I have a simple c# project that contains a form, a button and an axWindowsMediaPlayer that shows a video.
My video file is in bin/debug folder.
Now, i want to create an exe file and run it on other machines without install.
How can i merge or embed all dlls and exe and video files in simple exe file and run it on other machines?
my debug folder image :
Thanks in advance
A self-extracting exe will give you a single file for distributing your application to other machines, however, if your goal is to end up with a single exe file after installation, then you could embed the dlls and video files as embedded resources in the main exe. To do this, right click on a file in solution explorer and in the properties tab select Embedded Resource for the Build Action. Depending on the type of resource you're embedding you may need to modify your code to access it.
Related
In visual basic class I learned where I could find the .exe file once the program was done and run at least once. Basically we could take the icon for the .exe file and place it on the desktop so that a user could just double click on the icon to run the program without needing to open the IDE or look at any code.
Where/how can i find this kind of file for c# code?
Go to the bin/Debug folder in the project. (or bin/Release if you're using the release build).
You can also go to your project settings, then to the build tab, and in the "Output" heading read/change the "Output Path" setting. This will let you output the exe to some other location, or just see where it is currently outputting in the event that it has already been changed on your machine.
Assuming you're using a web application project you'll use the .aspx file that is generated to access your silverlight application.
The "application" so to speak is actually a file ending in ".xap" that can be found in your web project's ClientBin directory.
The .xap file can also be found in the silvelright project's Bin
If you're wanting to install the silverlight application to a desktop you'll have to enable the ability to run the application "Out of Browser" and it'll have to be installed. More information on Out of Browser apps...
I am trying to write a small application, whose only purpose is to copy some folders and .cs source files into a user specified Directory, I can do it easy enough by simply having the application look for the files and folders in its own install directory then copy them to thier destination Directory, but I was wondering if its possible to Embed the Folders and Files into the Application, so that when you run the application it creates or copies the folders and files from the exe app directly to the install directory, rather than searching for them in the apps install directory then copying them over. Basically Im trying to only have a single exe file rather than having an exe file and a bunch of folders and files along side it.
Is this possible to do with just a Windows Form App without using an actual Installer Class?
Yes. Embed the files into the application executable as embedded resources. Then when your application runs, access the embedded files and write them to disk in the desired directory structure.
Here is an example of how to embed and access embedded resources from your application assembly.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319292
Sure you can, use the BuildAction property as Content or Resource.
Depending on the number and structure of files/folders, you may also consider embedding one zip file and extracting it with sharpziplib or some such.
I would like to publish a project with a mp3 file in the application folder, so that I can use it when app is running. Is there some way to do it?
My current attempt is to click on the mp3 and drag it to the "Solution Explorer". When the program is published, the output folder does have a "play.mp3" file, but it is named "play.mp3.deploy", which turns it unusable
If this is a forms app then add the mp3 file to a resource file (resx) and access it that way.
If the app is a website you should be able to mark the file properties as Build Action = Content and Copy To Output Directory = Copy Always. This should then just get deployed in the same manner a js file would for example.
I want to embed a PDF file (which is basically have Product details, Release notes) and wants to open that file from menu bar. What would be the best approach. I need to use this file in installer also. So i'm looking for an approach in which file will be moved to BIN on compilation and from there installer can access that file.
IDEAS ...
Add the file to the project the builds the EXE (use Add existing file in visual studio). Then right click on the file in visual studio, go to properties, and verify that the build action is "Content" and the copy to output directory is "Always" or "If newer" (whichever suits you).
Then this file will always be copied to the same directory where the EXE resides and your application will be able to access it because it's always in the application's directory.
If the installer just takes the BIN directory then it will also be able to access it because the file will reside in the BIN directory.
Have fun!
Finally i did it in following way:
a. We've a folder which contains notes.pdf (used by installshield).
b. Created a pre build command to copy the pdf file from installshield folder to output directory.
c. use process.start("notes.pdf"); to open the file. As it would look in bin directory first for pdf file and we've already copied it there.
It worked for both Installer version and running application from code.
I have built a console application that works okay when it references a .exe file from a Program Files, but my users may not have that .exe in their Program Files directory.
I would prefer to keep the package as a single .exe for simplicity, so I was wondering how I can combine the two .exe's into one package.
One thing I thought of is zipping the .exe from the Program Files directory to a temporary location, and I would store the binary data for the zip archive in my console applications source code. Is this the best way to do it or are there better methods?
Note I do not have the source code of the .exe I want to reference in my console application.
You can certainly store extra files in your .exe (or .dll) as embedded resources. Simply change the "build action" for the item in the project to "Embedded Resource". You can retrieve the contents of the file (which could be compressed, if you wished) by using the following:
System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetManifestResourceStream("stream name")
You could extract the file onto disk to be able to reference it, or you could load it directly with one of the Assembly.Load() variants, so you wouldn't need to ever store it on disk.
Note that if you do choose to extract it and store it on disk, you'll need administrator permissions on Vista and Windows 7 (and properly administered XP) operating systems in order to save the file(s) to the Program Files directory.
You can use GZipStream to compress and decompress files in C#. For more complex compression, you can use other Zip libraries like SharpZipLib.
Take a look at this link: Embedding assemblies inside another assembly
Basically, ILMerge will do what you are asking.