I have a C++/CLI project that has a dependency on a .dll file. I've set up a post build step to copy the .dll to $(OutDir), which works great when building the project.
Now, I have a C# project that references the C++/CLI project, but the .dll isn't copied to the C# $(OutDir).
There must be a way to just reference a C++ project without having to explicitly know about it's dependencies, right? It feels really icky to have to have my C# project directly reference into my C++/CLI project's dll folder. On top of that, it seems very error prone. I have two C# .exe projects that are referencing the C++/CLI project, so I (or a team member) have to remember to update the references to both C# projects if we end up with a new .dll reference in the C++ project...
Maybe some way during the C++/CLI project build to copy to the "parent" or "master" project output directory? I'm a C++ n00b and only somewhat familiar with the msbuild process, so any thoughts or solutions are welcome!
Related
I'm going to add a DLL which is made inside C# .net to a C++ project.
According to instructions inside some references like this, I should add its reference as below:
Properties --> Common Properties --> Framework and References -->Add new Reference
In windows which titled Add Reference I should add DLL to my C++ project.
However this windows does not show any DLL files and have no options to browse DLL files.
Does anyone know how can I bring my custom DLL into this window?
P.S. Whole this story is about the requirement that I want to connect SQL Server inside a C++ project and I don't want to use C++ libraries. Instead I want to implement SQL related stuff inside a C# class library project and import it inside C++ project using C# project DLL. If you have any ideas about this I would be grateful if you share your idea or solution.
You cannot call managed (i.e. c# methods) from a native (i.e. c++) project without jumping thru some hoops. You have a few options:
Make your project a c++/cli project, this will allow calling managed code directly. This would probably be the easiest, it should not be much more complex than turning on support for "common language runtime support" in the advanced project properties.
Use a c++/cli adapter project between your native and managed code.
Use some thirdparty software to generate native exported functions by some black magic.
Rewrite your application in c#
For a c++/cli and c# projects you should have a "References" entry in your project that you can use to add assemblies to. I'm not sure if nuget works however, so you might need to managed the references manually.
I've recently learned of the joys of compiling projects into dlls to use them in other projects! However, now I'm trying to streamline a process where I have two projects, one written in C# and the other in VB, where the C# project has dependencies on a dll compiled from the VB process.
What I'm hoping I can achieve:
- Have both of these projects viewable within the same VS project
Pull updates on the VB code from SVN and compile them into a dll located
in a folder within the project
Not have to update my references in the C# project as I am updating the same dll in the project.
Build the C# project whenever needed, without rebuilding the VB project
Can this be done?
Thanks!
Is this a VB.NET project? If so, you're in luck.
1) You cannot have a Visual Studio project that uses multiple languages (unless you count ASM in C/C++). However, a single Visual Studio solution can have multiple projects where each project uses a different language.
2) If the projects are C# and VB.NET (or F# or Managed C++ or any other language that produces a .NET assembly), there is little difference in the output assemblies of one versus the other. A C# project can reference an assembly built with VB.NET and vice-versa.
3) If the projects are in the same Visual Studio solution, you can use Project References instead of Assembly References. Project References make it so that one project depends on the output of another project in the same solution. You establish the project reference once (in VS2015: Right-click Project => Add => Reference... => Projects => select the project to reference). And then Visual Studio/msbuild automatically knows the correct order to build them (and whether or not to build them at all). It's even smart enough that if you change the output location of the referenced project, you don't need to do anything to the referencing project.
I have a C# project (let's call it Driver) that uses an unmanaged DLL to interact with some hardware. I have another project that references Driver. When I build the project, the unmanaged DLL gets copied to the output directory as I want. However, when I publish the project as a ClickOnce application, the DLL does not get included in the application's files.
In the Application Files in project properties under Publish, I can see Driver's managed DLL, but the unmanaged DLL is not listed.
I'm certain there's an easy fix for this, but searches mostly lead to questions about including unmanaged DLLs in projects.
Thanks in advance,
Bjørn
After researching this some more, it seems that the solution is to add the DLL as an existing item in all the projects that use it. It seems, however, very clunky if you have multiple projects depending on it.
So I have this C# project that requires the use of some functions from a vc++ library. This vc++ library is then dependent on other vc++ libraries.
So in order to get this working, I created a c++/cli dll project that wrapped the main vc++ library. In the project linker settings, I just added the target vc++ library in the input field, and this resolved linker errors. I then added a reference to the cli project to the c# project references.
Everything compiled fine, but when I ran the C# project, there was a File.IO.Exception saying that the cli dll couldn't be loaded. After some tinkering around, I found that this error was happening because the wrapped vc++ dll dependencies could not be loaded. So I copied the vc++ dll into the same folder as the c# exe. I also had to copy all of the other vc++ dlls that the initial dll depended on.
Having to keep track of all of the VC++ dlls is burdensome, so I'm wondering if it is possible to statically link all of the VC++ dlls into the C++/CLI dll, so I do not have to copy them into the same folder as the C# exe. I tried adding all of the vc++ dependencies to the linker input field but that didn't do anything.
Thanks,
Alex
I'm working on a project where I need to have both an executable so that the user can run a configuration interface and a DLL that can be embedded in other projects to use some of the other features. Is there a way to make Visual Studio produce both an executable and a DLL (as opposed to switching it manually every time)?
I agree with TJMonk15, but i think this should be explained explicitly. You should have two projects, one project that is a DLL, and one that is a normal project. The DLL project should have all your re-usable code. The normal project should be the application you are building, which will reference your re-usable DLL. This way you can build a framework in the DLL project that can be used for any of your future projects.
A good example of this is when you are making a game. Your game engine would be the DLL, and the game you are making would be the executable project. The executable project will contain all the non-reusable traits such as game GUIs and content.
Why wouldn't you put most of the code in one project (With an ouput of type Library) and then write an executable that referenes the DLL?