Develop Reference

Linking files when publishing a project

I have a project that I wish to publish. currently, I hardcode some reference files (.json,txt, and .ico) to be used in my project, which reside in a folder on my desktop for testing purposes. now that I feel I'm close to a version 1.0 release I want to migrate my resources to a applications folder upon install. basically want to create these files when the app is installed.
2 big questions I have is how to reference to the application folder that doesn't exist yet, and how do I publish the setup project.
I have the setup project installed for VS2019, and followed a quick and brief blog on how to use it. but I haven't found out how to publish that setup project. I can publish my project with my actual code in it, but I cannot publish the setup project.
below is a screenshot of the setup project. and i will add screenshot of my settings for the reference file.

Add the files into subfolder of your project and in the options part in Visual studio set that files will be copied to "debug"/"release" folder.
You will have an output folder with all what you needs and can be shippable.

Copy dependent projects needed files in Visual Studio

I have a sample project that is structured like the below image:
The WebApplication2 has depended on ClassLibrary1 at publishing time like this:
I want to copy some needed file in ClassLibrary1 project after publishing in a specific folder, for example in Plug-in/ClassLibrary1/
If you've looked at Orchard you'd see something like this.
Thanks.

In general (regardless of the type of the application) you could define custom actions during deployment, if you build a setup application. I think that limited edition of the InstallShield is the default solution for VS2013. There you could create some custom actions writing a script. Inside this script you could deploy the specific file. An alternative against the InstallShield is the WiX which you could use to build an MSI file using an XML.
Regarding web applications in particular, you could use the publish mechanism provided by the Visual Studio. This tutorial describes how you could configure it so that it would copy all project files. Then you could add the specific file as a project file and copy it each time you publish your website.
Hope I helped!

Delete specific files after installation using visual studio setup project

I have this problem. I want to build an installer for my c# solution, that will be placed in a folder with other installation folders and files that are needed to be copied to the installed folder. So that is easy, I just copy them to the folder I create using the folder structure I want.
Now, I want also to install another program and run a .exe file I've created to unzip some files for me. For that I need to copy 2 .exe files and 2 dlls (for the exes) to the folder to which I am installing and create 2 custom actions that will use them. That I've managed to do.
After that I want to delete those 4 extra files, as the user does not need them and shouldn't even be aware they are there. How to do so? I couldn't find a way in the built in setup project preferences + I do not know how to make a custom installer class.
A bonus question, is how to make the other installer (one of the .exe files is just a plain installer) install quietly to any path? I do not want the user to see an installer pop out of my program installer.
Thanks!

Some commercial setup authoring tools support temporary files. They are extracted when the installation starts and automatically removed when the installation ends. They are never registered with Windows Installer.
You can find a list of setup tools here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_installation_software
Regarding the prerequisite, it depends on its setup package. You can install it silently only if it supports this through its command line.

Don't. You will get a ton of problems with Windows Installer trying to automatically repair your applications and such things. You might be able to solve the problem with a more advanced installer creator, such as WiX.

Create Setup Project DLL files Information

I finished a project.I am trying create a setup .
My Problem is that :after I create setup project dll files that I used in project added to same folder with my .exe file like
ApplicationFolder(Folder)
Devexpress.Data.dll
Devexpress.Util..dll
.
.
project.exe
but I want to get it different folder.
like
ApplicationFolder(Folder)
MYDLLFILES(Folder)
project.exe(exe file)
how can I make this? Thanks a lot

This is not only a problem of setup. unless you are already handling this in the app.config and/or with appdomain.assemblyresolve event your application will not work at all on the user's machines once those required references will not be available in the same folder if the .exe file.
Surely you could isolate every single file and tell the setup project where to put it but your program has to be modifief to then look for those files in those other locations.

I accidentally faced this problem today, I want to add some separate dll files into the setup package (I have to do this because I can't add reference of these dll files into my C# program , these dll files are of 3rd-party software).
I did as following:
Right click on Setup Project > Add > Assembly and then browse to dll which I need, then press OK button.
These dll files will be included into Setup project, and will be packaged into setup file also.
Hth.

The problem is that Visual Studio setup projects will automatically include referenced DLLs for you so you won't be able to customize their location with these setup projects.
See also the following articles by DevExpress:
How to deploy WinForms applications on client machines
How to distribute applications which use Developer Express .NET Windows Forms controls
The second article explains how to register DLLs copied to a different location.
By the way we're also also deploying a big app using these VS setup projects and our base installation folder is full of DevExpress and other DLLs. I agree that it looks totally ugly and I'd also prefer a clean structure with a lib subfolder, but nobody cares about that. Customers don't start our application from the installation folder, they use the shortcuts.

Is there any way to reduce DLL clutter in my ClickOnce app?

My problem is that DLLs needed by my ClickOnce app are cluttering my project folder and I would like to move them to a bin folder but don't know a simple way to do so and still get the files to distribute.
To explain:
I'm distributing a C# app with ClickOnce. It has the following components:
One C# application
One CLR DLL
Umpteen C++ DLLs
All of these build to a tidy little bin folder.
Now the CLR DLL is referenced from the C# project, so it copies and deploys fine.
But I also want to distribute the C++ DLLs as part of the ClickOnce project, so I've done the thing that people say to do, which is add them to the C# project (drag ... drop), and in Properties, set Build Action to Content and Copy to Output Directory to Copy if Newer.
ClickOnce seems to deploy these files quite nicely.
The problem, though, is that now I have a bunch of binaries dumped into my C# project folder (and appearing in the project root in the IDE), which mixes executable files with source files in a way that is extremely obnoxious.
Can anyone clue me in to a simple way to keep all my DLLs in the output folder where they belong, and also have them distributed by ClickOnce?

Move you C++ DLLs somewhere sensible then when you add them to the project choose to add them as a Link instead of the standard Add which copies the files to the project folder.
To do this follow these steps:
Right click the project file and choose add existing file.
Navigate to the location of the file(s).
Click the down arrow next to the Add button and select Add as Link