I want to write an application that launches another app using Process.Start , but that app is a .exe, can I bundle that into my C# app without it being outside in a folder? I want to make it so my app doesn't need to install at all, so can it be in the app?
Not entirely sure if I understand, but do you mean so you can ship it and send it around as a single .exe (rather than zipping it all up)?
Could you embed the .exe in as an embedded resource and have your own .exe put it in some temporary files?
You want to make two exe's look like one exe?
There is no reasonable way to do this. Are you using someone else's program and don't want people to know?
Related
As you could guess, I'm an absolute beginner to Visual Studios and C# Windows Forms (.NET Framework). I want to transfer my project from my laptop to my PC but I have no idea how to do so. I've been trying for quite a while but can't seem to get what files to copy. I'm copying the [Name].cs , [Name].Designer.cs and [Name].resx files but I can't seem to get them to work. should I copy the whole folder or .sln file or what?
Could anyone help me please?
Copy the whole root directory where the .sln is or .csproj if it is a single winforms project.
On the destination computer you might need some prerequisites.
If you want to be able to work on it and update it from both places, use GitHub and make a private repository. That's an easy way. The other way is follow the file path: C:\users\admin\source\repos and find your project in that list of folders. You could copy it to a flash drive, if you wanted to do it that way.
I want my program in Visual C# to allow the user to generate a portable .exe file to be run on another user's computer, with the portabe .exe receiving the values the first user inserted. I don`t want to use a configuration file or any other file to store the input values to be then read because I want the .exe to be a single file. I have the main and the second program (future portable executable)
as different projects on the same solution. Is there a way to modify values of the portable .exe or does a new program needs to be compiled on the fly?
To formally answer the question.
You can convert the assembly to IL, search and replace and recompile. However, if you are building this application, you should really consider the need and use case for such very thoroughly.
If you need just to modify the behavior of an application, you have a plethora of options.
Registry (can be remotely done)
A config file (though you ruled this out)
You could use a login method to a resouce
Wcf for instance
Active Directory
A network DB
Rebuild you app for these users
Msbuild with a batch file to tweak something
A pre build script
If you are really tricky you "might" be able to track down the offset of an int and tweak it. However this seems very unreliable
Or if you really have your heart set on this, see the following and associated questions
Modify Emdeded String in C# compiled exe
Is it possible to Add/Remove/Change an embedded resource in .NET DLL?
Update from Ben Voigt Comments
Win32 Resources can be changed after being embedded in an EXE. .NET
System.Resources can only be changed before embedding. C# applications
are compatible with both kinds, but the distinction is very important
The The necessary function is UpdateResource
You can typically append to an .exe without breaking it and then read the data in upon execution.
See: appending data to an exe
So i made 6 different little applications each in its own Project.
And my idea is now to build some kind of Launcher with 6 buttons each of them launching their respectives applications.
I know how to /Add/Existing Projects/Select Project, but my worry is more upon managing to run those application on a Button_Click.
I'm thinking about copy/paste-ing my .cs files of each apps, and their resources.
Should I ? Shouldn't I ?
What would be the best thing to do ?
EDIT1
Well, as i said, my apps are very small, i mean like very very small. It's mostly about automating templates mails sendings and opening/closing reports.
All my apps are in a single form each and they only refer to .png or .txt to store datas or dress up fancy-ish reports with images.
Right now, I'm in the process of importing FormX.cs one by one, as NonStatic said, re-referencing the UI and renaming some functions. I did 2 so far, and i'm hitting a generic file path issue.
I'm not sure how ressources are working once the .exe is built. Are they "embed" whereever the ressources file is located ? (Resources folder, or ..\bin\debug) or should i be carefull with this and systematicly put tehm in some specific folder ?
Also, thanks for your point Zdravko Danev, i was about to just copy/paste everything. You made me think slower about this. But i'm kind of searching for a real merged solution, "fusioned solution" if i may say. I don't want buttons to just run .EXEs. :p
EDIT2
I managed to copy/paste all my forms, was kinda easy, though time consumming to check every references.
But it's done.
Most definitely do not copy the code!
It is relatively easy to create a simple launcher. Take a look at Process.Start:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.start.aspx
I think your question is not about merge projects but how to launch them in a uniformed application or launcher.
