I used the method suggested in the following post to include an App.config file to Class Library project.
Equivalent to 'app.config' for a library (DLL)
It works as mentioned and creates the .dll.config file in respective Class Library projects output directory (e.g. ApiCommunicator\bin\Debug).
I have referenced this Class Library project as a "Project Reference" from another Console Application project within the same Visual Studio solution.
Now the problem is, the .dll is getting copied to the Console Projects output directory (i.e. Engine\bin\Debug) but the .dll.config doesn't. If I manually copy it, everything works fine but is there a way to configure Visual Studio to auto copy .dll.config to any other project's output directory which references the Class Library project?
Thanks,
Bathiya
Although I am late, but my answer can help others. I used the following command as pre-build event:
copy /Y $(SolutionDir)\[YOUR_LIBRARY_PROJECT]\app.config $(ProjectDir)$(OutputPath)[YOUR_LIBRARY_NAME].dll.config
I tried to be dynamic as much as possible, and the above command worked.
I posted the same answer at the question Can we autocopy the *.dll.config? as well.
It would have to be the other way around: Projects referencing your dll could copy it's dll.config from a known location as a post-build event.
However I think it would be much better to provide the configuration from within the consumer application's configuration. That way each referencing project would have an option to adjust the configuration to its needs, which I would think is a critical feature.
If that is not the case, then I don't see the reason for having the .dll.config, and you can just hardcode the values.
You can use the 'Build Events' tab of your project properties to run command line instructions post-build or even pre-build. This way, you can use a simple
copy /Y "<yourconfigfilepath>" "<yourprojectfilepath>\Engine\bin\Debug\"
This will copy the dll.config file you are needing over to the correct directory.
Related
I created a solution with following structure
Solution
Installer (VSIX)
Template One (sdk project)
One.vstemplate
Template Two (sdk project)
Shared
AssemblyInfo.cs
Now I want to link the AssemblyInfo.cs in the shared project to my vstemplates, because i want the same AssemblyInfo.cs in all my projects.
I dont want to have sevaral copies because of possible future developments.
Till now i tried to add the AssemblyInfo.cs as link, but the template build process still search in the project folder and does not find the file (Add as link).
In addition i tried to reference the file using "\..\Shared", then i got a error out of root path.
One way I does not try is to use prebuild commands to copy the AssemblyInfo.cs to each project folder.
Has anybody an idea, tipp or solution for this situation?
I get a working version by using pre-build commands to copy the files from shared to the single templates.
Any other ideas how to solve this request?
Sorry for the late response.
I tried to reference the AssemblyInfo by adding following code to the vstemplate file
<ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true" TargetFileName="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs">..\Shared\AssemblyInfo.cs</ProjectItem>
My current solution is to add to each project a pre build command
copy /Y "$(ProjectDir)..\Shared\AssemblyInfo.cs" "$(ProjectDir)AssemblyInfo.cs"
Okay, here's the problem.
I have 2 projects. One is the main project (executable), the other one is a library.
MyNameSpace.Libraries.TheHolyMefLibrary
MyNameSpace.TheProduct
The default output path of both projects is bin\Debug\, so when I compile the main application, in the debug folder I can find both the Executable, as well as the library.
Now, I would like to have the following output:
bin\Debug\MyExecutable.exe
bin\Debug\plugins\TheHolyMefLibrary.dll
But when I change the output path of the library to bin\Debug\plugins\, the compiler still creates the following output
bin\Debug\MyExecutable.exe
bin\Debug\TheHolyMefLibrary.dll
How can I ensure that, no matter which project links to the library, it's always going to be in a subfolder of the output path from the main assembly, even in setup solutions?
To solve this I think the best way is to create a Post-build script where you move your linked assembly DLL to the plugins folder. You can find the post-build script editor when you right click the application project file and select Properties and then go to the Build Events tab. To create the build script you can use CMD commands like for example the MOVE command in your case or XCOPY.
Set the 'Copy Local' property of the referenced assembly to False to stop it being copied to your main project's bin folder.
I wrote an EXE that uses a third party dll and a template excel document. Anytime someone uses it they have to copy all three files (which is a pain).
Is there any way I can package everything that is needed into the EXE so there is only one file to worry about?
This is something that ilmerge is used for, atleast for combining assemblies. There is more information here and here.
There are several known problems with this though.
