i added itextsharp.dll to my project. it is on my desktop. everything compiles and works fine. if i install my application on another computer it is looking for the same file itextsharp.dll on the users desktop.
how do i make it so that the DLL is built in to the project??
What's with the Desktop now?!
Bundle all your deployable assemblies in the same output folder as your application's main assembly.
While creating the Setup...I am assuming your using MS project setup..make sure all the deployables point to a common folder target.
I don't understand your fixation with Desktop...pls let me know if that is some sort of requirement.
The only thing that is usually deployed onto Desktop is the App's Shortcut.
Make sure that when you add the DLL to your project, you set 'Copy Local' to true. That way, the DLL will get copied to the 'bin' folder of your application rather than the original location of the DLL.
Related
I am writing a commercial application in VB.Net using VS2010. My application needs to access a MySQL database. So I have a reference to MySQL.Data.dll in the "References" section of my Project. For licensing reasons, I want to make sure that this dll file is not embedded in my application. From what I read, if I set the "copy local" property to False, then the file is not copied and I need to specifically copy it to my bin directory. So I set it to False and built my project. When I run it, I can still connect to the MySQL database even though the dll is not in the bin directory. To me this indicates that it is being compiled with the build. However, the reference points to a location on my hard drive where the original MySQL.data.dll resides. Could it still find it there when the program is run?
How can I make sure it is not getting compiled? Thanks.
By the way, it is not in the GAC (I checked using gacutil.exe)
If you're referring to having the actual assembly embedded into yours, then no it does not. It can be done, but it does not happen out of the box.
The application looks at many places for your references when it needs to load it.
GAC
Next to the application (maybe also the consuming assembly)
x64 and x86 folders next to the application (maybe also the consuming assembly)
Any paths specified in the app.config/web.config for the referenced assembly.
Keep in mind that just because your application fired up, it doesn't mean it found all of the references. It more than likely hasn't loaded all of them yet as it will only do it once it is needed.
I've made a simple calculator. My VB.Net (WinForm) App is inside Bin\Debug.
I have some files. These are the files:
AppName.exe
AppName.pdb
AppName.vshost.exe
AppName.vshost.exe.manifest
AppName.xml
What I want to do is to run my app on another computer. I've installed the right
Framework, in this case is 4.0
Could anybody help me telling me if I've got to copy all files (to the other computer) to run my app, or just the AppName.exe is enough?
Build your application in Release mode and then copy the contents of bin\Release to the other computer. Create a shortcut on the new computer to AppName.exe and rename it to an appropriate name if you wish.
Note: Building in Release mode does not include the .pdb files, which are necessary for proper debugging and it also optimizes the compiled code.
I wrote a program in VB.NET which uses several .dlls that I programed in c++. The dlls wrap some functions from an old version of the program. On my development computer everything works fine but I build a release version, copy it and the dlls onto the target machine and the .exe starts up fine. When the program tries to use a function from the .dll it throws an exception and says "unable to load DLL "c:/the path/my.dll" the specified module can't be found."
I don't know if it makes any difference, but I am defining the dll functions in the main vb project using:
Declare Function MyFunction Lib "c:/the path/my.dll" (ByVal in1 as Double, ByRef out1 as Double) as Integer
I have checked the .net framework on the target and version 4 seems to be installed same as the development computer. Both are windows XP machines. I have no idea if it is the way I programmed the .dlls or just something with my vb.net project. Any help is appreciated.
Use a path relative to your executable, rather than an absolute path.
Or, even better, don't use the path at all and just list the name of the dll file. Then add the dlls as resources to your project. You should then be able to easily bundle the inside your setup project and they'll automatically end up in the right place for both debugging and deployment.
If I am not mistaken, you want your application to function with all the .dll files you used and worked on your machine. The simplest thing to do is to publish your Program or application. But first, you have to follow the following steps in order to include all the .dll files that you want your published program to use.
Click the Project tab and select the Add References… menu.
from the opened new window, use the Browse… tab to locate the files you want to add to your project, then click Add.
