I discovered that I can add Files (*.jpg) to my C# Resources in Visual Studio 2010. As far as I could read it should be possible to re-assemble the exe at runtime. I don't want to strip the exe apart by myself. I'm looking for C# routines that do that for me. Of course I don't want to modify the running exe but a copy of it. I could also live with it putting my source code inside my exe if I need to compile it again at runtime.
My goal:
Create copy of the running exe
Add a file to that copy somehow.
Close the running app
When user executes the copy it must have the file as resource inside. That's it.
Edit: C# compiler + Visual Studio 2010 is available at target system.
(I'm not programming a full installer, please don't say those bad words: "re-inventing" and "wheel", I know them by myself)
You'd have a very hard time modifying your resource section in a way that won't break your executable without the benefit of a full compiler.
What you can do instead however is:
Make a ZIP file (or other archive that contains all your files)
Do a dumb-append of the contents of your ZIP file to the end of the executable
Also append an int32 containing the length of your archive
You can read it by opening a FileStream for your own executable starting at ExecutableLength - ZipLength - 4 and reading ZipLength bytes - which gives you just the zip portion which can be read using DotNetZip or another library.
Then when you want to modify the stored data:
Rename your existing executable while running (which you can do)
Read the first ExecutableLength - ZipLength - 4 bytes of your executable and write them to a new file with the name your executable had originally before it was renamed.
Create the new ZIP archive with your information in and append that.
Append the int32 of the length of your new archive.
Close the existing app and launch the new one.
Tadah - an executable that can modify its own stored resources.
Related
I finished my app and now I want to create a update system. I have the installer so I can install the application in other machines, it was made with InnoSetup (I don't know if it is the best way, but it worked). I know the basics, I have to compare the current version with a string stored in a in a web server, if it is greater, download the files. Now, what files? Because the InnoSetup gives me these files:
Where are the .xaml (design) files? And the .cs files? Are they compressed in the .exe? For example If I add a few lines to a class, I want to download this class, no the full installer again. Because the final size of my application is 30Mb, if I change some things of a class, I do not want the user to have to download the 30Mb again
In the most basic of terms, when you compile your program the compiler turns your cs and xaml files into machine readable code and puts it all into an exe file.
Yes, if you add a few lines to a class and recompile it, it will rebuild your exe (assuming the class is part of it, and not an external library).
You still have dependency dll files that you need to include, and any other external content that you've included. But once you have all the external files installed, you wouldn't theoretically need to download them again on an update. Only the files that you've updated, ie the exe.
I write you all for a problem with my c# library. It needs an XML file that uses as a dictionary. Since the files will not change I would like the dll already contained the file and requires no memory references to it.
System.Xml.XmlTextReader reader = new System.Xml.XmlTextReader(#G:\Project\dictionary.xml");
So I put the XML file in the "Resources" folder of visual studio, but now I do not know how to get that file. If you always use the memory reference to use the library without also enter the file, it does not work. How can I do? If I open the dll with a notepad I see that the XML file is in.
This should give you an idea:
add a *.resx file
drag and drop you XML File onto it.
Use it!
I'm planning to build my winform into a .exe file. I'm just wondering what to do with the XML files that my application needs?
I did some research and found out that I can add the XML files in the Resource folder before creating a .exe file.
Or I need to create a setup file? When the user runs the setup file, the XML files will be installed into their pc.Now I wonder which one is the best way to go for,
Note: XML files might get modified by the user.
If you want to ship the XML files as seperate to the .EXE then you can set the Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer. (click on file and then go to properties).
OR if you want it as part of the .EXE I think you can change the Build Action to Embedded Resource.
I personally would create a Setup as per your edit and include the XML files. I usually just add everthing from the bin/release folder that is needed when I create a setup file.
You could either deploy the necessary files along with the executable in the same folder or embed them as resources (if they are read-only). If you need to modify them do not embed them as resources into the executable.
The correct way depends on how you intend to use the files. If the files always are deployed together with your application, the application never writes to them and they are never upgraded without upgrading the application, you can go with them embedded as resources.
If you need to update them separately from the application, you need to have them as physical files.
You don't necessarely need a installation package, unless you need to apply some logic during setup, such as updating the content of the setup based on user input or to check preconditions. The application can just be copied into place regardless of if you have embedded the files or not.
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.
I have a quick question regarding debug and release in VS 2008.
I have an app i've been working on - its not yet complete but the bulk of the functionality is there. So basically i'm trying to give a copy of it now to the person helping with documentation - just so they can have a play and get the feel for what i've made.
Now the question is how to provide it to them. I was told to just copy the .exe out of the debug/bin folder and put that onto USB. But when testing, if I run this .exe anywhere else (outside of this folder) it crashes. I've now worked out why this is:
var path = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["PathToUse"];
var files = Directory.GetFiles(path);
throws a null reference, so that App.config file is not being used. If I copy that file in with the .exe it works again.
So actually my question is regarding the best way to manage this situation. What is the best way to provide a working copy to people, and, is there a reference on preparing apps for release - so everything is packaged together and installed in a clean structured folder heirarchy?
If you want to be safe grab everything in the debug/bin folder. If you use the drop down in VS to change to release and then compile the project, there will be fewer files in the release/bin folder because many debug related files are not included.
If there are third party DLLs you are referencing, like if you downloaded log4net or something like that, then you can simply put them in the same folder as the exe. This is called side-by-side deployment, and in my opinion is the simplest and easiest to test.
You can search for XCOPY deployment to learn more about what you are trying to do.
You can take another step of compressing the bin folder into an archive like a zip file to make it easy for the user to extract them, or you could use a tool like WIX or NSIS to create an installer to extract and copy the files.