I wrote a project in C# that uses a lot of images, Milk models and openGL and i want to pack everything in one exe so i can upload it to my site.
Right now i got an exe that is depended on other files like jpgs etc'.
I've tried using ILMerge but couldn't get it to work. Is there a simpler solution?
thanks.
You can put all your files/images into the exe as Embedded Resources.
See How to embed and access resources by using Visual C# (This link currently 404s)
Add that as an embedded resource.
Inside Visual Studio :
Go to Solution Explorer,
Right click the image,
GO to Build Actions: Select Embedded Resource.
You will have that image inside the exe. Later you can use Reflection and get the image when you run your application.
========= Getting the Embedded image from the Application =========
First solve the first problem: by putting images as embedded resource.
Second problem: Access the images by using Reflection:
private void Form1_Load(System.Object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
System.Reflection.Assembly myAssembly = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
Stream myStream = myAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream("EmbeddingExample.image1.bmp");
Bitmap image = new Bitmap(myStream);
this.ClientSize = new Size(image.Width, image.Height);
PictureBox pb = new PictureBox();
pb.Image = image;
pb.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
this.Controls.Add(pb);
}
Borrowed Source Code from here:
ilmerge is only for merging .net CLR binaries together, usually for bundling libraries into your main executable.
For things like art assets, you want to embed them as resources into your application. From a resource you can get a stream which lets you work with the data as if it were in a file.
See this MSDN article for information on embedding resources: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319292
When you add an image to the project in properties you can set it as Embedded Resource, then it'll be added to the binary file (dll or exe)
I shall prefer to create a satellite assembly for resource files. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/21a15yht%28v=vs.71%29.aspx
Related
Once i add this line to the code:
this.tsbAdd.Image = Bitmap.FromFile(#"..\..\Resources\add.bmp");
I'm unable to open editor of that form.
Screenshot of designer
I can compile app and images work as they should.
Expected results - new image is displayed without breaking designer.
Real results - new image breaks designer.
Once i build it into .exe it doesn't open. Without images it works flawlessly.
Nope it won't. The picture will be built, but referencing it by this path won't be working.
The resource file WOULD be built into your exe, but not at "....\Resources\add.bmp". This path only exists in your IDE configuration position, when your program is at "bin\Debug", you understand me?
Imagine you put your exe into C:\, then where is "....\Resources"? You cannot refer to a image in this way.
You should add resources in the project panel (I believe you have done that), and the way you get this file is via ResourceManager, not using this path. Like this:
ResourceManager rm = Resources.ResourceManager;
this.tsbAdd.Image = (Image) rm.GetObject("add");
The resourcemanager will pull the resource bitmap out from your built exe. Just using that path won't work. As the designer is not ran in \bin\Debug, no wonder it is broken too because it cannot find your file using that path.
I would like to embed a text file in an assembly so that I can load the text without having to read it from disk, and so that everything I need is contained within the exe. (So that it's more portable)
Is there a way to do this? I assume something with the resource files?
And if you can, how do you do it and how do you programaticaly load the text into a string?
Right-click the project file, select Properties.
In the window that opens, go to the Resources tab, and if it has just a blue link in the middle of the tab-page, click it, to create a new resource.
Then from the toolbar above the tab-page, select to add a new text file, give it a name, it will be added to your project and opened up.
If you get this far, then in your code you can type in Resources.TheNameYouGaveTheTextFileHere and you can access its contents. Note that the first time you use the Resources class in a class, you need to add a using directive (hit Ctrl+. after typing Resources to get the menu to get VS to do it for you).
If something was unclear about the above description, please leave a comment and I'll edit it until it is complete or makes sense :)
In Visual Studio 2003, Visual Studio 2005 and possibly earlier versions (this works in 2008 as well) you can include the text file in your project, then in the 'Properties' panel, set the action to 'Embedded Resource'. Then you can access the file as a stream using Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(string).
Other answers here are more convenient. I include this for completeness.
Note that this approach will work for embedding other types of files such as images, icons, sounds, etc...