Then from the project menu, select your project property: for example, if your project is named Johns_App, then in the project tab, you will find Johns_App Properties. Click this, and it will take you to a new window.
In this new window, click the Publish tab, then from the Application Files… tab, you can check, include, and exclude the project files. Then you are all set.
I suggest using the Publish Wizard…, as it will guide you step by step.
Hope this helps
Found a link to a CodeProject page which referenced this same problem.
Basically you need to check that all dependencies of the DLL file(s) are available in the running location. Using the Microsoft Dependency Walker led me to the solution that one of the dll files used in my VB application was referencing a different dll file. After placing that other DLL with other run files no more error!
Is it possible to create a VB.Net application which users can just run without installing it first.
If not, is it possible in another .Net language.
If not, how IS it possible :)
PS: The application only has to run under Windows (>= XP).
If they have the .NET Framework installed (the version of it that you developed it), they only need the .exe. You can find the .exe file in the bin directory of your projects folder in your Visual Studio workspace.
If they do not have the framework installed, you'll need to produce an installation for them. It's extremely easy with Visual Studio by just creating a setup project in the same solution as your code.
As long as the user has the .net runtime installed, and your exe has any needed resources in the same folder (dll's, images, ect) theres no problem with that.
If you mean without installing the .net framework though, that won't be possible.
just build the program, and go into the (assuming the project name is app1) app1/app1/bin/debug/ dir. there should be a file there called app1.exe. this file is the compiled .exe from you project. any other computer will be able to run this without doing any installation (provided they have the .NET framework installed (it comes standard on any computer with an os > WinXP))
EDIT: If you were building with debug configuration, it would be app1/app1/bin/debug/, but if you were building with release configuration (which would probably be a better idea if you are distributing) the path would be app1/app1/bin/release/
If you mean running it without the .NET Framework, it used to be possible, but apparently the company's website is no longer in English so I have no idea what's happened to it.
EDIT: If you were building with debug configuration, it would be
app1/app1/bin/debug/, but if you were building with release
configuration (which would probably be a better idea if you are
distributing) the path would be app1/app1/bin/release/
I am developer and have no administration rights to live(production) network.
I had to find away to deploy an app without installation... and my app is self updating this cause other problems too....
The production network Computer check/monitors the file versions etc, so updating in the program files can not be done, where a MSI has been used for deployment.
Using this above I am able to copy and Run the App from the User Profile (where the user has full rights).
lets understand how program runs-
an .exe needs some function which are not inside the .exe, such as , for example substring() function. these predefined function resides in some .dll libraries.
when .exe is executed by user, .exe first finds the .dll and then the function inside that particular .dll.
.exe first looks within the current folder for that .dll
if not found then it searches that in PATHs. (PATH is Environment variable which value is a list of folders such as System32 etc.)
an .exe usually needs only 3 things - .exe itself, .dll which predefined function it is using, and some ActiveX controls(.ocx). apart from these 3, .exe only uses resources (such as icons etc).
lets focus on these 3(.exe, .dll, .ocx)
first you need to check what .dlls your .exe is using. you can easiely do this by using a dependency walker.
then make sure all these .dlls (that dependency walker is showing,or in other words- all these dlls whose functions your .exe needs) are either in current folder(in which your .exe resides) or in the PATHs.
if this step is done then your .exe has high chances to run whithout "installing".
the only problem is that some .dll and all of .ocx, needs to be registered first(means they have to have some kind of registry entry). they are not ready to use just by copying and pasting in current folder or PATHs.
but you can register these .dlls and .ocx's by using regsvr32 (with command line).
after that your .exe should not face any problem to run successfully.
hope you got the main concept.
i am try to develop a small application.
Now should i organize my 3rd party dll libraries so that when i publish the project and than install that application on another computer all the libraries should move with installer...
That's what the bin folder is for. Just an FYI though, I've noticed DLLs not ending up there before and I'm like what did I do wrong?
Expand References in the Solution Explorer
Right-Click on your DLL and select properties
Make sure it says "Copy Local", I had one that wasn't showing up and it said false.