I have just written a small C# app that I want to put on 4/5 PCs. The PCs have various OS's installed ranging from XP (with the latest SP supporting 4.5) to Win 8 SP1. Each PC also has various apps running, which is where my question is.
I just wanted to check to see if there is anything I need to be mindful of in relation to older applications running earlier versions of .Net (in theory at least).
Thank you.
As long as they have the same .NET version as your app is targeting and you don't make any unmanged calls it should be fine.
The later .NET versions contain features and APIs that older versions do not. For instance, .NET 2 does not support LINQ, whereas .NET 3.5 does.
It is also worth noting that according to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8z6watww%28v=vs.110%29.aspx, Windows XP SP3 does not support .NET 4.5
Related
I am using Visual Studio 2010.
I made a C# project and it runs perfectly on my Computer.
Problem is this that when Application is run on another Computer, that ask for .Net Framework.
Everybody doesn't have administrator Access to install .Net Framework and also peoples don't want to install that.
What alternative i should follow to sort out this problem?
(Specifically for Windows 7).
Windows contains a version of .NET by default. Here's a listing of them.
XP
.NET v1.0 -- Service pack 1
.NET v2.0 -- Service packs 2 & 3
Vista
.NET v3.0 -- All service packs
Windows 7
.NET v3.5 -- All versions and service packs
Windows 8
.NET v4.0 + Metro UI available.
Windows 8.1
.Net v4.5 + Metro UI available.
Windows 10
.Net v4.6 + Metro UI + Universal Apps available.
Note:
All contains .NET v4.6 if Windows Update is enabled. (Not for all versions of windows)
Options of deployment:
There are several options of deployment.
Checking for .NET in installation. (Install systems like NSIS support this).
See this for more info.
If you want to deploy portable app, notify users to install the required .NET version. (easier)
Target .NET 2.0 and all users are able to run your app since I think nobody is using XP SP1. (easiest. I use this to deploy mine.)
EDIT
There needs some clarity with some other answers, so I'm quoting this Wikipedia note.
.NET Framework 1.0 is integral OS component of Windows XP Media Center edition or Tablet PC edition. Installation CDs for the Home editions and the Professional editions of Windows XP SP1, SP2 or SP3 comes with .NET Framework installation packages.
No way! CLR is absolutely needed for managed apps.
The only alternative is to not use a programming language that is based on the .net framework.
If you're writing a c# application, then the .net framework is required.
Perhaps you want to create a c++ application instead?
If you are targeting Windows 7 or later version of the OS, then just compile your program using C# 3.5. The version 3.5 of the framework is part of Windows 7.
I guess you were compiling C# 4.0 code.
Correct me if I am wrong but windows 7 comes with .Net framework installed. Windows Vista comes with installed .net framework and I believe this is valid for windows 7 as well.
And to answer your question - it is not possible to run the exe on a machine that does not have the framework as the program compiles to intermediate language that is only "understandable" by the Common language runtime(CLR)
Yes, there is Spoon (earlier XenoCode) that can wrap everything that your app needs and runs it in as a standalone.
From their site:
Spoon Studio
Easily virtualize all of your applications for instant,
zero-install delivery on Spoon Server and Spoon.net.
Spoon Studio lets you convert your existing software applications into virtual applications
that run with no installs, conflicts, or dependencies.
I asked this before but if i downgrade to .NET 3.5 I am not able to do some things with the windows form application I get errors because some things that have been added in later versions are not in the version that I am using.
I am making the application for Windows 7.
Link to previous: Can you launch a app C# so it doesn't need the .NET
As C# is essentialy a human-readable version of .NET's intermediate language (IL) you cannot run an application created using C# without .NET runtime installed.
You don't need to downgrade anything - just change target version to 3.5. However, you'll have to stick to features of 3.5 and below in that case.
If you want to use 4.0+ - just make an installer for your app which installs .NET 4.0 runtime alongside.
P.S.
I personally really doubt that there is noticable count of boxes running Windows 7 without at least .NET 4.0.
Just include the required Framework for your application in the Installer. They should be able to run side-by-side.
I'm a bit confused about targeting .net 4.0 app to run on windows 8.x. In my understanding, windows 8.0 comes with 4.5 and windows 8.1 comes with 4.5.1. So my question, if I build a WinForms or WPF client app targeting c#/.net 4.0 (in Visual Studio Project settings) and of course only using .net 4.0 features (i.e, no features from .net 4.5.x), then will this app run fine on windows 8.x without having install .net 4.0 framework (that is, only relying on what comes installed with OS)? Basically, I'm trying to avoid forcing end user to install .net 4.0 framework on their machine before running the app.
Looking at DLLs properties of various Microsoft DLLs (e.g., System) they show same runtime version when targeting either .net 4.0 or .net 4.5.x --> v4.0.30319. So my understanding here is that 4.0 and 4.5.x are targeting same clr runtime version So, my .net 4.0 app should run fine???
From ref here (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb822049%28v=vs.110%29.aspx), it says .net 4.0 can't even be installed on win8.x.
In my tests, targeting .net 4.0 and running on clean install of win8.1 seems to work fine (without having to install anything else) but looking for advice on gotchas.
Thanks.
Note that the .NET framework is intrinsically backwards compatible - .NET 4.5 will execute .NET 4.0 code just fine. This can be seen even within a solution in that a .NET 4.5/4.5.1 project can reference an older .NET project without incident. This includes .NET 4.0, as well as earlier versions.
In addition to the backwards compatibility, .NET 4.5 does run on the CLR 4.0 - 4.5 is simply a library and compiler expansion.
