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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();
}
}
}

Codegeneration at runtime from a string to console exe is not working in C# .NET6

I have some code which must be able to generated a console application at runtime (Codegeneration with System.CodeDom). I did this already a lot, but in NET 6 now I am struggling with that and the new API. In the code below I try to compile simply from a string. See below the static class with method Start() which then should generates the application.
The compilations seems fine, no errors at the end. But when starting the generated AppCodegenerated.exe, it shows some reference exception with System.Runtime.
Please help, any Idea? Already researched a lot but could not find any useful solution..
//-
I used the Visual Studio 2022 / NET 6 and theses Nuget's:
using Basic.Reference.Assemblies;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp;
using Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Text;
using System.Text;
namespace CompilerSimplified
{
public static class Compiler
{
public static bool Start()
{
string FileName = "AppCodegenerated";
string ExePath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + #"\" + FileName + ".exe";
string code = #"using System; Console.WriteLine(""Hello.""); Console.ReadLine(); ";
// ------- References -------------
// .net platform references
List<MetadataReference> References = new List<MetadataReference>();
foreach (var item in ReferenceAssemblies.Net60) // ReferenceAssemblies from Nuget: Basic.Reference.Assemblies;
References.Add(item);
// or tried this: loop manually through system platform
//string[] fileEntries = Directory.GetFiles(#"C:\Program Files\dotnet\packs\Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref\6.0.0\ref\net6.0\", "*.dll");
//foreach (string fileName in fileEntries)
// references.Add(MetadataReference.CreateFromFile(fileName));MetadataReference.CreateFromFile(fileName));
// ------- References END -------------
// delete existing file
if (File.Exists(ExePath))
File.Delete(ExePath);
// compiler options
CSharpCompilationOptions DefaultCompilationOptions =
new CSharpCompilationOptions(outputKind: OutputKind.ConsoleApplication, platform: Platform.AnyCpu)
.WithOverflowChecks(true).WithOptimizationLevel(OptimizationLevel.Release);
// encode soucre code
string sourceCode = SourceText.From(code, Encoding.UTF8).ToString();
// CSharp options
var parsedSyntaxTree = Parse(sourceCode, "", CSharpParseOptions.Default.WithLanguageVersion(LanguageVersion.CSharp10));
// compilation
var compilation = CSharpCompilation.Create(FileName, new SyntaxTree[] { parsedSyntaxTree }, references: References, DefaultCompilationOptions);
var result = compilation.Emit(ExePath);
// return
if (result.Success)
return true;
else
return false;
}
private static SyntaxTree Parse(string text, string filename = "", CSharpParseOptions options = null)
{
var stringText = SourceText.From(text, Encoding.UTF8);
return SyntaxFactory.ParseSyntaxTree(stringText, options, filename);
}
}
}
Above code runs fine without error and exports the AppCodegenerated.exe into the project /bin folder.
Execution of this generated AppCodegenerated.exe shows following on the output console:
Unhandled exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException:
The file or assembly "System.Runtime, Version = 6.0.0.0, Culture = neutral,
PublicKeyToken = b03f5f7f11d50a3a" or a dependency on it was not found.
The system can not find the stated file.

It is not possible to codegenerate directly a console application like the initial approach above. One possible solution is to generate first a dll (what I mentioned above in the example code is working fine), and from there include that .dll into a .exe, from where the functionality can run.

reading a SSIS package variable from it's C# asp launcher

I have to modify an existing SSIS package, to launch it from a web site. Currently, this package is launched on demand by double clicking it, shows a form to ask for an excel file location and some database credentials that are stored in package variables, and then loads data from the excel file into a DB. Since there are many errors that can occur in the process, there is a package variable that holds an internal state, to inform the user which part of the process failed.
Given that I have to launch the package from a web site, as a first approach I have split the package in two, a master package that gets the information from user, executes the slave package by passing the user parameters through package variables, gets the child package internal state and then it finishes by informing the user the final state of this process. The communication between packages is being done by using variables with the same name and package configuration (main package variables). This is true for all variables except for the internal state one, that exists just in the parent, but is used in the child. Since both share the same context, it works ok.
Now that the child package is isolated, I'm trying to replace the master one with a C# asp site. Currently I'm able to get the user parameters through a webform and execute the package, but I can't figure how to read the child's internal state variable from the web app.
This internal value is an integer from 0 to 12, where 0 means ok and any other means that something went wrong with loading a table, executing a SP or something else.
There is a way to get this package variable value from the web app, when the package finishes? Otherwise, I just realized that this could be wrote in a log file that could be read by the web app, but I was wondering if there is a more wise solution.
Just to let you know, this is how I'm passing variables from the web app to the package. The package is configured to set its variables from primary/main package variables.
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime;
public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
}
protected void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Application app = new Application();
Package package = null;
String PackagePath = "";
try
{
string fileName = FileUpload1.PostedFile.FileName.ToString();
fileName = Server.MapPath("App_Data//" + System.IO.Path.GetFileName(fileName));
FileUpload1.PostedFile.SaveAs(fileName);
//Load DTSX
PackagePath = #"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\DTS\Packages\Null Project\Package.dtsx";
package = app.LoadPackage(PackagePath, null);
//Global package variables (same name)
Hashtable param = new Hashtable();
param["ServidorOrigen"] = "SQL_SERVER";
param["UserOrigen"] = "user";
param["PassOrigen"] = "pass";
param["BaseDatosOrigen"] = "test_database";
param["EstadoConexion"] = 0;
param["EstadoPaquete"] = 0;
param["ExcelRuta"] = fileName.ToString();
Variables vars = null;
foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in param)
{
package.VariableDispenser.LockOneForWrite(entry.Key.ToString(), ref vars);
try
{
vars[entry.Key.ToString()].Value = entry.Value.ToString();
}
catch
{
throw new Exception("variable " + entry.Key.ToString() + " not found in package");
}
finally
{
vars.Unlock();
}
}
//Execute DTSX
Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime.DTSExecResult results = package.Execute();
//Collects debugging info
using (StreamWriter _testData = new StreamWriter(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/log.txt"), true))
{
if (!package.Errors.Count.Equals(0)){
_testData.WriteLine(package.Errors.Count.ToString()); // Write the file.
ErrorEnumerator myEnumerator = package.Errors.GetEnumerator();
int i = 0;
while ((myEnumerator.MoveNext()) && (myEnumerator.Current != null))
_testData.WriteLine("[{0}] {1}", i++, myEnumerator.Current.Description);
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
}
}

You can store the state in a database table the same way you would with your log file and then just have your web app read that at a given interval.
I'm not sure how you are passing your variables from the web app to the ssis, but you could look into the ssis configuration stuff storing in sql databases.
I have a similar thing I do.
Config stuff saved to database from web app.
Web app calls a sql job.
Job starts ssis package.
Web app queries every minute to see if the job has finished and returns succeeded or failed to user.

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.