptions);
output.Close();
}
static void dbServices_Message(object sender, DacMessageEventArgs e)
{
output.WriteLine("DAC Message: {0}", e.Message);
}
static void dbServices_ProgressChanged(object sender, DacProgressEventArgs e)
{
output.WriteLine(e.Status + ": " + e.Message);
}
}
}
This seems to work on all versions of SQL Server from 2005 and up. There is a similar set of objects available in Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Dac, however I believe this is in the previous version of DACFx and is not included in the latest version. So use the latest version if you can.

We need a way tell msbuild how and where to publish. Open your project in Visual Studio and begin to Publish it. Enter all needed info in the dialog, including your DB connection info and any custom SQLCMD variable values. Save Profile As... to a file, e.g. Northwind.publish.xml. (You may then Cancel.) Now we can use this and the project file to build and publish:
// Create a logger.
FileLogger logger = new FileLogger();
logger.Parameters = #"logfile=Northwind.msbuild.log";
// Set up properties.
var projects = ProjectCollection.GlobalProjectCollection;
projects.SetGlobalProperty("Configuration", "Debug");
projects.SetGlobalProperty("SqlPublishProfilePath", #"Northwind.publish.xml");
// Load and build project.
var dbProject = ProjectCollection.GlobalProjectCollection.LoadProject(#"Northwind.sqlproj");
dbProject.Build(new[]{"Build", "Publish"}, new[]{logger});
This can take awhile and may appear to get stuck. Be patient. :)

You should use SqlPackage.exe to publish your dacpac.
SqlPackage.exe
/Action:Publish
/SourceFile:C:/file.dacpac
/TargetConnectionString:[Connection string]
Also instead of passing too many parameters you could save your settings into DAC Publish Profile (this can be done from visual studio)

I wanted to build and publish a database based on a sqlproj file and log helpful information to console. Here's what I arrived at:
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Execution;
public void UpdateSchema() {
var props = new Dictionary<string, string> {
{ "UpdateDatabase", "True" },
{ "PublishScriptFileName", "schema-update.sql" },
{ "SqlPublishProfilePath", "path/to/publish.xml") }
};
var projPath = "path/to/database.sqlproj";
var result = BuildManager.DefaultBuildManager.Build(
new BuildParameters { Loggers = new[] { new ConsoleLogger() } },
new BuildRequestData(new ProjectInstance(projPath, props, null), new[] { "Publish" }));
if (result.OverallResult == BuildResultCode.Success) {
Console.WriteLine("Schema update succeeded!");
}
else {
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
Console.WriteLine("Schema update failed!");
Console.ResetColor();
}
}
private class ConsoleLogger : ILogger
{
public void Initialize(IEventSource eventSource) {
eventSource.ErrorRaised += (sender, e) => {
Console.ForegroundColor = ConsoleColor.Red;
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
Console.ResetColor();
};
eventSource.MessageRaised += (sender, e) => {
if (e.Importance != MessageImportance.Low)
Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
};
}
public void Shutdown() { }
public LoggerVerbosity Verbosity { get; set; }
public string Parameters { get; set; }
}
This is for .NET 4 and above. Be sure and include assembly references to Microsoft.Build and Microsoft.Build.Framework.

Change application type with Mono.Cecil?

How can I modify an application from Console Application Type to Windows Application Type and vice versa with Mono.Cecil?

To convert a console .exe to windows .exe, you can use:
var file = "foo.exe";
var module = ModuleDefinition.ReadModule (file);
// module.Kind was previously ModuleKind.Console
module.Kind = ModuleKind.Windows;
module.Write (file);
The other way around is as simple as choosing the appropriate ModuleKind value. From Cecil's source:
public enum ModuleKind {
Dll,
Console,
Windows,
NetModule,
}

For people who needed more help on this like me :)
you may need the apt pacakge libmono-cecil-cil-dev
//mono-cecil-set-modulekind-windows.cs
using System;
using Mono.Cecil;
namespace CecilUtilsApp {
class CecilUtils {
static void Main(string[] args) {
var file = args[0];
var module = ModuleDefinition.ReadModule (file);
module.Kind = ModuleKind.Windows;
module.Write (file);
}
}
}
// -----
//Makefile
//mono-cecil-set-modulekind-eq-windows.exe:
// mcs $(shell pkg-config --libs mono-cecil) ./mono-cecil-set-modulekind-windows.cs
./mono-cecil-set-modulekind-windows.exe myprog.exe