Is it possible to make Visual Studio to copy all dependencies of referenced projects into the output path?
Example
In the Solution, Project A (Library, .NET Standard) defines some functions and is dependent on Library L1 (via NuGet) and Library L2 (local .dll, referenced and copied to project)
Project B (Console Application) references Project A.
When building B, The output folder contains all direct dependencies of B and A.dll. L1 and L2 are not available in the output. Therefore, the program does not work correctly.
How can I force VS to copy also L1 and L2 to the output of B?
The only way I found so far is packing A as NuGet, but this seems to be unnecessary overhead and uncomfortable. I think I am just forgetting something everyone else seems to know...
Edit (clearifying Example)
My solutions consists of two projects.
Project MongoWrapper
.NET Standard 2.0 class Library
depends on NuGet MongoDB.Driver package
Actually uses this dependency (no zombie dependency)
Project ConsoleUser
.Net Framework 4.6.1 Console Application
References MongoWrapper project
Actually uses MongoWrapper
Observation
When debugging the ConsoleUser application, it compiles and starts. During runtime, when it calls a method in the MongoWrapper which uses the MongoDB.Driver, the application crashes, as the MongoDB.Driver dependency was not copied into the output folder of the ConsoleUser.
How to fix this?
The problem was introduced by the usage of .Net Standard library and a .Net Framework application.
TLDR
Open the .csproj file of the .Net Framework project with a text editor. Inside the first PropertyGroup add the line
<RestoreProjectStyle>PackageReference</RestoreProjectStyle>
Save the file, reopen Solution in Visual Studio and perform Clean & Build
Dependencies in different project file versions
.Net Framework projects use an old version of the .csproj project files. References/Dependencies are stored in the additional packages.configfile. By default, building a .Net Framework project makes the system to search for a packages.config file in the referenced projects. If no such file is found, the build task treats the referenced project as having no dependencies. Therefore, in the example, the MongoDB.Driver library is not added.
By adding the proposed line in the .csproj project file, the build task searches the project file of the referenced project for dependencies, where they are stored in .Net Standard project files.
.Net Core projects by default search for the newer project file structure.
The default behavior for new projects can be set in the Options -> NuGet -> General -> Package Management
Is it possible to make Visual Studio to copy all dependencies of referenced projects into the output path?
Yes.
This is what publishing the application does - it prepares the application for deployment. When you publish, it will include all of the dependencies that the application requires to run in the output.
Use the Publish tool to deploy to a local folder. The exact options available depend on your app type. In Solution Explorer, right-click your project and choose Publish, and then choose Folder. For more information, see Deploy to a local folder.
Tutorial: Publish your Hello World application with Visual Studio 2017
Also see: .NET Core application deployment.
Related
I'm working on a C# application which requires integrating with another company's software. I have isolated all of the code that is tightly coupled to this integration in a single C# project. This way, if the company changes something with their integration, I only have to change code in this one project. The project is a non-executable class library (Project A).
One weird/annoying part of this integration though is that it involves manually copying compiled .dll files from the company's SDK into the bin directory of the project after the project is built. I can't just use a nuget package or something similar. While annoying, I have automated it with a post-build script and it works well enough for that specific project.
I then reference this project/class library from an executable class library, such as a .NET Framework Console project (Project B).
Now I have a problem:
Build Project A
Runs post-build script XCopy C:\CompanyIntegration\Autofac.dll "${TargetDir}".
Compiles without any issues.
Build Project B
Compiles Project A, copies .dlls from Project A bin to Project B bin.
The copied Autofac.dll from Project A overwrites one installed via a nuget package.
The build throws an exception because it expected a different Autofac.dll.
How can I tell the build process to differentiate between these two different Autofac versions/dlls?
Why are the company integration .dll files copied from the bin folder of Project A to the bin folder of Project B in the first place?
We've got two sets of projects, one is framework projects and the other is the actual app. The app references the framework projects directly via the visual studio project reference feature. The framework build process publishes a nuget package already. Is there any way to make it so when I trigger a build on TFS of the actual app it uses that nuget package instead of the project reference? Ideally I'd like to have it still be a project reference when local, but if that's not possible that's alright.
