Develop Reference

How to merge multiple .cs files into single .dll?

I am converting multiple .IL files into .cs, Now I want to create a single c# project with these .cs files. And then i want a .dll file for this project.
I have already created a c# project. I created a folder "Application" into this project. Now I am moving all the .cs files into this folder. After compiling this c# project i am getting its .dll file into bin folder.
Is this steps correct?

I use the Nuget Package Costura.Fody for it.
It merges everything into the target .exe, but maybe as Class Project it merges everything into one DLL?
You should give it a try:
https://www.nuget.org/packages/Costura.Fody/

The steps are correct as long as the result satisfies the initial task.
What you described sounds legitimate. Now it's your turn to check if the dll works as intended.

Altering 1 C# controller file

I've worked with PHP but never C#, and I need to make 1 change to a file, and was hoping I could get some guidance, or suggested resources to learn more.
I have 1 cs controller file where I want to change the [Authorize(Roles="A")] to [Authorize(Roles="A,B")]
I made the change but nothing happens, so I've come to the conclusion that this cs file probably needs to be compiled.
The question is, is there a way to compile this one file? Or does the entire site need to be compiled?
When I open the cs files, it opens with "Visual Studio Tools For Application 2.0 2008".
Is this sufficient to make the changes?
My thinking is that one of the following needs to happen:
Scenario 1:
Open the .cs file in the appropriate compiler (of which I do not know
what it is) Compile it and copy the newly compiled file into the
appropriate folder.
Scenario 2:
Open the whole project in a compiler - of which I'm guessing the
".csproj" file to open. Compile the whole project Copy the desired
compiled file to replace the old file.
Scenario 2b:
Open the whole project in a compiler - of which I'm guessing the
".csproj" file to open. Compile the whole project Copy everything
back to the server.
Scenario 3:
The code I have is not sufficient to do the changes, and I need some
other source code.
That's all I've got, if someone can suggestion which one(s) may be on the right track, and how I may go about doing this, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

The fact you are talking about a Controller would strongly suggest you are working on an ASP .NET MVC project. You will have a .sln file which is a solution file which is the master document if you will:
YourWebsiteSolution.sln
YourWebsiteProject.csproj
YourController.cs
Once you open the .sln file with Visual Studio (you need to know what version but you can get the latest here: Download VS2012 Web Express). You can the choose Build -> Build -> ReBuild Solution from the menu and that will re-compile all of your .cs and associated files into DLLs that will be in your \Solution\Project\bin\Debug folder (or Release depending on build).
When you deploy to the server you only deploy the .DLL files (in this instance). You NEVER deploy the actual .cs files as they contain the code and you don't want people peeking into them (this differs from PHP where the code is on the server).
Because you have not changed any of the views you don't need to follow this step but for a full deploy you would also copy any .cshtml or .aspx files and the usual suspects such as .css and .js etc to same folders on server as on the project.
I hope that is a good starter to get you going?

Add created class file to project

I have a console application that builds some default classes for me from a database. When the files are built, I want to be able to refresh my folders and see the new files in my class library.
However no matter what I do the files don't show up unless I go in and manually add existing files. Is there a way for VS2010 to look at the file folder and add in anything that is in that folder to the project? For example:
Folder > File1.cs, File2.cs, File3.cs, File4.cs
VS2010 sees
Folder > File1.cs
How can I make VS2010 show these new classes?

Your problem is that you will only see files that are included and referenced in your .csproj file. This is by and large a good thing because it gives you ultimate control over what is taken into account in the project or not. This is causing you a problem though, because the created files which are inserted into your project directory aren't being referenced. As you have mentioned you can include the files manually, but I understand that you wish this process to be automatic.
The best way to resovle this in my opinion is instead of having a project create the files, use design-time T4 templates. Design-time T4 templates are files which resemble pre-Razor ASP.NET views, which allow code generation within your project. You can access your database, format your classes and then output .cs files directly into your project without building it. This is extremely convenient becuase it lets you work on catching compile-time errors that may come up based on the output without having to do a complete build.
More information about using T4 can be found here.
And a good walkthrough can be found here.