After embeding a text file, use that file any where in code like this...
global::packageName.Properties.Resources.ThatFileName
Here's what worked for me. (I needed to read contents of a file embedded into an executable .NET image file.)
Before doing anything, include your file into your solution in Visual Studio. (In my case VS 2017 Community.) I switched to the Solution Explorer, then right-clicked Properties folder, chose Add Existing Item and picked the file. (Say, FileName.txt.) Then while still in the Solution Explorer, right-click on the included file, select Properties, and pick Build Action as Embedded Resource.
Then use this code to read its bytes:
string strResourceName = "FileName.txt";
Assembly asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
using( Stream rsrcStream = asm.GetManifestResourceStream(asm.GetName().Name + ".Properties." + strResourceName))
{
using (StreamReader sRdr = new StreamReader(rsrcStream))
{
//For instance, gets it as text
string strTxt = sRdr.ReadToEnd();
}
}
Note, that in this case you do not need to add that file as a resource as was proposed in the accepted answer.
Yes, you are correct - create a resource file. WHen you do that you don't need to "load" the string, it will be referenced as Resource.WhateverStringYouDefined.
Here is what I did:
Added my files (resources) in Visual Studio by right-clicking on the project.
Right click on every file you have added and change the "Build Type" to Embedded Resource.
In order to access the resource:
a. Got the current assembly using the function: GetExecutingAssembly()
b. The resource that I added was a text file so I read it into a stream using GetManifestResourceStream(fileName). The way I accessed the file names is by calling GetManifestResourceNames()
c. Now use a StreamReader() class to read to the end of file into a variable if that is what you want.
Adding to Pavan's answer, to get the current assembly (in general section):
Assembly _assembly;
GetManifestResourceStream(fileName)(in code, where the read from resource is required):
try
{
_assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
_textStreamReader = new StreamReader(_assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("*Namespace*.*FileName*.txt"));
}
catch
{
Console.WritelLine("Error accessing resource!");
}
I'd like to add an image to my C# WinForm app in Visual Studio 11 Beta. I therefore added my png in the resources tab/images with "add resource" + "from existing file..." (that worked fine and it is listed in the tab).
Now i tried to access it with:
Bitmap Image = new Bitmap(MyProject.Properties.Resources.MyImage); but it doesn't find anything in "Resources". (The only options i get for Resources is: Culture, Equals, ReferenceEquals and ResourceManager)
I also tried to set the build action of the image to embedded resource in the properties tab
Adding the png with its local path works like a charm.
Am I doing it wrong or is there another problem?
(Im working with .NET Framework 4)
If you're trying to load it out of the assembly (build action = embedded resource), you'll need to read the Stream from the assembly like so:
using System.Reflection;
//...
var image = new Bitmap(
Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().
GetManifestResourceStream("MyProject.Properties.Resources.MyImage.png"));
This assumes that your file is located in /Properties/Resources/MyImage.png and that your assembly's root namespace is MyProject.
I must have read tons of solutions online, but for some idiotic reason I can not get them to work.
I have a .jpg image in the Resources folder of my project, and the image is set to Build Action: Resource (not embedded resource) and never copy to output folder.
My image is not added to my resources.resx file.
I am trying to access the file like so:
lResult = new BitmapImage(new Uri(#"pack://application:,,,/Resources/ImageMissing.jpg", UriKind.Absolute));
But this fails saying that there is no image there.
This is so basic I feel really stupid, but I just cannot seem to grasp the simple concept of resources usage.
Thank you.
