Develop Reference

How to manually add a library to a visual studio 2017 project?

My apologies for this very basic question that has assuredly been asked and answered before, also for my very dated terminology. I searched for an answer, but failed to find anything helpful. I am using the latest update of VS 2017 Community, and I'm trying to manually add what I used to call a "function library" to a project, which sits under a "solution".
The project is simply a C++ or C# console application. What I have is a .h (header) file, a .lib (static library) file, and a .dll (dynamic library) file. I intend to make "function calls" to this library. I'm aware that I need to have my dll in the debug folder where the executable resides, but I'm not sure how to "add dependencies" in VS 2017. I know how to manage and install NuGet packages, but these files aren't a handy-dandy NuGet package.
I hope to get advice on doing this the right (VS 2017) way.

What I do in a situation like this is to create a folder, I use C:\Etc\SDKs\<name_of_library> and then within that folder create an include subfolder, and a lib subfolder. Note that the top level folder choice is completely arbitrary, place it where it makes the most sense to you.
In the C/C++ section of project properties on the General tab, or the corresponding section for C# projects, there's an entry for Additional include directories. Add the path to your newly created include folder there. That'll let you include the header file and have it work right.
In the Linker section of project properties, also on its General tab, there's a corresponding entry for Additional library directories. Add the path to your lib folder there. On the next tab down: Input there's an entry for Additional Dependencies. Add the actual name of the library file there.
Those steps should allow your project to be built using the .h, .lib and .dll files you have.
-- Edit to address comments --
The .lib file does go in the ...\lib folder, and the .h file in the ...\include, that's correct. However, you had the location of the .dll correct in your original question. That needs to be somewhere on the search path that the executable will find, so the easiest place is the same folder as the executable.
General tab is a poor choice of words on my part. General section might have been better here. When looking at the project properties, the left most pane is a tree view of the various property sections. With everything closed up, except the very top item open, you'll see
Configuration Properties
General
Debugging
VC Directories
> C/C++
> Linker
...
If you then double click on C/C++ it'll open up, and show the sections specific to the C/C++ compiler:
Configuration Properties
General
Debugging
VC Directories
V C/C++
General <<<<<
Optimization
Preprocessor
...
> Linker
...
If you click on the word `General that I've highlighted, that'll get you to the General section / tab I was talking about.
Likewise, double clicking the word Linker will open up that section, and under that you'll find the Linker General and Input sections.
Let me know if this still isn't clear, and I'll try to clarify.

Why won't Visual Studio 2010 let me select a custom manifest?

I'm making a DLL in C# that I would like to be visible in COM without registration. Following instructions elsewhere I have generated a new "app.manifest" file in the project and edited it to include the COM information I need rather than the generic UAC information.
Except Visual Studio won't let me use it instead of the default manifest. When I open the project's properties, the manifest dropdown is disabled:
What do I need to do to select & embed the custom manifest I've added to the project?
Edit: The "app.manifest" file is in the project's Properties folder. As described here, for registration-free COM I need to change the Manifest from embedding a default manifest to using the manifest in Properties. Except it won't let me change that setting for some reason.
Edit 2: The Manifest dropdown is enabled when I change the output type to Console Application or to Windows Application. Why would it be disabled for a class library when MSDN explicitly states that a manifest is needed for registration-free COM libraries?

Class libraries don't need to use that dropdown to embed a manifest.
Important Note: Pretty much the only reason you would embed a manifest into a C# library this way is to make it available for use via registration-free COM. If you're not doing that, you don't need a manifest and these steps are not for you. Go away.
If you use Add -> New Item -> Application Manifest File to add an app.manifest file to the project:
...and keep it in the project root (not in Properties, or any other subfolder):
...it will automatically be embedded into the DLL.
You can verify that it was automatically added by using File -> Open -> File to open the DLL once it's built and confirming that it includes something called RT_MANIFEST:
Special thanks to Hans Passant for providing all this information, albeit spread around half a dozen answers to different questions rather than all in one place.

Add compile parameter to csc command using Visual Studio IDE

The solution consists of two projects: main.csproj and helper.csproj.
What Id'like to do is using dll which helper project will be complied into, as an embedded resource for main.dll.
For that purposes it's seems resonable to add custom compile attribute for project main: /resource: <path to dll>.
The problem is I can't find how to add this compile parameter through the Project Property.
PS Maybe someone can suggest other solution to avoid making changes in compile process.

