I want to develop an application, App1, that gets some information & settings from the user. Then, using these settings, it should build a second application, App2. I want to have App1 build App2's exe file.
I know that one way to do this is to make a text or XML file to hold the settings and put this next to App2's exe file, but I want to embed these settings into App2's exe file instead. How can I do this using Visual Studio, the .net framework, and the C# language?
I don't understand what do you mean by those user information and settings (some example would help), but basically, what you want to do is invoke the C# compiler as follows
var p = new Process();
p.StartInfo.FileName = #"c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\csc.exe";
p.StartInfo.Arguments = #"c:\aa\Test.cs";
p.Start();
These four lines invoke the c# compiler on a C# code file and produces an exe file in the output folder for your project.
MSDN provides more info on how to work with the compiler via command line. Especially, how to compile more than one file, how to compile a library, etc.
You can accomplish the same thing like this:
Make two applications. App2 will be the same .exe file for all cases of App1. Instead of building an .exe file, App1 will generate a configuration file containing the information and settings input by the user. This file will be read by App2. App2 will then call the appropriate functions within App2, based on the information and settings in the configuration file.
I'm trying to do the same thing for the same reasons, but using VB.NET. That's how I found this question. The only way I can thing of (other than editing the source code each time, which is what I'll be doing unless I find a better way), is to create a second program that encrypts a parameter file and give the encrypted parameter file and the exe file to the end user.
I'm still using the "editing the source method" because I want to give the user just the exe file without dealing with parameter files or encryption. There aren't many users who will need this in my case (for the moment) so I can deal with that method for now.
Related
I'm writing a C# WinForms application, and one of the components of the application is a SQLite database.
If the user is running the program for the first time, the program is supposed to create the necessary folders and files (namely, the database file) in the user's home directory. That works fine.
However, the database also needs to be set up (i.e., tables need to be added). I have a SQL script that will create the necessary tables; however, it is currently stored in the solution directory and I'm not sure if this is the best practice for when the program actually gets packaged into an .exe file.
The script will be the same every time the database needs to be set up, so I'm thinking there are probably a few options:
Have the program read from the SQL script and apply it to the database (preferred unless there is a better way)
Load the contents of the script file into memory (hard-code it into a string) and have the application run it that way (not preferred because of future versions, there needs to be a way to update the existing structure so as to not obliterate the existing database, so this way could get complicated)
Include the SQL script as part of the program package or a standalone file (very dangerous because users aren't supposed to know about that)
So what is the best way to run SQL statements from a "companion" script file? How does all of this get packaged when the program is ready for production, and how can I ensure that this file will be accessible by the program every time it is needed?
You can set the file to be copied in output directory. Select the file in solution explorer and then in property window, set Copy to Output Directory to Copy Always. This way the file will be copied in output directory and you can load it this way:
var path = System.IO.Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, #"Script.txt");
var content = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(path);
If the file in root of the solution, use filename as above. If the file is in a folder in your solution, for example for a file in Folder1, use #"Folder1\Script.txt" in above code.
As another option you can add the file to Resources.resx. Then it will be included in resources and you can simply access it this way:
var content = Properties.Resources.Script;
Include an encrypted version of the sql file. Have your program load, decrypt it then execute it. At least that's how I'd do it.
I need develop some application, that will be distributed to user as a single executable file. User should click to some button like "Download" and get exe file, then he executed it, and upload results back to my site. App should not contain any installer or something like this, just run once and get result.
My application have a main executable like "myapp.exe" and several data files, that depends on current user. Now i have to generate SFX zip archive, that contains myapp.exe, datafiles and current user config. When user click "download", i'm adding user data to archive and provide it to user.
Problem is that SFX archive is very boring and difficult to maintain thing. I can't change it's interface, i can use only one or two zip libraries, that can create SFX arxhives.
Is there any way to use another container or pack user data into resources of my utility "on the fly"?
I've been doing that for an application where i needed to identify which user it was without asking for any credentials. Basically, some kind of token was bundled within application before download and then sent to the server.
From what i've found, there are 2 methods :
Using WiX: build the XML, call candle + light, send to client
Making a single MSI and editing its database just before sending it to client
We chose MSI database editing for its simplicity of implementation, but i've seen WiX in production recently and the result is pretty neat.
You can use Mono Cecil to programmatically alter assemblies, including their resources. In your case, you could use it to modify your assembly pre-download to add/modify embedded resources that contain the data for the specific user.
byte[] userData = ...;
EmbeddedResource resource = new EmbeddedResource("UserData", ManifestResourceAttributes.Public, userData);
assembly.MainModule.Resources.Add(resource);
You can then read the added/modified resource(s) (at runtime, post-download) using Assembly.GetManifestResourceNames and Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream.
I don't know what it is called but I want to be able to double click on my saved file and then my program should open and load the file. What is this called and how do I do it?
I am using c# wpf and .net 4.0
BR
How about the last 2 fields, what am I supposed to write there?
That is a file association, if you want this to happen on a client machine you need to register your application as the default application for a given extension. This question might be handy.
To actually handle the opening you need to process the arguments that are handed to your application, they will contain the file path. You can get the arguments either in the override of Application.OnStartup (e.Args) or Environment.GetCommandLineArgs.
you need to register the file extension and associate it to your program, either during the setup using certain APIs or from code when program executes the first time.
check these ones:
How to associate a file extension to the current executable in C#
Associate File Extension with Application
personally I do not like the 100% registry approach, there should be some Windows APIs for that and we should let those APIs to work without worrying about the Registry from our side, in my opinion.
