for strict constrains in my scenarios, I have very few room to install my application, and .net framework is not installable (any version).
If the application is really simple (more or less), it is possible to create an application in visual studio (in c#) with no dependendency from the .net framework?
Thanks!
Short answer: NO.
There is no way to create a .NET application without any framework.
It is possible to compile a C# app such that it has no dependencies on any of the built-in .NET types & libraries, by using the /nostdlib switch (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fa13yay7.aspx). You then need to supply your own System namespace.
However, this doesn't remove the need for the .NET framework on the target machine if you use the standard C# compiler. As well as containing the built-in types, the framework also includes the JIT IL compiler, the CLR extra, which all .NET executables and dll's are reliant on.
There are ways of compiling C# code such that it doesn't need the framework though. The Xamarin product for example (http://xamarin.com/), supports compiling C# code to native iOS apps, which are wholely independent of the .NET framework. I'm not aware of any equivalent for "desktop" OS's though.
Writing, compiling and running a C# program without .Net means running a special C# compiler that produces native code instead of managed code. I think such a compiler exists from WinRT for mobile phones, which uses COM instead of .Net (And C++/CX instead of C++/CLI). Code it produces does not depend on the .Net Framework, but does depend on the WinRT runtime.
You may create mono GTK# application and then use mkbundle to generate independent executable. You can use Visual Studio to build your logic and use Xamarin studio to build GTK# GUI. For more information about mkbundle see this and this.
To reply to your query. It really is not possible to create a .Net application without the .Net frame work. And moreover if you have installed Visual Studio by default it would have asked you to install .Net framework or would have installed it by default. In that scenario there is already .Net framework installed in your PC.
Thanks
Related
I'm a student and at the moment i'm doing an internship at a company. This internship is about analysing a project. For this project I have made a demo to show to the Marketing director. The demo I have made is a simple project created in Visual Studio 2010 in c# with Windows Forms and a connection to an Access database.
So now i have to show this demo to this director in a presentation but after this presentation the director wants the project on his computer so he can try and use it. The problem is now that the computers here in this company don't have .NET framework 4.0 and the computers are so protected over here that we can't install anything new. To install something you have to go through a procedure that takes weeks.
I have looked al over the internet but all i find is how to install the .NET framework.
Is there any possible way that I can create an standalone exe without the need to install .NET framework? Please help!
If you want to execute an application that is developed using Net Framework 4, you will need to have installed .Net Framework 4 on client computer.
Your application is compiled in CIL (Common Intermediate Language), so it needs to be interpreted by the framework engine.
It is the same if you want to execute a Java program. You will have to install the Java Machine.
The only way you don't need to install frameworks is programming native applications with C, C++.
C# now supports this with .NET Native.
Instead of compiling to intermediate language, it will compile to native code and run with statically linked .NET libraries. Therefore, there will be no .Net Runtime requirements for end-users.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dn642499.aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn584397(v=vs.110).aspx
Only works for Windows 10
You can't build a C# executable without .NET Framework. Even if some resources indicate that you can, that only works in theory.
But you could use an older version of .NET Framework like .NET 4.0. If this doesn't work for you, you have to choose a language like C++ which doesn't require CLR at all.
Update 2018:
Do not target .NET 2.0 or 3.5. It's not compatible with the 4.x version. However, .NET 4.0 targeted binaries work with .NET Framework 4.0, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7 and so on. So to reach maximum compatibility, compile with .NET 4.0. You will have to accept that some features will not be available, however, your binary will run virtually anywhere.
(2018: By now, .NET 2.0 - 3.5 has much lower distribution than 4.x)
Delphi is your solution, deploy native bin executables
YES, THIS IS POSSIBLE!
At least 3 ways exist:
1.you can check all OSes that you planning to run your app and build with such version of .NET. As Windows have a built-in framework libs.
Vista -.NET v3.0 -- All service packs
Windows 7 - .NET v3.5 -- All versions and service packs
Windows 8 - .NET v4.0 [Best choice if you are not sure]
Windows 8.1 - .Net v4.5
Windows 10 - .Net v4.6
as they are already pre-installed by default -- no extra install will be needed.
2.For windows 10 you can compile it into native code (but not into CIL) with ".NET Native". This is means that there are no .Net Framework will be needed for apps.
3.There is Turbo Studio (earlier Spoon and earlier XenoCode) that can wrap everything that your app needs and runs it in as a standalone.
From their site:
Turbo Studio
Run .NET Without .NET. Easily embed runtime dependencies such as .NET, Java, and SQL directly into virtual applications. Launch reliably on any desktop, regardless of underlying component installs.