Possible gotchas
This emphasis on backwards compatibility is why we almost never see functions disappear from the .NET Framework, just get marked [Obsolete]. it's a good idea to check if any functions you use have become Obsolete, though this is rare and such functions usually continue to work as expected.
Windows 8 does NOT like Drive mapping, and will demand that you use UNC paths if you application touches any networks drives.
Windows 8 can be far more aggressive with requiring Admin privileges to run, up to and including needing to explicitly start VS as admin when trying to compile a program which outputs to C:\Program Files\...
Final note: ALWAYS test your application on the targeted platform before releasing to users.
Per this question:
.NET Framework 4.5 was released on 15 August 2012., a set of new or improved features were added into this version. The .NET Framework 4.5 is only supported on Windows Vista or later. The .NET Framework 4.5 uses Common Language Runtime 4.0, with some additional runtime features.
I would say then that by virtue of having .NET 4.5 installed you will also always have .NET 4.0 installed. I don't think this should be an issue then!
From the link you posted:
Each new version of the .NET Framework retains features from the previous versions and adds new features.
Also from that link:
The .NET Framework 4.5 is an in-place update that replaces the .NET Framework 4 on your computer, and similiarly, the .NET Framework 4.5.1 4.5.2, and 4.6 Preview are in-place updates to the .NET Framework 4.5, which means that they use the same runtime version, but the assembly versions are updated and include new types and members.
So, if a system has 4.5, it will be able to run apps targeted for 4.0 as well. The fact that some versions cannot be installed most likely only means that they are already included from the start.
We have a small application that is based on the .NET 2 Framework (C#) and is compatible with WindowsXP to Windows 8 but only 32bit (because our build machine was always 32bit too).
We are now looking to make some changes and also create a 64 bit version now.
My question is now, should we also upgrade to a newer version of the .NET Framework to be ready for the future or can we just stay with our existing .NET Framework 2.
It should still be compatible to Windows XP and all newer Windows (32 and 64 bit).
You can always upgrade it to version 4 of framework and it will still be compatible with the previous versions of windows.
Apart from that, you should always build the .Net application with "Any CPU". It will generate the intermediate code and later the JIT compiler will compile it to either 32bit or 64bit architecture depending on what machine it is being executed.
You should bother about CPU architecture only if you are referencing any unmanaged dll in your .Net application.
yes, It will still remain compatible to windows XP and all newer version of windows too. With upgrade to framework 4, you must have windows XP sp 3 as framework will not install otherwise.
As far as I know, framework 4.5 can only be installed on windows 7 or higher so upgrading to framework 4.5 might not be the option for you.
Upgrading to .NET 3.5 or 4.0 shouldn't pose a problem, the drawback being that fewer people will have the framework installed, and the benefit being that you get a better CLR and can use some new language features.
If you aren't going to change the application source, you won't take advantage of any new language features, and you are only going to add a new dependency (the newer framework) for the end user. I can't see any point in going from 2.0 to 4.0 in that case.
If you are going to continue developing the application at all, then I highly recommend moving to 3.5 or 4.0 to get the new features in those frameworks, most importantly LINQ.
Do note that the 4.5 Framework isn't compatible with Windows XP so you can't upgrade to 4.5 if you want to keep backwards compatibility with XP. As long as you need to target XP you are stuck with 4.0 or less.
As for output platforms, I recommend compiling like this:
Assemblies with native dependencies: Explicitly compile x86 and x64.
Entry point assemblies (.exe's basically): Explicitly compile for x86 and x64.
All other assemblies: Compile as AnyCPU.
Using explicit platform for executables is a good principle because it is least surprising for the user, and allows users on 64bit systems to run the 32bit application if they want. See this blog post for a longer answer http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rmbyers/archive/2009/06/09/anycpu-exes-are-usually-more-trouble-then-they-re-worth.aspx
I am creating a windows application for users with xp, vista or 7 PCs. I was wondering if WPF would work on all these computers, or should I play it safe and just use winforms?
Thanks!
Yes, they will run ok if the computer has the correct .net framework installed.
It would be a good idea to redistribute the framwork with your application. Here is a topic in msdn about how to do it MSDN
Windows Forms has been in .NET since .NET 1, with a few additions in .NET 2. WPF is available in .NET 3 – so, if someone has XP with .NET 2 installed, WPF won't work there.
Apart from that, you can of course install the appropriate .NET framework version on old machines as well. But the implication (WinForms works → WPF works) is wrong.
It will work on all of them, although you won't get the aero glass interface in XP. Obviously, you will need a reasonably up-to-date .NET framework runtime installed on the target machine.
WPF was added in .NET 3.0, so will run on any machine running 3.0 or a newer of the .NET Framework. However, the rendering technologies differ dramatically between WPF and WinForms, so you may need to take that into account. MSDN has a decent set of documents on WPF performance, some of which cover performance-related issues: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970683(v=VS.85).aspx.
We use WPF applictaions for XP, Vista and win7 customers and it works fine on platforms.
If you can get the right framework on the machine it will run. So far we are using Version 3.51 and no problems so far.
As other have mentioned, your dependency is on the ability to run the .net framework 3.0. .net 3.0 is supported on the following platforms according to the link below.
Software Requirements
To install .NET Framework 3.0, you
must have one of the following
operating systems installed on the
target computer:
Microsoft Windows XP Home or Microsoft Windows XP Home Professional, with Service Pack 2 or later.
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 family with Service Pack 1 or later.Service Pack 1 or later.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480198.aspx#netfx30_topic9