I made a little app with c# which I wanted to send to a friend to get an opinion. Problem is when I selected release configuration and click rebuild I get 7 additional files(3 dll's, 1 exes,...) along with the exe I want. Am I doing something wrong? I used to get single .exe files back when I used c++ with VS 2005.
You are not doing anything wrong. Its just that at release additional files are generated like AppConfig.xml for instange that holds your application settings, or a ClickOnce deployment package so that your friend can install the app. To get more used to c# you can start by googling articles about the differences between debug and release
Have you considered using the Click Once facility built into Visual Studio 2012?
Click Once Deployment - MSDN
Click Once will generate an installer that will that your friend can execute. It will automatcially download and install any dependencies (such as a specific .NET Runtime) if necessary.
To distribute referenced DLLs look at the following URL as it suggests the correct configuration settings:
How to: Specify Which Files Are Published by ClickOnce
It's been an horrible hour. Couldn't get Clickonce working for such a simple app. Moving just the 3 referenced dlls and the exe to another folder worked. Wix on the other hand...is difficult to say the least.
However, this allowed me to create a single setup file if not an exe in 10 mins. I sent a shortcut to the desktop which is more or less what I want.
Related
I am kind of new to Visual Studio and have found no solutions online, so this may be a simple problem nobody has bothered to post about.
I am working with a system that requires certain browser settings on a very specific version of Internet Explorer and am trying to create a launcher that can be installed on all users of a domain computer that establishes all these settings and creates a simple IE window (to dissuade people from using it more than needed).
I have written this application, but when I run the installer it a) gives me no option to change the install directory, and b) does not give me the option to change the default install directory in the project properties.
Other sources continue to say to change the 'Install Folder URL' to something else, but whenever I change it to say '\\localhost\c$\A_File_Directory', nothing ever changes and it continues to install in an unknown location.
Any help would be appreciated (perhaps a location with in-depth examples for VS)
EDIT -- It seems there is no way to do what I am looking for through Visual Studio, so I think I will be just deploying the ClickOnce installer through Group Policy so it can run on a per-user basis. Thanks to all who helped!
As of VS 2010 the ClickOnce Installer does not let you choose where to install the application. It controls that. I have found it rather irritating and if you really need to control where something is installed you need to use a different installer.
Here's another answer for VS 2012
Settting the ClickOnce installation folder URL in Visual Studio 2012
I'm not a professional programmer yet, I've just started college and I study some things by myself outside of it. I'm doing pretty basic stuff in C#, like console applications and simple stuff for the web in asp.net.
I've noticed that whenever I publish a C# project using Visual Studio 2010, I am obligated to use this "click once" setup wizard for my apps. But I don't really think any of them need a setup program, they are just a executable and maybe a bunch of .dlls which are able to run by just executing them right away.
I fail to see what's the poing of this click once installer? It probably checks if the correct version of the .Net framework is installed and, if not, installs it. But is that all it does? I think this click once is too ugly and if checking the .net version is all it does I'd rather code my own installer using another language which looks better and provides more info about my program.
You don't need to use ClickOnce, that's just an option for how to distribute your app. You could simply build using the Release configuration and then distribute that Release folder (typically bin\Release, configured in the project's settings), or use a post-build command to, e.g., build a zip of the assemblies and config(s) you need:
del /Q $(SolutionDir)MyApp-win.zip
cd $(OutDir)
"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a $(SolutionDir)MyApp-win.zip MyApp.exe MyApp.exe.config OtherAssembly.dll
I recommend using ClickOnce for smaller apps since it simplifies the distribution of app updates alot.
You don't need to use the ClickOnce installer that is provided by Visual Studio though. You can create your own installer (with a UI that suits you more) that in turn uses ClickOnce under the hood for the heavy lifting.
See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997001.aspx.
I have completed my program and would like to send that program in its compiled state to other pc's.
I understand that in the Debug folder there is the programName.exe file, which when I open it on the PC I created it with - it opens.
But if I send that .exe file to other pc's, it crashes or simply doesnt run!
Is there a way for others to see and use my program without installing visual studio?
I have asked this question before on another programming website with not much help, this is the link that they showed me, which i then followed:
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/58021-deploying-a-c%23-application-visual-studio-setup-project/#-application-visual-studio-setup-project/
The installer installs the program, but there is no files with it to open!
Other machines won't need to have Visual Studio installed - but they will need the appropriate version of .NET, depending on what you built against. If you target the "client" profile, the .NET distribution is fairly small.
You could build a setup project which kicks off the .NET framework installation if necessary, but it's likely to be quite a lot of work - in many cases it's probably simpler just to tell people what they need to install first, particularly if this is for personal use or friends/family.
There are most likely other DLLs that your project is dependent on that do not get copied over when only transporting that .exe file. You COULD just copy those over as well.
However, the best practice is to add a new Project under Setup for a Installer. It should detect those dependencies. Then the other users will just have to run the setup.exe that gets created (but you have to include the other folders and files that get generated). Open up the File System Editor tab of the Installer project. Then inside the Application Folder, I right click on "Primary output from [Main Project] (Active)", then select "Create Shortcut to ..." and drop the Shortcut into the Program Files and User Desktop folders on the left.
For something simple, the other DLLs should be fine.
Create the MSI Installer project for your application.
Copy your project output as input of MSI Installer.
.Exe is depends on .msi file, so when you click the .exe must verify the msi file existed in same directory.
Verify the .Net framework and Installation 3.0 before run the .exe or .Msi file.
The easiest approach would be:
1: Right click on your Solution Explorer and add a new project. The new project would be a Setup project, which would be under Other Projects -> Setup and Deployment -> Visual Studio installer and then choose Setup Project from the right side.
2: Add all your bin folder files to Application folder and then build your solution.
3: It will create a file with .msi extension. You can distribute that to anyone you want and they wouldn't need any VS.
I programmed an hour-sheet application and now I would like to publish it so people can install and run it.
I've tried the publish function of visual studio 2008 but this gives me a clickOnce application/installer that's really confusing, but it works when I run it, but when I export the installer to another pc it installs it crashes at the end of the install.
so I tried just coping the installed files but then the program crashes at startup.
Is there a simple way to compile the application to a simple standalone executable or maybe containing a separate folder containing the resources (images/classes)?
You can copy the executable from bin\Release and it should work.
If it uses any DLLs that are not part of the .Net framework itself, you'll also need to copy those. (Set Copy Local to true in the properties for each reference)
If it uses any other files, you'll need to copy them to the right place or embed them in the EXE or a DLL.
I would add Setup Project to your solution which will create a setup.exe.
Here's some of the links:
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=58021
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms235317.aspx
This will make sure that the dlls and assemblies are deployed to appropriate place when you install your software. It will also make sure that it gets rids of files when you uninstall it.
you can find your .exe here Projectpath\bin\Debug you have to give .config file too
I've seen popping up around the web recently .application files, for .NET installations. (Application manifests, per the extension details).
How exactly does one create these .application files in Visual Studio, and how do they differ from a standard windows setup? Please enlighten me.
I'm a C# developer, but never used a .application installer before.
How exactly does one create these .application files in Visual Studio?
.application file is automatically created when you do a click-once deployment.
For click-once deployment, you can
Right click on the project you want to release and choose publish menu item.
-- or --
Right click on the project, select properties, go to publish tab to publish.
how do they differ from a standard windows setup?
You would create a standard windows setup program by creating a setup project in your solution. And also they differ in a way that, for click-once, end-user does not have to install the program on their local machine.
You can learn more about differences between them from MSDN
Choosing Between ClickOnce and Windows Installer