You can use Mono and statically link you program, so your program don't need .NET CLR runtime and act as standalone program.
Mono Project
In more modern versions of .NET such as 5 and 6 and even with releases of .NET Core it had become a supported scenario to produce what is referred to as a single-file executable as well as a self-contained application.
As I understand it, these technologies take place of and build upon some of the capabilities that had been in the Mono development stack for a while now. Typically I've seen this feature used for applications which would be deployed to servers such as web sites and microservices however it could be used for scenarios such as the one that the original poster illustrates.
Using the .NET SDK publishing (producing the executable) for a single-file executable can be done using a command as the one below which comes directly from the documentation.
dotnet publish -r win-x64 -p:PublishSingleFile=true --self-contained true
For more details see Single file deployment and executable in the Microsoft .NET documentation site.
To be honest, it really isnt a problem nowadays. the .NET framework is found on almost every single computer nowadays, and you can even make a installer with Advanced Installer that silently install the .NET framework on your computer when you are installing the programme.
How can I check what objects, tools, variables, anything... are used from .NET 2.0 in a C# application.
How can I get a C# application run without .NET 2.0 ?
UPDATE:
sorry, I didn't clarify enought. Here's my situation: I have developed a pretty simple application in C#: embeded browser which displayes static webpages with an option of searching inside of these html pages. I'm using simple textbox, buttons components for this.
The application will be distribuited for people wich have very old PCs, even with windows 95. I would like the app to be runable on it, or at least on win 98, without telling the people to install .NET 2.0, as the users don;t really have PC usage skills :) .
I'm using a dataGridView as well.
You can have a look at this : http://www.remotesoft.com/linker/
"The mini-deployment tool puts
together the minimum set of CLR
runtime files and dependent assemblies
that can be simply copied to a single
folder on a target machine, and your
application runs as if the whole
framework is installed. Since the
installation is isolated into a single
folder, there will be no conflicts
with future .NET installation. When
linking is used for the dependent
assemblies, it will further reduce the
file size."
You may need to clarify a bit more.. do you want the app to run without .Net at all? Or you want it to run in .Net 3.5 without .net 2.0 bits?
If its the latter, then simply don't reference assemblies that are compiled in .net 2.0 (check the properties on the reference you have added). If its the former, then its really not feasable. Yes its possible, but it means deploying parts of the framework with your app, but then, you'd be deploying all the bits, including the 2.0 bits.
Your're question really needs more information though, it doesn't make much sense currently. Sorry. =)
To make sure it runs without .NET 2.0, compile it with the .NET 1.1 compiler.
But this seems like not a good idea. I'd recommend revisiting your requirements.
Win98 wasn't shipped with .NET. Using .NET v1.1 won't get you much more platform penetration than .NET 2.0, if any.
IT looks like windows 98 supports the .net framework. See this answer for details:
OS Compatibility for various .NET Framework versions
You cannot run a .NET application (i.e., that uses the CLR) if you haven't installed the corresponding .NET Framework binaries (i.e., that contains the CLR) directly or indirectly.
Period.
I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed?
Normally, you will need the .NET Framework being installed on the target system. There is no simple way around that.
However, certain third-party tools such as Xenocode or Salamander allow you to create stand-alone applications. See this related question:
Is there some way to compile a .NET application to native code?
As these solutions are not straight-forward and require commercial products I would recommend you to create a simple Visual Studio Setup and Deployment project. In the properties of the project you should include the .NET Framework as a pre-requisite. The setup.exe created will then automatically download and install the .NET Framework prior to installing your application.
No, it will need the .Net framework installed. Note though that you will need only the redistributable version, not the SDK.
A minor aside - but in this scenario, consider developing the utility in Silverlight - it has a much smaller footprint and is supported on a number of operating systems. This might allow you to get the coverage including people who don't already have .NET.
If you need "normal" .NET, then "Client Profile" is perhaps an option.
You can probably also include the .net framework installer in your application.
In a related question, Can you compile C# without using the .Net framework?, it's mentioned you could do this using mkbundle from mono. I haven't tried it myself so I can't comment on if it's the way you should go, but you may want to consider it.
How do I only include certain dlls of the .Net framework which are used in my program along with the setup project instead of installing the whole framework?
Thanks
You want to deploy a .NET Application to a server, that doesn't have .NET installed and only have it install the specific System.* dlls required for you're application ?
