I have an existing EXE and DLL file (both unmanaged) that I'd ideally like to embed in my C# app and execute at runtime of the C# app. The EXE, when executed normally via command-line or Explorer, requires the DLL to be in the same directory as the EXE. How would I be able to:
1) Embed the EXE and DLL in my app and execute them via C# code?
2) Make sure that the EXE will be able to access its dependent DLL file?
Thanks!
Put them in Project embedded Resources.
When your program runs extract them from Resources, copy into known location and execute via Process.Start
Add the files as embedded resources. You can then export them to wherever you like in your code. Use the System.Diagnostics.Process class to run it.
Edit:
You may also want to cache the location name so that you can delete the files when your C# application exits (if you want to be nice and cleanup after yourself that is)
There is .NETZ which I have used once successfully. It seems that the tool also supports native unmanaged DLLs to some degree.
Maybe it helps as a pointer to give you some ideas for your actual desired solution.
Related
I have a Windows application built in C++ (c++App.exe), and a .NET Windows application built in C# (c#App.exe).
I'm embedding the c#App.exe as a resource into c++App.exe.
When I run c++App.exe, I perform some checks, and if they all pass, I'd like to execute the c#App.exe embedded as resource.
What I've tried so far:
Extract the csharpApp.exe to a temporary file, and execute it via CreateProcess
Host the .NET CLR in my C++ app, and load the C# assembly into an AppDomain, and call the Program.Main function via Reflection
Is there any other alternative to what I've tried? What I would like is to be able to call the c#App.exe directly from c++App.exe, without having to write to disk, and without having all the complications of loading the .NET Common Language Runtime into my C++ app.
Is there something like CreateProcessFromBytes where I can pass a reference to my c#App.exe embedded resource, and its entry point gets called like a normal executable (and the entry point is then in charge of loading the CLR, etc...)?
I know I cannot use ILMerge, because the it's C++
I don't want to use any setup-kind of app such as MSI / NSIS, WiX, etc. I would like to do everything programatically myself
I don't want to use any self-extracting packer like 7-zip, or WinZip, etc. I would like to do everything programatically myself
I am working within a 32-bit ETL tool (Pervasive Data Integrator v9). I need to give this tool the ability to call an external function that will remove a file from within a ZIP archive without extracting the archive.
The ETL tool provides the ability to load an external DLL and call its functions. The DLL and its function gets referenced by ETL tool's custom script language like this:
Declare function OemToCharA lib "user32" (byval lpszSrc as string, byval lpszDst as string) as long
The function (OemToCharA in this example) is then called somewhere in the lines of the script that follow that declaration. I have tested this with a registered DLL and it works.
So I want to build a DLL with a function that will do the zip manipulation.
Since I don't know how to manipulate zip files programatically, I found DotNetZip - a free .NET class library that provides the heavy lifting for the zip archive operations. Problem for me is that it is .NET (managed). I would still like to try to use it. So I built a C# DLL (.NET 4.0) with a function that utilizes DotNetZip to do the required zip file manipulation. I pass in two parameters, "zip file location" and the "file to remove" and the zip archive gets updated.
I read about the idea of building a mixed-mode C++/CLI DLL to take advantage of managed .NET code in the native world. I found this VS solution which consists of 3 basic projects:
Managed (C#) DLL project
Mixed-mode C++ DLL wrapper project which references the C# DLL
A native (unmanaged) C++ console test app project which references the C++ wrapper
I built a test solution based on that pattern which removes a file from a zip archive and it works great. Please note however that the mixed mode DLL is called from a native C++ console app which is part of the VS solution. I didn't have to register any DLLs and it just works.
However ultimately I need the ETL tool to call the mixed mode DLL. I am not able to get this to work.
Things I have tried on the ETL server thus far:
I tried to register the mixed-mode wrapper DLL but SysWow64\regsvr32 fails to find an entry point in the DLL.