You should be able to add the helper assembly as a resource in the main.csproj. That will make MsBuild generate the correct parameters for csc.
(MsBuild is the build engine used by .NET in general up to and including 4.x and is also used by VisualStudio.)
What you can do to set this up is:
Right click the Main project in the Visual Studio solution explorer and select Add existing item. Add the assembly to be embedded as a linked item from the bin folder of the helper project. (click the little arrow on the Add button in the selection dialog to access the option to add as a link).
In the properties for the item in the Main project, set Action to Embedded resource.
Tricky bit would be to include the correct build so that you include the debug build or the release build depending on what configuration you are building.
If you need that, you can either:
edit main.csproj file to include the ${Configuration} variable in the path for the helper dll.
Add a pre-build step to the main.csproj file to copy in the assembly to a fixed place and include the file from there (the include as link bit is no longer needed then)
To make sure you always build the helper assembly when you build the main assembly I would recommend you add a project reference to the main project.

How to set a project's executable processname?

I'd like to have my executable's process be called ABC. How I can do this? I tried defining my project name as ABC, but then I'll have an ABC.vshost.

You can set this in the project's properties page. Setting the assembly name on the application tab will set the name of the resulting compiled assembly (ie. ABC.exe).
The .vshost.exe is the Visual Studio debugging process, used by Visual Studio when you debug. You can turn that off (Visual Studio does not need it to debug) by unchecking the "enable the visual studio hosting process" checkbox on the debug tab of the the project properties.

Changing "Assembly name" alone did not help me.Changing Assembly title in AssemblyInfo.cs file helped me to change process name.

The best you can do is to set the assembly name in the property pages (Properties node in Solution Explorer) to whatever you wish. The C# compiler automatically uses the assembly name as the process name (file name of the generated EXE), so this should do the job for you. Note that the assembly name is completely independent from the project name and the root namespace.
You can of course change the file name of the EXE after it has been generated (and this will leave the assembly name unchanged), though I see no real reason for this.
Note: I assume you are referring to Visual Studio in particular, though it probably matters little in terms of what is possible.

It seems it's taken from the version-info resource for an .EXE; specifically, the "FileDescription" attribute. To do this programmatically, I imagine you would need a separate program to update the version-info resource in the .EXE whose description you're trying to change. (I don' know C#, but in C++, UpdateResource is used for this purpose.)

The processes name in task manager is based of the image name, which is the executable (as already pointed out the assembly name setting defines this in VS.Net).
The Application Name is based on the window title, so is only something you can alter with graphical apps (except via dirty hacks to the console which are unlikely to be stable).
Note that you can have multiple executables all executing a common main method in a shared dll so you can 'name' different instances of essentially the same code differently if that helps.

What does MissingManifestResourceException mean and how to fix it?

The situation:
I have a class library, called RT.Servers, containing a few resources (of type byte[], but I don't think that's important)
The same class library contains a method which returns one of those resources
I have a simple program (with a reference to that library) that only calls that single method
I get a MissingManifestResourceException with the following message:
Could not find any resources
appropriate for the specified culture
or the neutral culture. Make sure
"Servers.Resources.resources" was
correctly embedded or linked into
assembly "RT.Servers" at compile time,
or that all the satellite assemblies
required are loadable and fully
signed.
I have never played around with cultures, or with assembly signing, so I don't know what's going on here. Also, this works in another project which uses the same library. Any ideas?

All I needed to do to fix this problem was to right-click the Resources.resx file in the Solution Explorer and click Run Custom Tool. This re-generates the auto-generated Resources.Designer.cs file.
If the .resx file was added to the project manually, the Custom Tool property of the file must be set to "ResXFileCodeGenerator".
The problem is due to a mismatch of namespaces, which occurs if you change the "default namespace" of the assembly in the project settings. (I changed it from (previously) "Servers" to (now) "RT.Servers".)
In the auto-generated code in Resources.Designer.cs, there is the following code:
internal static global::System.Resources.ResourceManager ResourceManager {
get {
if (object.ReferenceEquals(resourceMan, null)) {
global::System.Resources.ResourceManager temp = new global::System.Resources.ResourceManager("Servers.Resources", typeof(Resources).Assembly);
resourceMan = temp;
}
return resourceMan;
}
}
The literal string "Servers.Resources" had to be changed to "RT.Servers.Resources". I did this manually, but running the custom tool would have equally well done it.