If you need to specify that the resource being referred to is referenced from the local assembly, then I would think that you would want to include "component". For example, I have some code that loads an icon from a resource available from the same assembly in which my code resides. I write this:
var SourceUri = new Uri("pack://application:,,,/MyCompany.MyProduct.MyAssembly;component/MyIcon.ico", UriKind.Absolute);
thisIcon = new BitmapImage(SourceUri);
As noted in the article available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970069.aspx, the following additional examples illustrate the use of "component":
The following example shows the pack URI for a XAML resource file that is located in the root of the referenced assembly's project folder.
pack://application:,,,/ReferencedAssembly;component/ResourceFile.xaml
The following example shows the pack URI for a XAML resource file that is located in a subfolder of the referenced assembly's project folder.
pack://application:,,,/ReferencedAssembly;component/Subfolder/ResourceFile.xaml
The following example shows the pack URI for a XAML resource file that is located in the root folder of a referenced, version-specific assembly's project folder.
pack://application:,,,/ReferencedAssembly;v1.0.0.1;component/ResourceFile.xaml
Note that the pack URI syntax for referenced assembly resource files can be used only with the application:/// authority. For example, the following is not supported in WPF.
pack://siteoforigin:,,,/SomeAssembly;component/ResourceFile.xaml
You need one more comma in there. Here is the documentation on Pack URIs in WPF. Notice there are three commas when using the authority.
lResult = new BitmapImage(new Uri(#"pack://application:,,,/Resources/ImageMissing.jpg", UriKind.Absolute));
Did you happen to rename the file (or folder) in the Solution Explorer and then not clean or rebuild the application?
If you're positive the name in your URI matches what is in the Solution Explorer, then try right clicking the solution and selecting "Rebuild".
The problem is the image has not been added to your project - including it in the resources file is not enough.
Right click your project > Add Existing Item > Browse to and find and add the image.
Then all you need to do is:
myImage = new BitmapImage(new Uri(#"ImageMissing.jpg", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute));
You probably created this second library as "Class Library" instead "WPF Custom Library". Creating xaml files or embedding images as "Resources" in a class library is not enough for WPF, you are probably missing the following in your AssemblyInfo.cs file:
Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
[assembly: ThemeInfo(
ResourceDictionaryLocation.None, //where theme specific resource dictionaries are located
//(used if a resource is not found in the page,
// or application resource dictionaries)
ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly //where the generic resource dictionary is located
//(used if a resource is not found in the page,
// app, or any theme specific resource dictionaries)
)]
Try this:
var icon = BitmapFrame.Create(Application.GetResourceStream(
new Uri("MyAppBitmap.jpg", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute)).Stream);
How can I assign an external image into the PictureBox in Visual Studio 2008 ?
Typically, When we use ChooseImage in PictureBox , Visual Studio adds the image to the exe file and it causes increasing exe file's volume, I wanna add the image from a directory beside the exe file.
Is it possible in Visual Studio 2008?
P.S:
I don't want add the image with C# code, because VS2008 doesn't show it in developing time.
I think you can do this in C# code using the Image.FromFile method. As long as the C# code is in the initialization of the form / control, it should run at both design time and run time.
You can use Linked resources.
When you add a linked resource, the
.resx file that stores your project
resource information includes only a
relative path to the resource file on
disk. If you add images, videos, or
other complex files as linked
resources, you can edit them using a
default editor that you associate with
that file type in the Resource
Designer. When you add an embedded
resource, the data is stored directly
in the project's resource (.resx)
file. Strings can only be stored as
embedded resources.embedded resources.
MSDN on Linked vs. Embedded Resources
P.S. I however still don't get why would you need it—even if .exe doesn't get bigger, the whole app package would have a bigger size, wouldn't it?
Best,
Dan
If this is WinForms, it's better to just set the ImageLocation of the PictureBox to the path to your image. Do this from the designer to have it show at design time.
You can get images from Resources
pictureBox1.Image = Properties.Resources.[image name];
see How to embed and access resources by using Visual C#
Misread the question OP asked to load without using the Resources.
you will need to do
Image.FromFile("c:\\image.bmp")
If image if a JPEG then You can cast it to Bitmap
Bitmap myJpeg=(Bitmap) Image.FromFile("myJpegPath");
OR,
System.Drawing.Image loadImg = System.Drawing.Image.FromFile("c:\\image.JPG");
loadImg.Save(Response.OutputStream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Jpeg);