I have a Visual Studio 2010 solution that contains 3 projects: a dll project, an executable project, and the Installer project.
I am working on the dll and the executable concurrently. The executable is simply a front end for the library. While developing the two in Visual Studio I simply added a reference to the dll project from within the executable and it works fine.
What I'm having trouble with is the deployment. Ideally the dll would be compiled and installed in a subdirectory of the executable. Using the "Visual Studio Installer - Setup Wizard" project template for my installer doesn't seem to be giving me the options I need.
Am I going about this wrong by developing my backend and frontend in different projects? What steps should I take to deploy the compiled dll along with the executable? I may be going about this all wrong, so please help me understand a better methodology if this seems backwards. For all the programming I learned in college, no one ever went over what I do when I actually want to deploy my software.
Since the DLL project is explicitly referenced from the EXE project, it is automatically copied in the EXE's build folder (i.e. bin\Debug or bin\Release) and is considered part of EXE project's "primary output". As a consequence, you only need to reference the EXE from your setup project.
The installed DLL will be in the same folder as EXE. Why would you want to install the DLL in a different folder on the user's machine if it is not there on the development machine? If you are loading it dynamically and using reflection, then don't reference it from EXE, but do reference it from the setup project, which then gives you the power to set whatever target folder you want.
This is what you need to do.
On your Solution create new Project > Other project Types > Click Setup and Deployment
On The Application Folder > right click > Then Add your front end Application > Build.
Check this
Regards
Related
I have written a WPF application, which uses a third-party API (as .dll) as a project dependency, in Visual Studio 2022. I'm able to publish the application both to a local folder and with ClickOnce, however, with the former, the application file does not run and with the latter, the application does not run after installation either. The application file in my bin\Release and bin\Debug folders both work, however.
I've tried the following:
Unload Project and Reload Project with Dependencies
Defining the Starting object
I would like to publish the project with ClickOnce, but I'm not sure what the problem could be. Thank you for your help in advance.
Project properties
Project properties (continued)
Visual Studio is creating a \bin folder and copying various assemblies into it when I open a web application solution, even before I compile
What is triggering this action?
And how do I control it?
Reason I'm questioning the process, is the assemblies are not the expected ones
This is where Visual Studio puts all the dlls for runtime for your project. Library dependencies that the project needs. All the dlls that Visual Studio needs for a web project are kept here as well as other packages from Nuget that you might add, and your own. If you look in the References section in the Web Project, you will see many of the dlls that appear in the bin directory.
If there are some assemblies there that you do not want. You can try removing the reference from the Reference folder. Right click on the library in the Reference folder and select remove.
Be careful with removing references though, because your project may need it to function.
I have a C# project that I have created in Visual Studio Express 2010. This program uses a 3rd party C# class that relies on/calls a C++ dll. I just copied the filename.dll into the bin/debug and bin/release folders of the project folder, and the application ran fine.
I am under the assumption that I can copy the release executable for the project to another computer and run it as long as the filename.dll is in the same directory as the executable. However, trying this on another computer with correct frameworks installed, etc. the program crashes with a system.dllnotfoundexception.
Strangely, my friend reports that the program runs on his computer with Visual Studio installed, but not the one without, though I have not actually seen this.
What could be causing this? And how can I get the release executable to run on another machine?
Thanks for any replies!
-Chase
Make sure you have the Visual C++ runtime installed (VS2005,VS2008,VS2010).
If your c++ dll is build by visual studio it may depends on the CRT, two things to check here :
If it depends on the release or debug CRT. Microsoft don't give you the right to distribute the debug version except for debugging purposes so it could be a problem.
Witch version it depends on
The last version from vs2010 could be copied in the same directory as the executable (msvcp100.dll for c++ msvcr100.dll for C)
Previous versions needed to be installed as side-by-side assemblies so running their setup was mandatory (Some versions like the VS2005 one are included in framework install but others like the VS2005 SP1 one need to be installed separately)
In any case the best way to debug such problems is to install Dependency Walker (free) on the computer having problems and let it tell you what dll is missing.
The easiest (albeit maybe not the "best") solution to this problem is adding a Setup project to your solution. A setup project will help you find any dependencies, and make them available during install.
The steps you need to take are the following:
Add a Setup project to your solution (found in Add project.../Setup templates)
Right-click the project, choose "Add/Project output..." and add the startup project of your program.
Right-click the project and choose "View/Custom actions".
Right-click the root node, select "Add Custom Action..." and from "Application Folder" add "Primary output from [your project name here]".
Now when you compile, an .msi installer is created. Run this installer on the other computer, and your program will be installed and runnable. To uninstall, run the installer again, or remove the program from "Add/Remove programs" under Control panel.
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 have a DLL I need to deploy with my C# application. It's not currently included in the installation package when I hit "Publish" so how do I include it?
Would the process be any different if I had app.config and other files I wanted to deploy with my application?
If it's referenced it should be included automatically. I've deployed a couple of apps that require a 3rd party dll and they've published OK.
Is the dll referenced correctly in your project? That's the only thing I can think of at the moment that might be the problem, but if it wasn't your code wouldn't compile and/or link anyway.
To get the xls file to deploy all you need to do is add the file to the solution and then set the "Copy to Output Directory" property on the file.
I take it you are using Visual Studio?
If your using Visual Studio 2008 (I have no experience with Visual Studio 2005) under the Publish tab in your project properties click on the Application Files button. This will bring up a list of all dependencies assembalies required by your project. If you find that required dll is not being published by the Visual Studio publisher tool by default you can go into here and set the Publish Status of the offending dll to Include.
Sometimes in my more complicated projects, depending on the type of dependency, I have to go into this menu and force certain dll's to be included opposed to the default Prerequsite setting.
...but this is all under the assumption you have the assembly properly referenced in the required projects and everything is compiling fine.
Can't you add the dll as a resource to your installer project?