I'd be pretty sure that you can't do this. There's more to the Framework than just a bunch of DLLs in the GAC. (e.g. CLR, registry entries etc...). You'll need to install the framework on the client machine
I would recommend the .NET Client Profile, described here. "The .NET Framework Client Profile is a subset of the full .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 that targets client applications. It provides a streamlined subset of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), and ClickOnce features. This enables rapid deployment scenarios for WPF, Windows Forms, WCF, and console applications that target the .NET Framework Client Profile."
I'm pretty sure that can't be done. C# is managed code, and therefore needs the CLR and the framework to support it.
Unlike other languages that get compiled to binary, .NET code gets compiled to MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate Language), so it cannot be run directly by the hardware.
Since .Net 3.5 SP1 there has been the option of using the .NET Framework Client Profile. This enables you to distribute a subset of the full .Net package in certain supported scenarios. It still requires you to use an installer though - you can't just distribute individual assemblies. The benefit is a significant reduction in package size and deployment time.
No. In order for your pogram to run, the target machine must have the appropriate version of the .Net framework installed on it. You don't need to bundle the entire SDK with your application but you do need to include the appropriate .Net framework redistributable for your application.
I know of the Salamander tools... but haven't used them.
From their site: "Salamander .NET Linker, Native Compiler and Mini-Deployment Tool; Deploy .NET w/o Framework"
You can use tools like Xenocode to link the assemblies.
There's a free linker (from Microsoft, I think), but it's name escapes me.
This is not possible. You have to have proper .Net framework runtime in place on the target machine. What you have asked for is possible with 3rd party libraries/assemblies but not with .Net runtime.
Have you looked at ngen?
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6t9t5wcf(VS.80).aspx
It would be possible to use reflection to identify the dependent assemblies and "link" them with your deployment. I've used a similar technique in Java land.
Is it possible to force the C# compiler to pull all the referenced calls out of the framework and pack them into dlls or even a single executable?
I like writing quick 'one-off' applications with C#, however I don't want to have to install the whole framework on the target machine once it's ready to go.
You ask a loaded question. C# is merely a language and does not require the .NET Framework. The process of compiling it requires a compiler, which may or may not itself take a dependency on the .NET Framework (Microsoft's C# compiler does not -- it is written in native code). Your program will need to reference some assembly where types, classes, and methods can be found for your use. You can remove system.dll and mscorlib.dll from your references list and reference your own assemblies. So you can avoid dependencies on the .NET Framework if you really work at it. But in the end, unless you have a C# compiler that compiles programs to native code you still have a dependency on the CLR.
That's a very technical way of saying... almost nothing. But it answers your question. :) More practically useful however is how to get your C# programs to run with a minimum of dependencies. mkbundle from mono will actually let you compile it all into an .exe with virtually no dependencies.
But if you want to stick with the Microsoft .NET Framework, you can achieve a much lighter footprint and faster install of the dependencies you commonly need by using the Client profile of .NET 3.5 SP1. You can read about it here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc656912.aspx
Look at mkbundle using Mono.
It is now possible to compile C# to native code using Microsoft .NET Native:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn584397(v=vs.110).aspx
It automatically compiles the release version of apps that are written in managed code (C# or Visual Basic) and that target the .NET Framework and Windows 10 to native code.
...
For users of your apps, .NET Native offers these advantages:
•Fast execution times
•Consistently speedy startup times
•Low deployment and update costs
•Optimized app memory usage
This only works with Visual Studio .NET 2015.
Take a look at the .NET client profile.
This will allow you to package a minimum install on the client machine.. which will later be updated by windows update to the full framework.
This depends, of course, on your app only using libraries that are contained in the client profile ...
Some info here: http://blogs.windowsclient.net/trickster92/archive/2008/05/21/introducing-the-net-framework-client-profile.aspx
It's said it is possible, using 3rd-party tools such as http://www.remotesoft.com/linker/
Not possible. Your "compiled" C# application is a language which the .Net CLR interprets (should have said JITed, Reads the IL, compiles to native code, and then invokes the compiled native code) at runtime.
FYI .net 2.0 is a standard install on xp SP2 and vista, so you won't be paying that much of a penalty.
You could look into mono, but this still involves running some kind of framework on your target machine.
This dependency which unfortunately frequently breaks or is missing in the real world is a big reason why C# has not had a wider adoption. On the flip side most development does have dependencies.. look at C++ & Java for example.
I don't think we will really get away from these dependency issues anytime soon, so I recommend that if you want to use C#, that you make a wrapper for installation which checks for the .net framework version dependency you need, and if missing notify the user that they need this to run your app.
Some C# features are bound to interfaces of the .NET framework.
For example:
yield return requires the IEnumerable interface
using (x) {} requires the IDisposable interface