I have a C# winform application that accesses data from an MS Access database. This means my applications requires at least 2 files, the .exe file and the .accdb file. Is it possible to include the database in the .exe file, so my solution consists of a single file (the same way you would include an image in the project resources)? If it is possible, are they any major reasons why it shouldn't be done and how would you access the data from code? The project is a only a little one for personal use so if performance is hit it doesn't matter too much.
thanks in advance
It can be done. Simply add it to your project as you would add any other file (right click project -> Add -> Existing Item), then cancel all the dialogs that will popup offering you to handle it for you, then right click your database from your project explorer, go to properties and select Build Action: Embedded Resource.
Then use the method below to dump your database into a temporary file, which you can create by calling Path.GetTempFileName.
internal void CreateBlankDatabase(string destFile)
{
using (Stream source = new MemoryStream(Properties.Resources.MyEmbeddedDatabase))
using (Stream target = File.Open(destFile, FileMode.Truncate))
{
source.CopyTo(target);
}
}
(Note that MyEmbeddedDatabase would be your embedded database name). Then use your temporary file name in your connection string. Make sure you delete your temporary file after you're done. Also, as other said, you won't be able to modify and save any data.
No it shouldn't be done. How would you send someone and update to the .exe file without them losing their data? Keep it separate.
You need to have a way to manage how your applications installs and the file location in your connection string(s). There could be a \Data subfolder in your app folder with the .accdb file(s) in it.
You probably can't achieve what you want with an access database as an embedded resource, but you effectively get the same result by wrapping all your files in another executable app.
When you run the wrapper application, it extracts the "main" C# app, database file, and an updater app (more on this below) to the temporary files folder and runs the main app.
When the main app is closed, it runs the updater app, passing in the paths to the database file and original wrapper application. The updater app updates the wrapper application file with the changed database file. It then finally deletes the database main app and database file from the temp folder. Unfortunately, the updater app can't delete itself, but you could work around that by adding a command to the runonce section of the registry to delete the updater app on the next reboot.
Instead of figuring out how to extract and insert embedded resources, consider having the wrapper application as a compressed, self-extracting executable (like a self-extracting zip or rar file). Here's a codeproject article that describes how to turn a .Net app into a compressed, self extracting exe.
Access requires to be able to read and write to the file. The OS will lock the exe when it is run so that it can't be changed while in use. This along will cause it to not work, not to mention that Access simple wouldn't be able to read the exe as it is expecting a different file format.
I am creating an application that uses a certain file format as its data source. I want this application to open whenever the user double clicks on this file, like how MS Word will open when a user double clicks on a Word document. How do I accomplish this? Also how would I populate the data fields using the file that the user selected. Would I use args[] from the program.cs class? I am using c# to code this application.
N.B. I want this association to be made when the application is installed on the host machine without the user doing anything.
FIRST, you need to set up file association, so that your file type is associated with your application and opening the file type will run your application.
You can do the file association programatically, there is some detail here as mentioned:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/System_File_Association.aspx
You can also do it via your Setup project for you application if you have one. This is an easier path for "newbies". Details for using visual studio to get the setup project to add the file association and also set the icon for the file are here:
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/58005-file-associations-in-visual-studio/
Otherwise if you use InnoSetup, Wix etc then I suppose you could just see instructions for those installers to create the association for you.
SECOND, you need to have your application accept command line arguments. The opened file(s) is(are) passed as a command line argument(s). You need to process the arguments to get the file path/name(s) and open the given file(s). There is a nice description of this here with code:
C# Command Line arguments problem in Release build
In your case, rather than MessageBox.Show(s) in the form shown handler, you would call your bespoke argument parsing method.
For a simple application which only accepts files names to open as arguments, this could be as simple as
foreach (string filePathName in Args)
DoNamedFileOpen(filePathName);
Your code can also have a method that might extract from the file the values for the datafields you are interested in etc.
This is a nice simple approach to the issue of have file associations set on installation of your application, with icons, and having your application handle the opening of those files.
Of course, there are plenty of other options, like run-time file association (asking the user if they want the association), detecting "broken" associations, etc.
This question is a long time here but I hope this is useful for new searches
See this. Or this if you want API information.
ClickOnce supports file associations as of .NET 3.5 SP1, too. In the project's properties, switch to the Publish tab and click the Options button. There's a File Associations section in that dialog that allows you to specify file extensions, descriptions and custom icons.
First, you have to associate the filetype extention with your executeable. On Windows you do this via the registry (search "filetype association windows"). In this question you find some interesting hints: Filetype association with application (C#) Script to associate an extension to a program
Your program has to react on the command line arguments or parameters. In Java, it is indeed the string array of the main method. I would gess, it's the same in C#.
If you don't need to do it pro programatically, right click on the icon, click open with ..., then select 'always use this program ...'.
This is something usually handled by your setup program .. I've used INNO setup for example, and it's trivially simple to arrange for it to adjust user's registry to launch your app when associated file extension is double clicked/opened. It'll even take care of MIME types for you as well as clearing these things on uninstall, which is a very nice thing to do
I managed to solve this issue. I used WIX to create an install file and asked it to associate the file with the application when it installs.