MonoDevelop - Bug with SmartAssembly - mono

I have my dlls (.NET4) build with msbuild and obfuscated with SmartAssembly 5.5.
After that i set them with reference for simple console application in the MonoDevelop (latest) on Mac (10.8).
Built ok, but when i ran that simple app, i have a message:
Unknown heap type: SmartAssembly
I asked SA support but no luck yet (the saproj have item blabla(supports Mono) checked.
I dont see how to attach a screenshot, but, when i run my application i see in the console that message twice. It appears before program stops on the breakpoint on the first line of code.
So maybe someone knows what to change in SmartAssembly or in MonoDevelop to remove this problem ? Thanks

Many .NET obfuscators change the assemblies such that they are not technically correct assemblies (they fall outside the .NET assembly specs) but such that they still run on the Microsoft .NET runtime by exploiting bugs specific to Microsoft's implementation. I suspect they do this to make it harder for assembly reader tools/libraries to load the assemblies. Unfortunately, this also prevents Mono runtime from loading the assemblies. In general Mono has a policy of not "fixing" support for this kind of invalid obfuscated code, so you'll need to ask SmartAssembly support for help.
If you're certain you're compiling with SmartAssembly's "Strictly valid" option and it's not working, perhaps you could perhaps try their "Basic" option.

Related

Compile Solution without DLL's Visual Studio Managed C++

I'm very new at C++ Managed and Visual Studio keep this in mind. Ive programmed an application that makes it easy for users to bind keys in counterstrike, found here:
https://sites.google.com/site/intrepidprojects/
The first error I ran into with my friends testing the program was "msvcr120D.dll is missing". Which lead me to finding that I have to set the runtime library to Multi-threaded (/MTd), if I don't want the users to download the Visual Studio c++ dll's . When I choose this option I was given the error that /MTd and /clr are incompatible. So I turned the common runtime support to no support. Now all of the namespaces are invalid such as 'System', 'Collections', etc.
My question is how do I produce a stand alone application without needing the dll's? Every solution I have come across leads me to more errors I do not understand.
Again, the language I am using is c++/cli. Sorry If I am not using the proper lingo to communicate my errors I am teaching this on my own.I am aware that this question has been asked many times before, but the answers are not leading me to solutions.
My question is how do I produce a stand alone application without needing the dll's? basically: you don't. Just have them install the CRT runtime - the'll need it anyway sooner or later as you're not the only one writing programs targetting that toolset (btw, you tagged the question VS2012 but those dlls are normally for VS2013?). As an alternative you could look for all the needed dlls (msvcr120.dll, msvcp120.dll etc, use Dependency Walker) on your filesystem and put them in the same directory as your executable, that works as well because of how the path is searched for dlls. But it's a bit messy.
Furtermore missing msvcr120D means you are building your project with the Debug configuration (that is what the D stands for), but you should build with Release configuration when shipping to users as the runtime installer only installs release versions.
Select MT without DLL in VC++/C Code generation section in solution properties. Worked for me.

What does "Predefined type 'System.TypedReference' is not defined or imported" mean on Metro project?

I am currently converting a library to be a Metro library for Windows 8. I've created a brand new project in Visual Studio 2012 using the "Class Library (Windows Store apps)" C# Template. I've been adding a lot of files and working through the compile errors, but the one that's confusing me is:
Error 2 Predefined type 'System.TypedReference' is not defined or
imported CSC MyNewProject
The "CSC" appears under the "File" column. Double-clicking the error does nothing. Googling only gives me this:
Do not specify the /nostdlib option from the command line compiler.
Make sure that the project refers to the correct mscorlib.dll.
Reinstall the .NET Framework common language runtime (if the previous
solutions do not solve the problem).
(source http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f5c3ehka.aspx)
I'm not using a command line compiler, I don't know how to include or exclude mscorlib - because unlike previous .NET apps in Visual Studio, the only thing my project references is ".NET for Windows Store apps" and "Windows" (something I'm still getting used to).
Any thoughts/advise on this?
That Object is not available or has been relocated for the new ARM .NET architecture.
Here is the Full API for you to search, I would of searched for it, but it is missing a search func.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br211369.aspx
For anyone else who encounters this, I experienced this while I was converting a project to run on metro. I continued to fix other issues (at the time this was one of hundreds of errors) and eventually this just simply disappeared. My plan was to eventually compare this to a new metro project in a text editor once I fixed all the other errors, but it solved itself before that could happen.