I just came across this problem today, and I found this Microsoft Help and Support page that actually did work around the problem.
I had a couple delegates at the top of my file, in the global namespace, and all of a sudden I was getting a MissingManifestResourceException when running the program, on this line:
this.Icon = ((System.Drawing.Icon)(resources.GetObject("$this.Icon")));
Then I moved the delegates into the namespace, got the same error. Finally I put the delegates in the only class in that file, and the error went away, but I didn't want the delegates in that class or namespace.
Then I came across that link above, which said
To resolve this problem, move all of the other class definitions so that they appear after the form's class definition.
I put the delegates (which I would not consider "class definitions") at the bottom of that file, outside of the local namespace, and the program didn't get the MissingManifestResourceException anymore. What an irritating error. But, that seems like a more robust solution than modifying the auto-generated code :)

I've run into a similar issue and, although I know it isn't the cause the OP had, I'll post it here so that if someone else runs across this problem in the future, an answer will be available.
If you add a class before the designer class you will get a MissingManifestResourceException exception at runtime (no compile time error or warning) because
Visual Studio requires that designers use the first class in the file.
For (slightly) more information see this post.

I had the same problem, but using the Run Custom Tool command as suggested by Timwi did not help in my case.
However it lead me into the right direction, because I ended up in the Properties of the .resx file. Here I noticed a difference to another .resx file that caused no problems.
In my case I had to change the property "Build Action" from "Resource" to "Embedded Resource".
My best guess for the reason is, that I had the .resx in a library that was used from another application. My application did not have its own .resx file, so it had to use the one from the library - which is only available when it's embedded in the library and not "stand alone".

When I run in a similar issue, in Vs 2012, it turned out that the "Custom Tool Namespace" property of the resx file was wrong (in my case, actually, it was unset, so the generated code yeld this exception at runtime).
My final set of properties for the resx file was something like this:
Build action: Embedded Resource
Copy to Output Directory: Do not copy
Custom Tool: ResXFileCodeGenerator
Custom Tool Namespace: My.Project.S.Proper.Namespace

I ran into a different cause of this problem, which was unrelated to resx files. I had a class library where AssemblyInfo.cs contained the following:
[assembly: ThemeInfo(
ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly,
ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]
The assembly did not contain any WPF code, theme or Resource dictionaries. I got rid of the exception by removing the ThemeInfo attribute.
I did not get an actual exception, only
A first chance exception of type 'System.Resources.MissingManifestResourceException'.
Viewing exception details, the system was requesting MyAssembly.g.resources
Hope this might be of help to someone else.

Also see: MissingManifestResourceException when running tests after building with MSBuild (.mresource has path in manifest)
I repeat the answer here just for completeness:
It appears adding LogicalName to the project file fixes it:
<LogicalName>$(RootNamespace).Properties.Resources.resources</LogicalName>
i.e. so the embedded resource entry in the project file looks like this:
<ItemGroup>
<EmbeddedResource Include="Properties\Resources.resx">
<Generator>ResXFileCodeGenerator</Generator>
<LastGenOutput>Resources.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
<LogicalName>$(RootNamespace).Properties.Resources.resources</LogicalName>
</EmbeddedResource>
</ItemGroup>
This is detailed in: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msbuild/archive/2007/10/19/manifest-resource-names-changed-for-resources-files.aspx
Note that we are using a .resx file, but the bug still appears to occur.
Update: The problem with resources (incl. XAML) appears to be related to output paths and the use of forward or backward slashes as detailed in:
Why does modifying project output directories cause: IOException was unhandled "Cannot locate resource 'app.xaml'."

Not sure it will help people but this one worked for me :
So the issue I had was that I was getting the following message:
Could not find any resources appropriate for the specified culture or the neutral culture. Make sure "My.Resources.Resources.resources" was correctly embedded or linked into assembly "X" at compile time, or that all the satellite assemblies required are loadable and fully signed"
I was trying to get the resources that were embedded in my project from another class library.
What I did to fix the problem was to set the Access Modifier in the tab Project->Properties->Resources from "Internal" (accessible only within the same class library) to "Public" (accessible from another class library)
Then run and voilà, no more error for me...

The solution given by BlaM worked for me too.
I am a VS 2013 User. After going through many fixes but no luck, I tried this:
Right-click the resource file, one-by-one, in case of multiple-files.
Make sure, the property "Build Action" is set to "Embedded Resource".
That's it! :)

I had the same issue, but in my case i places a class in a usercontrol which is related to the usercontrol like this
Public Class MyUserControlObject
end Class
Public Class MyUserCOntrol
end Class
The solution was to move the MyUserControlObject to the end of the Usercontrol class, like this
Public Class MyUserCOntrol
end Class
Public Class MyUserControlObject
end Class
I hope this helps

I was getting the MissingManifestResourceException error after I ported my project from VS2005 to VS2010. I didn't have any other classes defined in the file that contains my Form class. And I also had my resx Resource File Name set correctly. Didn't work.
So I deleted the resx files and regenerated them. All good now.