Haven't tried this personally, but you should be able to do it using this..
First gain a reference to your project using your apps' solution, then with the Visual Studio automation framework (DTE):
ProjectItems p = Project.ProjectItems;
p.AddFromFile("File1.cs");
Taken from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/envdte.projectitems.addfromfile.aspx
I would read further into it.

Select the project where you can find your file
On top of your solution explorer you can select "show all files"
Select your files and include
Adding them automatically can be done from another app or script by modifying your projects .csproj/vbproj file
<Compile Include="My Project\MyClass.vb" />
This must be done in the correct itemgroup.

I think this is not directly possible. You may write a template file (t4) in order to create you cs files and they will be added to project when the transformation file is run.
In order to run the transformation file after / before build, you may write a pre/post build event.

That will require you to create a VS add-in.. you can find an example here...

Okay so I have a console application that is building some default classes for me from a database.
Can't you let this application write all classes in one file, say Proxy.cs or Entities.cs. Then every time you regenerate the file and rebuild the project, you can access the new classes.

Why does VS2010 allow for the concept of "include in project"?

I'm still learning the basics of how VS2010 sees the world. Apparently, you can optionally "include" a file in a project. I'm a bit confused by this: If a file is version-controlled, AND the file is within the project directory, shouldn't it implicitly be "included" in the project? If not, what's the use case where a version-controlled file in the project directory should NOT be included in the project?
=== Addition ===
Based on the answers I've gotten so far, maybe I should rephrased my question: What does it mean for a file to be "included" in a project?

A project needs to know about files in order for compilation and distribution to occur. Just because you have a file that's under source-control, doesn't mean that it will be compiled if the project is unaware of it.
Also, you may want to include files as part of a distribution package. We do this quite often for our web projects that we distribute using web app gallery.
Conversely, you could have documentation or sql scripts that you version control, but do not want them to be part of the project.
EDIT: In answer to your update, what it means for a file to be included in a project is that the file is actually added to the .csproj or .vbproj file and will be used during compilation and/or distribution. VS does differentiate if the file is Content or if it needs to Compile it. This can be seen by clicking on the file in Solution Explorer and looking at the Build Action property.

No, you don't want random files that happen to be in the project directory included in source control.

We do sometimes put documentation (pdfs) or drawings/schematics in the project folder and under version control but you don't need them inside the visual studio project (especially when they are not being distributed because they are for internal use only).

Excluding the file from your project can be useful if the file is related to the project but not necessarily needed in the solution.
Example
If I need some test XML for an application that i'm writing; that is designed to normally be pulling this from a WCF service, it can be useful to keep that file in the directory for a development environment where I use IO to get the XML for testing, but I don't necessarily want it in my solution which is source controlled.

When you exclude a file from a project is no longer compiled or embedded, then when you want to include it again you can do so without having lost your settings.

If you e.g. copy a file (containing a helpful class which want to have in your project) into a folder of your project, then you will see ... nothing. You have to check the option "Show all files" of the solution explorer and the copied file can be seen, but it is still "greyed out". No you can choose the menuitem Include in project and that file will be integrated in your project and a pending change (add) for your source control is added too. Visual Studio doesn't include all files it can find in the project folder automatically to the project - and that is a good feature.

One of my colleagues explained to me a scenario in which a version-controlled file should NOT be part of the project. Here's the idea:
A developer writes some new code.
The code is experimental, and not intended to be part of the normal build.
The easiest way to exclude the file from the build is to NOT include it in the project, but still version-control it.
This way, the file can be shared with other developers, but not break the build.

Visual Studio Installer: Copy File On Finish

i have a C# project, it's finished now and i need to make an installer for it.
I added the Setup and Deployment Project and listed all the needed prerequisites, now i just need to copy the database file when the installation finishes.
Just a simple "create a folder named /db/" (in the installation folder) and copy the db.mdf in it.
I'm googleing but i can't find anything i could use.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Have you looked at the reference documentation: How to: Add and Remove Files in the File System Editor ?
This is typically how you can do it. You can also create folders in there, but note you can have some limitations (with .MSI, you are not supposed to create folder anywhere on the target's disk).