I installed VS 2015 VC++ x86 and x64 redistributable libraries on the ETL server.
I placed the DLLs from my solution (i.e., the mixed mode, c# and dotnetzip dlls) in the ETL engine folder because the console app worked when the DLLs were in its deploy folder.
The ETL tool has the ability to call an external application so I believe I could let it call a console app similar to my VS test solution but I'd really like to get this to work with only the DLLs. Is this possible? If so, what am I missing?
Kudos to Matt, thanks for the hint to use Process Monitor.
ETL tool was not finding the DLL but Process Monitor told me the folders it was checking...I moved the DLLs to one of the checked folders
My wrapper function was originally void with an output parameter for the return value - that was causing issues as I didn't have a good example in the ETL documentation of how to call a void function. I changed the function to return a "long" and removed the output parameter.
After making those two changes it started working. Thanks again Matt!
How can I register a COM-visible assembly in code like REGASM?
Background:
I have to deploy a dll with a legacy Delphi 5 application, but the DLL is C# written and made COM Visible.
Is there a way I can replicate this functionality dynamically in code (regasm xxx.dll), as the legacy application is launched from a network path (no local installation on all the clients).
Thanks
You can to use the /regfile command line option to regasm, then execute the generated .reg file.
I prefer using reg.exe import "%s" instead of regedit.exe, since it will avoid a popup. Or you can write your own .reg parser and update the registry, but it may be overcomplicated.
Ensure every "CodeBase"="file://...." entry will be changed to expected (network) folder containing the COM .dll wrapper.
Is there a way to keep any DLLs needed for my Visual C# program (such as SQLite) inside the actual EXE so it doesn't require the files to be present?
If not, can anyone show me how to make a wrapper for my program (independent of .NET, so maybe C++?) to copy/load required files to the working directory before starting the program itself.
What I intend to end up with is a single EXE file that can be deployed anywhere and set itself up like a transformer. All it requires is the following criteria:
SQLite is present
OpenHardwareMonitorLib is present
.NET 2.0 is installed (if not, offer install with redistributable package)
Microsoft provide a tool for merging DLLs. It's called ILMerge.
It doesn't always work, I believe certain things can cause problems. But it's definitely the easier option!
If the problem is redistribute only one file, you can create a "installer" exe, that unpack all your dependencies (from executable content).
If you don't want to leave all dlls in your production environment, you can merge all IL code in the main executable. you can use ILMerge (but it's not the only product that can do this)
You can merge the dependencies into the main executable. After your build completes you run an additional tool that combines the IL code into a single assembly.
ILMerge can do this but is a bit cumbersome to use.
Some (proprietary) tools can do this as well. I know of at least one obfuscator (DeepSea) that can do this. DeepSea also allows you to specify what you want to include and what types you want to expose from the resulting assembly.
Full disclosure: I know the guys that build DeepSea Obfuscator.
I guess you could embed the target assemblies as resources and then unpack them in some custom assembly resolution code?
Edit: there's an example of this here: Embedding assemblies inside another assembly
We have a dll which uses a third party component, with embedded licence file (licx). now we are trying to use our dll in a windows service applicaiton, using mulitple appdomains. the code get compiled. but when im running it im getting an error message, saying cannot find the runtime licence.
could someone explain me this. when use the dll in a single domain it works fine. please help.
Thanks.
How are you creating the AppDomain? There is a LicenseFile on AppDomainSetup; are you setting this? I'm not 100% "up" on license files and their use within AppDomains, but that may help a little...
Unfortunately information on this area (license files vs embedded) looks very sparse... you could try copying the embedded resource to a temp file?
If there is some static method/property to set then it is likely that you will have to do this per app domain.
I was under the impression however that licx files were only compiled into the executable project not into dll's.
Thus is your service is being started via a route that is not using the executable which had the license embedded in it then it will not get licensed. If you run the service but do not create multiple app domain's what happens?