How can I set up a project in Visual Studio to copy the third-party DLLs that one of the project's references depends on?
I have a main application project and a class library DLL. The main application references the class library DLL, and the DLL itself references some third-party DLLs. When I compile the main application, it automatically copies the class library DLL to its output directory, but it does not copy the third-party DLLs.
I do not want to add references to the third-party DLLs from the main application project because the main application does not use them, they're only used by the class library.
You can achieve this with the project properties window. Visual Studio allows you to define events to occur, before, or after building. To get to the project properties window simply right-click on your project in the solution explorer window and click on 'properties'. From the left hand side go to the 'build events' tab.
In the post-build box type in a few copy commands. For example:
copy "$(SolutionDir)mydll.dll" "$(TargetDir)"
Where $(SolutionDir) and $(TargetDir) are both predefined variables. The standard syntax is as follows:
copy "source directory and file name" "destination directory"
If you click on the 'edit post build...' button it will bring up a box which has a listing of these predefined variables that you can insert (like $(SolutionDir) and $(TargetDir))
As a side note, this is a useful process for copying other files, such as custom configuration files, images, or any other dependencies your project may have.
The following fragment works for me:
<Project>
...
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="Path\to\dll\dllname.dll">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
...
</Project>
This works for C#.
For native C++ it still copy dll to output folder, but this dependency is not visible in Visual Studio, it should be edited in project file directly.
To test on non-trivial example
I tried to run C# project A which depends on native C++ project B. B projects depends on thirdparty native dll C - this dependency is implemented via fragment above in project file.
When I build A, C is copied to binary folder.
I tried it in Visual Studio 2010.
Take a look at this solution provided by Alex Yakunin
http://blog.alexyakunin.com/2009/09/making-msbuild-visual-studio-to.html
It worked for me really nicely - the scenario being DevExpress libraries expressly used had other dependencies which caused problems when deployed)
Note 1: Visual studio 2010 seems add referenced dlls automatically, however msbuild didn't. So Alex's solution worked since the release scripts used msbuild.
Note 2: Also had to make sure that for the referenced libraries (those which were referenced in code) copy-local was actually set to True in the csproj, even though the Solution Explorer said it was. The best way is to set copy-local = False, Save, set copy-local = True, Save.
These two steps - copy-local=true for referenced libraries and adding msbuild targets for the indirect references automated the build setup for me.
I would not recommend doing this. You end up with an N^2 explosion in the number of assemblies being copied around (and potentially, being rebuilt). If possible, you should have all of your projects place their assemblies in the same $(OutDir). If you're using TFS, Team Build does this for you.
I don't like to have my dependency files located in the project root folder but in a subfolder. But the files has to be placed in the root folder in the build folder.
My build events look like this:
Command: call xcopy /S /Y "$(SolutionDir)Dependencies\*.*" "$(TargetDir)"
In case "Dependencies" also contains subfolders, as mine does.
/S means to copy subfolder also
/Y means to not prompt for overwrite confirmation
Other xcopy parameters can be found at: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/xcopy
Go to the main application, references, to your class-library reference.
Set "Copy Local" to True.
It will now copy the bin directory of your class-library into the main application bin directory. Including any sub-dependency third-party dlls.
If you want to copy new file only in post-build, you can also use xcopy with flags /i /d /y
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)SubDir\*.dll" "$(TargetDir)" /i /d /y
100% sure this will work.
Just replace dll with your personal ref. file
<Reference Include="Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit">
<HintPath>..\..\..\3rdParty\Extended WPF Toolkit-2.2.1\Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit.dll</HintPath>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
</Reference>
<Content Include="..\..\..\3rdParty\Extended WPF Toolkit-2.2.1\Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit.dll">
<Link>Xceed.Wpf.Toolkit.dll</Link>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
</Content>
I'm not really aware of any way to do this other than adding a reference to said .dll in the project itself. We've run across this in some of our own projects here, and the only solution we've found is to add the reference. I want to say that one of our developers did some research and found this to be the only solution, but don't quote me on that.
Related
I've been trying for days to figure out how to get my native C++ DLL dependencies included in my ClickOnce deployment of a C# WinForms app built with VS2019. The native DLLs do not appear under Publish -> Application Files on the Properties page of the main .NET app (though the .NET DLLs do).
I've read this a hundred times:
Set the Build Action for the native DLLs to 'Content'.
... and I think I'm interpreting/doing that wrong.