Recently ran into the same problem, struggled for a bit, found this topic but no answers were correct for me.
My issue was that when I removed main window from my WPF project (it does not have a main window), I forgot to remove StartupUri from App.xaml. I guess this exception can happen if you have a mistake in StartupUri, so in case if anybody is struggling with this - check your StartupUri in App.xaml.

Recently stumbled upon this issue, in my case I did a few things:
Make sure the namespaces are consistent in the Designer.cs file of the resx file
Make sure the default namespace of the Assembly(right click the project and choose Properties) is set the same to the namespace the resources file is in.
Once I did step 2, the exception went away.

I had this problem when I added another class in the file just before the class which derived from Form. Adding it after fixed the problem.

Also the same error may occur when you put a new class into the source code of a designer created form's class.
This new class may be removed, and placed in a different cs file.
(At least in my case this was the problem...)

Because I am pre-compiling my web application (using VS2012 publish feature). I was getting the error above. I tried all the suggestions, but weirdly changing 'Build Action' to 'Content' did the trick!

In my case, I have a web api with resources and I create a nuget package from that. When I use this nuget in other projects, I realise that when I request a api with resources, I am getting MissingManifestResourceException after a bit reasearch, I learn nuget packager is not packing resources automatically. If you want to use resources files, you have to do that manually. So you need to add below lines to your .nuspec file:
(Visit https://github.com/NuGet/Home/issues/1482)
<package>
<metadata>
</metadata>
<files>
<file src="bin\Debug\en\MyAssembly.resource.dll" target="lib\net40\en\MyAssembly.resource.dll" />
<file src="bin\Debug\es\MyAssembly.resource.dll" target="lib\net40\es\MyAssembly.resource.dll" />
</files>
</package>
But, before adding files, you need to be sure which version of .net you are using.

I had the with a newly created F# project.
The solution was to uncheck "Use standard resource names" in the project properties -> Application -> Resources / Specify how application resources will be managed.
If you do not see the checkbox then update your Visual Studio! I have 15.6.7 installed. In 15.3.2 this checkbox is not there.

Just to mention. If you use a constant or literal, make sure it refers to a resource of the form ProjectName.Resources, and does not cpntain Resources.resx.
It could save you an hour or two .

I've encountered this issue with managed C++ project based on WinForms after renaming global namespace (not manually, but with Rename tool of VS2017).
The solution is simple, but isn't mentioned elsewhere.
You have to change RootNamespace entry in vcxproj-file to match the C++ namespace.

In my case it was a typo in the Xaml of a window opened from Winforms Form:
Incorrect: <Image Source="/Resources/WorkGreen.gif"/>
Correct: <Image Source="../Resources/WorkGreen.gif"/>
It may help someone

In my case I have changed my project namespace and hence my solution was throwing "missingmanifestresourceexception" exception. Instead of right clicking the .resx file in the solution explorer and clicking on "Run Custom Tool" option, I have replaced the
rootnamespace to new namespace in .csproj file(RootNamespace) and rebuilded the solution again. All Resources.Designer.cs files namespaces got automatically changed with new namespace.
I hope my answer will help someone.

If you're getting this while generating a C# project using CMake, the solution I found may help you.
Your CMakeLists.txt file needs
set_property(TARGET yourTargetName PROPERTY VS_GLOBAL_RootNamespace yourRootNamespace)
Substitute your own values for yourTargetName and yourRootNamespace, obviously.
Then the resources will get embedded in your assembly!

One more reason to get this error is- '.resx' file excluded from project.
In my case, '.resx' file was excluded from project.
Select 'show all files' option in solution explorer.
Right click on '.resx' file(s) and click include in project.
Rebuild the project/solution.

I read all the answers and nothing worked for me. Most likely my situation is different, but same error. My issue was that I had two projects. Second project had a lot of forms added to it from the first one as "Add as link".
For WinForms, there are 3 required files: the code, the designer, and the resource files. If you add all 3 files at the same time as "Add as link", Visual Studio does not link them together as same form. It will compile, and run, but it will blow up with the same MissingManifestResourceException error.
Fix: You have to do them individually, in order: code file --> designer file --> resource file. Then they are grouped and no more error, at least for me.

From the Microsoft support page:
This problem occurs if you use a localized resource that exists in a satellite assembly that you created by using a .resources file that has an inappropriate file name. This problem typically occurs if you manually create a satellite assembly.
To work around this problem, specify the file name of the .resources file when you run Resgen.exe. While you specify the file name of the .resources file, make sure that the file name starts with the namespace name of your application. For example, run the following command at the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET command prompt to create a .resources file that has the namespace name of your application at the beginning of the file name:
Resgen strings.CultureIdentifier.resx
MyApp.strings.CultureIdentifier.resources