You could copy files together, rebuild user interface. In the user interface, calling methods in the copied files. Then you could public a single EXE file other than multiple files.
If your original projects generate dll files, you could build a new app which reference those dll files. Loading them when you need it and invoke methods from there.
If your original projects generate exe files, then #Zdravko's solution, using Process.Start() to launch those exe files with correct parameters.
I have students in high school who have created some programs using Visual Studio C#. They created some games and would like to now upload them to the web. I am pretty new to Visual Studio C#. I thought after a program was "built" that you could go into the bin/debug folder and get the exe file for the program and be able to play the game without having to have Visual Studio on the actual computer you are playing it on. It works with some of their games but some of them, there are graphical files that are missing in the exe file if all the other files aren't stored in the same place. How can I get a clean exe of their game? Can that exe be loaded up onto a web server so they can play it from there or at least download it from there?
Microsoft wrote a guide on how to do exactly this. It's on their MSDN website, which is sort of like the developer back-bone for a lot of Microsoft software and documentation.
Old guide: Adding and Editing Resources (Visual C#)
Newer guide: How to: Add or Remove Resources
The gist is that the program needs to know where the files are, relative to the location of the compiled binary (in this case, an .EXE); There's several different ways to do this, depending on your level of expertise. I would suggest that you take a look at the guides above to start that journey.
there's a few ways of doing this. (Also, make sure you're creating a 'release' build when you compile).
You can include resources in your game by creating a resources file. This is something I usually do only on winforms applications etc.
If you have on-disk files you need to distribute those on-disk files along side your game. You could do this by zipping up your game.exe and the /files/images.img folder (or what ever your resources content folder is named).
If you're feeling adventurous you could create a 'deployment project' which is a project that allows you to create an installer file. This is a bit more work however you will have fine grained control over what files go where etc.
Good luck!
EXE files generally aren't self contained for video games with many resources, just add resources in an external folder and make sure the paths to the resources in their games are not absolute but relative in the local directory.
So for example:
get rid of paths like C:/Users/Bob/Desktop/Game/Images/player.png and replace with /Images/Player.png.
Also, an EXE generally doesn't run client side on webpages, it is possible but difficult. Things such as Flash are made for this sort of issue. I'd say make the webpage a place where they can download their games. Github has a nice way to do free websites called gh-pages. OFC, you could host one yourself but that would require a lot of setup work.
Like Monza said, you can zip up the files for download. Or, you could create an installer if you wanted to be really ambitious.
I thought after a program was "built" that you could go into the bin/debug folder and get the exe file for the program and be able to play the game without having to have Visual Studio on the actual computer you are playing it on.
That is correct, given that the other machine has the necessary .NET framework version installed AND any other resources like .dll files and config files are also present. When the application is ready for release, you can set the Build options in the project properties to Release, and then when you build all the files needed for distribution will be in the bin\Release folder.
It works with some of their games but some of them, there are graphical files that are missing in the exe file if all the other files aren't stored in the same place.
This may depend on how the application was written. If resources like pictures are embedded in the assembly then those files will not be needed to run on another machine. If the application is using hard coded paths for the image resources in the source code, then the application will likely break if the necessary files aren't present when the .exe is executed.
Can that exe be loaded up onto a web server so they can play it from there or at least download it from there?
Yes - you could upload the .exe to a file server to make available for a download, but you would not be able to run it within a browser over the web. I would recommend zipping up the .exe and other files needed and hosting the .zip file on the web server for download; browsers may give a warning or block downloading an .exe .
Hope this explains it a little bit for you.
I've created a winforms appliction and i need to check if .NET4 installed on the machine before starting the application.
im using the "Publish" option, it works great BUT im looking for a way to define the temporary folder where all the application files will be extracted to
the current behaiver is that when im starting the files that the Publish created ,it extracting all my application to :
C:\Users\shacharsa\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\057V8G8X.MXV\6482W7L5.25P\smar..tion_30394eeddffd8a96_0001.0000_5bb050675a14dcbe\Files
and i want it to extract them to c:\temp
thanks,
shachar.
You can't define the location, however a better solution to your problem is available. You should read up on the ClickOnce bootstrapper and using that to detect and install prerequisites.
You can't do that, it is part of how ClickOnce works, its security model will not allow for that to happen.