My end users cannot install .NET framework on their systems due to restrictions they face, so I was looking for another solution to where they could use my software.
I ended up bumping the target Framework down to 2.0 from 4.5.1 and it worked with no issues on their computers.
HOWEVER, I get a bunch of "warnings" in Visual Studio about
Warning 12 The primary reference "Microsoft.ReportViewer.WinForms, could not be resolved because it has an indirect dependency on the framework assembly
though it doesn't stop the program from compiling or running.
I distribute the program by placing the output of my debug folder in a share folder on a server so they can run it without installing.
Will there be any consequences to using an older target framework? What's the highest framework I can use in order to avoid installing it, in other words, what's the highest framework that comes stock with Windows 7?
Related
I have a project done in VB.NET and I want to publish it for distribution. I know that when I build solution It creates an .Exe. But that requires local resorouces. If I build for release I know it works but it still needs the .Net platform installed. Is there anyway to make a true standalone .exe or something that would run on a persons computer if they do not have .NET installed. Also the ClickOnce application thing is not a wanted Solution.
Is there any converter program that can do this for me?
The .NET framework represents the basic prerequisite to run a .NET program; equivalently than having Windows installed is the prerequisite to run a Windows program. Bear in mind that any Windows version includes the .NET framework (and, actually, it tends to involve top-priority updates and thus are automatically perfomed by Windows Update in many cases). A big proportion of the programs running on Windows created during the last 10 years are built on the .NET framework; a relevant proportion of the sites (like this one, for instance) are built on ASP.NET and thus the given server has to include the .NET framework. If overall compatility is a concern for you, you might rely on a-bit-old .NET version: the latest one in VS 2010 (4.0) should be fine for most of modern computers; but you can even rely on the previous one (3.5) to be completely sure. Lastly, bear in mind that a .NET program can also be run under a OS other than Windows (Linux or MacOS, for example); although, from my past experiences, these are not too reliable situations. Nonetheless, in case of being interested in other OS, you should do some research/testing on this front to see if the available options offer what you are looking for.
SUMMARY: the exe file generated by the Visual Studio is actually what you call "standalone .exe". One of its defining features is the .NET version (which can be changed in the Project Settings); a program can only be run on computers with a .NET framework (or equivalent) equal or newer than the one on which it was built. The 4.0 version should be OK for most of new/properly-updated computers; the 3.5 .NET would work with virtually any computer (although, logically, it includes less features than the 4.0 one).
---------------------------- UPDATE AFTER COMMENTS --------------------
From some comments, I have undertood that my statement wasn't as clear as I thought and this is the reason for this update
.NET is pre-installed in Windows only since Vista. XP does not include the .NET runtime by default. The reason for not having mentioned this issue in my answer was that having a XP Windows without .NET is highly unlikely. Firstly because this is a top-priority, automatic update and thus one of the first times the computer is connected to internet "Windows Update" will take care of this. And secondly because this is the basic framework for any Microsoft programming over the last 10 years and thus a Windows computer not having it will not be able to run almost anything. With this last sentence, I don't mind that most of the programs are built on .NET, but that for a Windows-based environment most of nowadays basic requirements do include .NET.
It was also pointed out that there is some compatibility problems between different .NET versions (that various side-by-side versions were required). The basic Microsoft approach to the different .NET versions is backwards compatibility, what means that a given .NET version can run any program built with that version or older. This is theoretically right, but not always right in fact. My approach to this problem is relying on a bit old .NET version (3.5) and not using too new/untested features (e.g., WPF). If you want a for-sure overall compatible program you should work quite a lot on this front (compatibility between versions is one of most typical problem of any programming platform), instead expecting Microsoft to take care of everything. Thus, in principle, just one .NET version (the last one) has to be installed (which, on the other hand, is not the case for a big proportion of computers; for example: computer including the 3.5 version being updated, over the years, to 4.0 and 4.5 by maintaining the previous versions).
Lastly, I want to highlight that my intention with this answer is not defending any programming approach over any other one; I am just describing what is there from the point of view of your question "can I remove the .NET part?" -> no, you cannot; there is no (sensible) way to do that. If you want to rely on a different programming platform you should get informed about it (I am sure that Camilo Martin will be more than happy to help you on this front). If you prefer to rely on .NET, be sure that you can generate an overall compatible program (to be run on Windows).
Easy way to convert in .exe in VB.NET-2010:
Create New Project
Select Windows Application And Save Proper Path
Comple Project then Select File-> Save All
Select Build->Start Build
Your Project .exe Created Your Project Save Path:
Select Windows Application 1
Select bin Folder
Select Debug Folder
And in Debug folder your .exe File is ready.
Quick Basic once made and executable (.exe) directly form their VB code, but I wouldn't recommend converting to Quick Basic. You can look at Mono to see if they have anything yet. (mono allows you to use compiled vb.net in other operating systems).
Ezirit Reactor makes a single executable, but it's not free.
You can bundle .NET Framework into your distribution so that users don't have download it.
Why do you need an executable (.exe)? If the reason is for security and to minimize chances of reverse engineering, then get a good obfuscator.
I'm having a problem with assembly resolution on an end-user machine and I believe it's related to using Portable Class Libraries....
I have a .NET 4.0 application that was originally written in Visual Studio 2010. Recently we upgraded to Visual Studio 2012 and we've created a few projects that are Portable Class Libraries. I don't believe we need these features now, but we're also building a Windows 8 Store application that might benefit from these libraries.
When I compile my project, what exactly does the portable library feature do? I expect that it allows me to run it on different frameworks without modification or recompiling.