I discovered you can use conditionals in the csproj files to determine which item group to use, and by making a custom build configuration I can specify which item group to use on TFS.
I have created a system which loads dynamically a library and executes it's main class.
Everything works perfect, the problem I have is how to publish this DLL with all it's dependencies. As no executable project is referencing it I have to manually retrieve the dependencies: try to load the library, check the needed DLL's, go to the NuGet cache folder, copy the libraries, try again, check if it complains about more dependencies and so on until it has all the required libraries.
This is a true pain and I haven't found any information on how to do this, is it possible or am I stuck with this?
The library is a .net standard 2.0 library, I did this before with .net classic and the output folder always contained all the required libraries even the ones comming from a NuGet package, but with .net standard something has changed and now only libraries from referenced projects are being copied, no referenced NuGet package is being copied to the output folder.
Cheers.
Try:
dotnet publish
All the dependent libraries should be copied to the publish output folder.
At the time of writing, it looks like it's by design and there's quite some fuss and confusion about it, see logged issue on GitHub.
Moreover, when publishing a NuGet package for project A referencing project B,
B becomes a NuGet dependency in A; B's assemby is not included in A's NuGet package.
I deal with it by publishing my own NuGet packages.
I only don't like it to have a NuGet package for project B if that one is only relevant to be used with/by project A, as it will appear seperately in my NuGet feed.
TLDR: Convert your Class Library project into an Application, publish the application, and use application DLL as a library.
The long of it:
I tested this approach by deploying a full build with a plugin with many external dependencies to Ubuntu 18.04 and it ran perfectly.
Create a new project of type Console Application instead of Class Library. Put all your library code files into the Console Application and add the dependencies. Get rid of your original Class Library project (you don't need it anymore). Finally, publish the Console Application. You will get a DLL with all of the dependencies. You can use this DLL like any other DLL.
I suggest naming the console app project with "Library" on the end of it and adding a README just to document its not really an application even though the project is configured to build as one.
I'm writing an application in .Net 3.5.
I have 3 projects in the solution so far. When adding the references to the other projects from my main project, the intellisense manages to find the classes from the other project's dlls but at compile time it seems to be "loosing" the reference.
This might be because I initially created the project with target framework .Net 4.0. However since I needed to use the ASP.NET web services I had to downgrade to 3.5.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
The referrenced projects must be Copy Local : True
Referrence -> Properites ->Copy Local : True
Batch clean all projects in your solution, make sure all the projects in your dependency graph target the .NET 3.5 framework. Check the reference's HintPath in your .csproj file (open with text editor) for references to external DLLs and make sure they're all <=3.5.
However since I needed to use the ASP.NET web services I had to downgrade to 3.5.
There are also several different web service projects in .NET 4. I don't quite understand this move.
You have project references, intellisense sees your referenced classes but when compiling, the compiler seems not to find the referenced assemblies.
I see two possible reasons for this behaviour:
Your main project references a lower version of the .NET framework than your library projects (this is the most likely cause).
Your library projects won't get built at all / or in the wrong order (check the settings in the configuration manager. Open it with a right click on your solution in the solition explorer).
Project1: A C++ EXE project with code
generation option "runtime library" set to
"Multithreaded Debug Dll".
Project2: A C# EXE project developed
with .Net Version, say, 3.5
Suppose I want to write an installer project for these projects. I naturally include their primary outputs (the exe's) in the installation package. But the exe's are not sufficient to ensure that they will be runnable on the target machine. In case of project1 we will need msvcrt.dll and possibly others(not sure), and, in case of project2 we will need the .NET framework of the corresponding version. The question is, is it possible to make the installation package automatically include those? If it is not, how is it best done manually? TIA.
It is already automatic afaik. Every time I tinkered with a Setup project, it already figured out the prerequisites from the projects I added. From your Setup project, use Project + Properties and click Prerequisites. Verify that the right Visual C++ Runtime Libraries and .NET Framework are ticked.