Compilation errors with ImageResizer 3.2.1

After allowing Nuget to update ImageResizer 3.1.5 to version 3.2.1 my compiles are failing with multiple errors (all same type):
Error 5 Missing compiler required member 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute..ctor'
Apparently this is the result of an assembly version mismatch. Deleting all ImageResizer references in the project allows an error-free compile.
Reverting to ImageResizer 3.1.5 also allows a successful compilation.
My project is a simple MVC3 application targeting .NET4 - both ImageResizer 3.1.5 and 3.2.1 are targeting v2.0.50727
Any ideas on how this could be fixed?
Thanks in anticipation!
Update (Jun 20th 2012): The best solution is for the project to roll back extension method support. ImageResizer 3.2.2 will no longer offer extension methods, but some of the functionality will be duplicated in the ResizeSettings and Instructions classes to minimize breakage for those who have already coded against the new alpha APIs.
ImageResizer V4 will most likely require .NET 3.5, and will re-introduce the missing features.
Update: please see this question instead if you have any solutions to this catch-22.
I apologize for the issues.
I'm still trying to gather data and discover a long-term solution, but this is what I have so far:
Workaround A:
In Solution Explorer, expand the References folder in your project, select ImageResizer, and go to Properties. Change the Aliases field from 'global' to 'ir'.
Workaround B:
Set your project to use .NET 2.0, save, then revert it back to using .NET 3.5 or .NET 4.
Workaround C:
Manually remove your System.Core reference and add the correct one back. (The usual culprit is an upgraded project with a System.Core 3.0 reference in a 3.5 project). On ASP.NET, you can do this in web.config.
Workaround D:
Revert to 3.2.0, but only if you're using C#.
Why this is happening
VisualStudio/MSBuild find multiple definitions of System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute in the project during compilation, but instead of picking the public copy defined in System.Core, the compiler decides to use the internal, assembly-local copy defined in ImageResizer.dll. Then it complains because other assemblies can't reach it. Inane.
What should happen
Microsoft has used this technique several times in the past without issues, and it's widely documented. The compiler is supposed to pick the public instance for project-wide use, but instead it's picking the 'internal' copy. And this isn't affecting many developers; and only a few can reproduce it with a new project.
Public vs. Internal
V2.3.0 defined ExtensionAttribute as public instead of internal. This caused a compile-timer error in VB projects, but not in C# projects. I immediately released 2.3.1 with it marked internal, but I'm now seeing problems with C# projects instead. Catch-22 here.
It works for other people... and Microsoft! Why me?
http://www.danielmoth.com/Blog/Using-Extension-Methods-In-Fx-20-Projects.aspx
http://www.codethinked.com/using-extension-methods-in-net-20
http://kohari.org/2008/04/04/extension-methods-in-net-20/
Using extension methods in .NET 2.0?
The 'hack' was even featured in MSDN magazine.
How you can help
I need more data to completely figure this out. If you're experiencing the issue, please e-mail a .zip file of the project to support#imageresizing.net, and include your VisualStudio/.NET version numbers (Go to Visual Studio, Help, About, and click Copy Info, then paste it into the e-mail).
Hopefully I'll be able to find the exact circumstance(s) that trigger the problem.
Update - just found this article which implies the only solution is creating multiple versions of the assembly. But Microsoft didn't! What am I missing? Also, NuGet doesn't support 2.0 vs 3.5 versioning, so unless I can find a single-assembly solution I might have to drop 2.0 support.

Strong name validation failed on VB.NET Assembly

I have a VB.Net 1.1 application works just fine after compiling in Visual Studio. However, I want to use ILMerge to combine all the referenced assemblies into a single executable just to make it easier to move around. After I send it through ILMerge and try to run it I get the error
"Strong name validation failed for assembly.exe" .....
But none of my stuff is strong named! I saw this post here: Strong Name Validation Failed and tried running it through 'sn.exe -Vr merged.exe' but that gives me this error:
"merged.exe does not represent a strongly named assembly"
Has anyone else had this problem before? How do I fix it?
UPDATE:
I'm starting to feel like Strong name validation isn't the real problem here. I'm building against .NET v1.1 and running on a machine where that is the only .NET version installed (happens to be Windows 2003). The merged executable appears to die with that error on every Windows 2003 machine I try, but if I try to run it on a more modern OS (Vista) it at least starts, but that's not really a good test since the environment isn't fit for a real test.
I have verified that my app.config has the correct settings (specifying required and supported runtime version of v1.1.4322)
I use the /targetplatform:v1.1 option when running my assemblies through ILMerge.
ILMerge is definitely causing the problem (i.e. it works fine before I merge), I just don't know how to fix it.
I had to find and download a very old version of ILMerge (v1.1) in order for my merged binary to work; there must be a bug in the way the current ILMerge application builds .NET 1.1 assemblies. Thankfully we had one internally because I would probably have never found it online.

MonoDevelop: error VBNC99999

hope someone is using Mono & monodevelop...
i'm getting the following error when i try to compile an ASP.NET apps ported from vs.net 2008
Error VBNC99999: Unexpected error: The classes in the module cannot be loaded. (VBNC99999)
This is the only error i get.
I'm using 4 external assembly / dll
AjaxControlToolkit.dll
FusionCharts.dll
MySql.Data.dll
PostBackRitalin.dll
I've added the dll in bin directory, then i've referenced it.
I'm using Mono, because on my "old" computer (acer aspire t2300 buyed in 2007) run with linux & with monodevelop very well.
With windows, visual studio is reeeeeeally slow.. so i decide to pass to mono..
Can somenone know something about that error ?
Thank you very much. Regards !
I can guess a few possible reasons, though it's hard to be sure without more info.
The Mono VB.NET compiler is only a VB8 compiler (VS2005), so if you're using VB9 features that might explain the problem.
One of the libraries you're using might be a mixed-mode binary, and contain native Windows code.
You might have found a bug in the VB compiler. If you think this is the case, you should file a bug report.
Beware that Mono's VB.NET compiler is nowhere near as actively developed and tested as the C# one, and MonoDevelop doesn't have code completion or refactoring for VB either. I generally recommend that VB devs compile on Windows and copy the binaries over to Linux, or learn C#...