Yes - drag it into your project resources (My Project > Resources tab) and from there you can access it using global::Resources.resourceFile (I think - that might not be the right syntax, an alternative is here) as a byte stream and write it locally from there.
You can add files to your project in visual studio and set Build Action to None and Copy to Output directory to Copy always.
or
You can add these files to assembly resources. Adding and Editing Resources (Visual C#)
I suggest doing the first.
Also, for 3rd party dll: set Copy Local to true for the reference.
After you have your project set like this. Create setup project in VS and it will make one exe as you want.
How to: Create or Add a Setup Project
Software installation is a pain, but I think you can get away with an xcopy style deployment by using the compression tool of your choice (like winzip) and creating a self extracting executable.
We have a solution comprising of a windows application and various library files. Not all of the library files are referenced by the main windows application however we would like to have all the library files included in the output build folder "bin".
Obviously one solution is to simply reference every single library from the Windows application however we would like to avoid any unnecessary referencing.
How can we include additional files into our build folder?
This is a C# project.
You can always use the pre-build or post-build events in the project settings to copy the additional files.
You can do this simply by doing a bunch of copy source target, or you could even be fancy and write an nmake file. You do have to maintain the list of source files however...
Edit:
One other thought. Your assumption is that this is "unnecessary referencing". However, if your application depends on these assemblies to run, whether or not they are compile time references, then don't these dependencies become "necessary" references? In that case, isn't adding them as references and letting Studio's build system work for you the best (and simplest) approach?
The solution was to change the build location for all "libraries" within the solution to the main output "bin" location. The main Windows application only references the libraries that it depends upon however all the libraries are built to the one "common" location.
Thanks to Nader Shirazie for help with this question.
I have a annoying build process from using System.Addins API with ClickOnce. Using System.Addins requires a specific directory structure, and the main project does not reference the adapters, view, and contract directly, which doesn't work well with the ClickOnce architechture.
The annoying part with the build process is that I have to copy, via post build event, the .dlls from the add-in components into the directory of the main app project, then reference those files manually from the main project, so that ClickOnce will include them. Firstly, this takes 2 iterations of build to get it to build correctly, secondly, it interferes with source control (I have to exclude the copied add-in dll files from source control or any changes made to them would require checkout).
So, my question is, is there a way around this hack? Something more elegant?
I can't fully answer your question, but it appears you are creating ClickOnce deployments through Visual Studio. I would ditch that method and use MageUI instead. It's a stand-alone executable that can be found in the framework SDK that will generate your application and deployment manifest files. It comes with a gui version (mageui.exe) and a command line version (mage.exe).
Mage may not get rid of your post-build event but it should do away with having to reference the files to get ClickOnce to see them.
Thanks for your input, I am currently doing it the way you mentioned; creating the folder in my project, and include the dlls that I need. It works, but it's an ugly solution, and it interferes with Source Control.
I'm aware of the limitations of ClickOnce, I was hoping there may be a way around it. For example, I read somewhere that I can use deployment projects to create the appropriate dependencies needed in a specific structure. The problem with that is once it is deployed to the public, there is no easy way (within ClickOnce) to update those dependencies.
The solution I use is to have a single output folder for all projects. Every project puts it's own files in the correct subfolder. The application bootstrapper project puts his dlls also in the output (root) folder. When you then create a click-ones for the bootstrapper, it will take all the content from the output folder.
The hardest part is to actually get all the dll's in the right place (and have every dll only once)
I solved this problem by adding the pipeline assemblies as content into the main solution structure.
To do this, change the output folder from (/bin/debug /bin/Release) to something else. I used ../lib otherwise you would get a visual studio cannot reference this file error.
Create the pipeline folders in your main solution
\AddInSideAdapters
\AddInViews
\Contracts
\HostSideAdapters
Right click on each of the folders and click "add existing item" change to view all files and then browse to your ../lib (or wherever you have the output set) and then pull down the add button (click the down arrow) and click "Add as a Link".
Right click on each file and set it to Content.
This will create a refresh file pointed to your assemblies and they will be included into the clickonce manifest.
ClickOnce do not let you install the software where you want. It will install the binary and dlls in the documents and settings. You can in your project properties go in the Publish tab and select Application Files to select additional file to Include. If the System.Addings require dll in a specific folder relatively to your assembly, you might just create the folder in you project and includes from here the dlls. This might works. If not, I do not have "hack" or other solution, clickonce is great but limited with some functionalities.