When I look at the library in reflector dotPeek it shows the Platform attribute as:
.NETPortable,Version=v4.0,Profile=Profile5
And the references seem 2.0-ish:
mscorlib, Version=2.0.5.0
System, Version=2.0.5.0
System.Runtime.Serialization, Version=2.0.5.0
When I run the application on this end-user's machine, I see an error in the log file:
Could not load file or assembly, 'System.Core, Version=2.0.5.0...'
Googling System.Core 2.0.5.0 seems to refer to SilverLight -- which appears to be one of the targeted frameworks.
This machine does not have Visual Studio installed, but has .NET 4.0 (4.0.3 update)
Is there something I should be doing differently to compile, something I should investigate in my dependencies or something I should be looking to install on the end-user machine? What does the 2.0.5.0 refer to?
For .NET 4, you need an update (KB2468871) for Portable Class Libraries to work. From the KB Article:
Feature 5
Changes to the support portable libraries. These changes include API
updates and binder modifications. This update enables the CLR to bind
successfully to portable libraries so that a single DLL can run on the
.NET Framework 4, on Silverlight, on Xbox, or on the Windows Phone.
This update adds public Silverlight APIs to the .NET Framework 4 in
the same location. The API signatures will remain consistent across
the platform. All modifications are 100 percent compatible and will
not break any existing code.
Also see the "Deploying A .NET Framework App" section of the MSDN Portable Class Library Documentation.
EDIT: Actually, if the machine has .NET 4.0.3 installed as you mention, that should be sufficient. Can you double-check to make sure that it is actually installed?
I have an application that consists of a client-side application and a WebApi website.
My client-side stuff is targetting .NET 4 so that I don't have to insist that users install .NET 4.5. My website, however, is entirely under my control, so I'm targetting .NET 4.5.
There is one shared assembly, which I use for data access. It uses Entity Framework 5.
When I build the client application, the DLL used is version 4.4.xxx, whereas when I build the web application, the DLL is 5.0.xxx.
Up until now, I've been able to run the client application with no problems, and I've also been able to run the web application, again without problems.
However, I've now re-created my web application project from scratch (*), and suddenly I can't run it. I get a YSOD saying "Could not load file or assembly 'EntityFramework, Version=4.4.0.0 ..." at the point where my data-access assembly is first invoked.
Now, it's perfectly clear what that error means - it can't find the v4.4 DLL as used by the data-access assembly - but I don't understand why that's a problem with my new project when it wasn't a problem with my old project. As far as I can see, the same DLLs are referenced in each project.
(*) I should explain why I'm re-creating my project. I originally created the project in VS 2012 RC, and then later upgraded to the release version. Although this supposedly upgraded my project, I've had a few problems with it, and have also noticed some differences v. a newly-created project. So, to be on the safe side - and hopefully circumvent those other problems - I'm re-creating it from scratch.
So, my question: why is this suddenly a problem, and what can I do to resolve it?
Is the code depending on the assemblies set to require the exact version? If so, you will need a publisher policy for the EntityFramework assembly or bindingRedirect for the referencing application (web project).
I have developed a Windows application in the 4.0 framework. After deploying my application I have tried to install it in a Windows XP SP2 system, but when I try it I get some kind of requirement error. So I decided to change my application from 4.0 to the 2.0 framework so that it can be installed in any windows OS. Before that I tried with 3.5 and 3.0 but the framework's setup size exceeded 200mb, so I chose 2.0 because it already comes along with windows xp or later. The problem I am having is while changing my framework from 4.0 to 2.0 i'm getting reference problems with system.core and system.linq so now I cant build my project. What needs to be done to fix these reference errors?
The problem is that System.Linq, for example, didn't exist in .NET 2. If you are using anything that required System.Linq methods (such as LINQ or any extension methods), you'll have to rewrite that portion of your code to use .NET 2 only options.
Personally, I would just target .NET 3.5sp1 or .NET 4, and include the web installer, as this is a small addition to your deployment (the 4.0 web installer is under 1mb - many installers include a way to just package this instead of the full framework). Most systems already have .NET 3.5sp1 (and many have 4.0), so the effort to include this in your deployment is typically far smaller than trying to rework your application to avoid it.
Background
We have a C++ solution that has been moved from VS2005 to VS2010 where the project files were targeting the .net framework 3.5 but since moving over to VS2010, all of the project files were showing that they were targeting the.net framework 4.0. I have since changed the .vcxproj files manually so that they are targeting the .net framework 3.5, using the method described in the Community Content on this link
The Problem
When I build these project files, manually or via an automated build, the output assemblies are still targeting the .net framework 4.0. I can tell this by using various methods described here. I also know that this is the case as I build and run the installer for this application. Once the application has been installed (which then shows as a service), I try to start the service on the target machine. This service will not start on a machine without the .net framework 4.0 installed. If 4.0 is then installed, the service will start, so this is another test that I can run that shows me that the application has a dependency on .net framework 4.0 which it should not.
The Aim
Ideally, I need to build this application so that the outputs are targeting the .net framework 3.5 instead of 4.0 so that it will actually run as it is supposed to! I have tried to use the 3.5 version of MSBuild as described in one of the answers given for this question here but got the same error that is described underneath that post.
Can anyone help with this? It's proving to be a right pain and I've been banging my head against the wall for over a week trying to get this sorted!
Thanks again in advance
Make sure you follow all the instructions as provided in the first link you posted.
For example,
Make sure you have Visual Studio 2008 installed on the build server.
Make sure you also change each project's "Platform Toolset" to v90.
Verify the project's framework version: "In Solution Explorer, right-click your project and then click Properties. In the Property Pages window, in the left pane, expand Common Properties and then select Framework and References. Verify that the new Framework version appears at the top of the right pane."