Output from the native C++ projects is naturally not 'included' in any projects, (an apparent prerequisite for exposing the Build Action property,) and thus does not appear in Solution Explorer to allow me to set it to 'Content'. So I
[Solution Explorer] -> Project -> Add -> Existing Item -> [select native C++ DLL]
to add the native C++ DLLs to the Project to enable the Build Action property, which I then set to 'Content'. {Important Note: It has to be 'included' in a Project, rather than just the Solution to get a Build Action property.}
So I do that and it works, but of course I had to select a specific platform and configuration (e.g., x64 & release) of the native DLL, and this selection is fixed (not controlled by the selections in the VS2019 GUI when I build), and worse -- not even labeled as to which platform & configuration is 'included' in the project. {Side note: How did I not have to select which version (x86 vs x64) of the .NET DLLs to use under Publish -> Application Files ? It just automatically picks the right ones? How do I set up an x86 version and a x64 version that I can switch back & forth between & build each?} I cannot imagine this is the way it is supposed to be done. It is fragile and opaque. Surely there is a better way. I think I'm missing something that everyone else finds 'obvious'. Any other developer who tries to use or maintain this configuration will curse my name, and be right for doing so.
What is the 'right way' of making the ClickOnce deployment (via the VS2019 GUI) include my native DLLs (the projects for which are included in the same solution) in the ClickOnce deployment package?
Note, I found one promising setting in the Properties Page for the native C++ projects: Custom Build Setup -> General -> Treat Output as Content. But it does not seem to have any effect.
I'd be eternally grateful for any pointers.
After refining this for another day or so, I've found that the VS2019 GUI just comes up short for this purpose. The better answer is to just manually edit your .csproj file for the .NET project to Include the native DLLs as Content. Find the other elements in that project file and add the native DLLs like this:
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x64'">
<Content Include="..\bin\MyApp\x64\Release\native1.dll">
</Content>
<Content Include="..\bin\MyApp\x64\Release\native2.dll">
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86'">
<Content Include="..\bin\MyApp\x86\Release\native1.dll">
</Content>
<Content Include="..\bin\MyApp\x86\Release\native2.dll">
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
(where *..\bin\MyApp{x86|x64}{Debug|Release}* is your output folder where your native DLLs, native1.dll and native2.dll have been copied, post-compile, to be used by your .NET app, MyApp.exe). Of course the x86 folder contains the 32-bit native DLLs, the x64 folder contains the 64-bit native DLLs, etc. - you know the drill.
No confusing extra links and whatnot to clutter up the solution/project, and the .dll files appear where they are supposed to, rather than in separate child sub-directories.
Of course you could add additional elements for the remaining conditions -- namely the debug builds, but who wants ClickOnce deployments for debug versions? You're probably running those directly from Visual Studio, right?
Adapted from here :
Compile your solution.
Right click on the managed project and select "Add/Existing Item". Do not use "Add Reference".
Navigate to your compiled native DLL and select it (adjust file types as needed to expose it).
Click on the down arrow in the "Add" split button and select "Add As Link" (this allows us to not keep multiple copies of the DLLs floating around).
Right click on that freshly added file and select "Properties".
Make sure "Build Action" is "Content" and "Copy To Output Directory" is set to "Do not copy" (since you already automated that task elsewhere, long before getting to the deployment stage of development).
Note that you'll get a 'File Not Found' error upon initial build after a proper cleaning of all output folders, but the native DLL will be created anyway, preempting that error on the next full build.
On the Properties page for the .NET app, do Publish -> Application Files -> Reset All to populate the native DLLs into the list. Adjust 'Publish Status' et. al. as needed.
Publish.
I found that I can maintain a 'virtual' folder structure in the project to store the links to the various versions (e.g., x86 vs. x64 and debug vs. release) of the native DLLs without cluttering up the file system, (and to ensure the DLLs aren't stale): Add the folder structure (e.g., ".\NativeDLLs\x64\Release", etc.) via the Solution Explorer, and add Links only (no real files) to the folders. Then delete the folders from the file system using Windows Explorer or shell commands. They will remain in Solution Explorer after deletion from the file system because they still contain the links.
The hierarchy of those virtual folders now exists only in the project file ([appname.csproj]) as Content elements (containing the Links) within Item Group elements (which seems to be the key to getting them to appear in the ClickOnce deployment world).
One pointer (for myself) that would have helped: Don't be afraid to hit the Reset All button on the Publish -> Application Files dialog.
I have a Visual Studio solution with the project I am working on (main project). The solution references a different project that main project requires as a dependency (dependency project).
The solution and the main project are located in one directory:
/mycode/main_project/main_project.sln
/mycode/main_project/main_project.csproj
The dependency project is located in a different directory:
/mycode/dependency_project/dependency_project.csproj
Both of these projects are under source control. I want to create some kind of configuration file for main project that is not under source control, so that another developer could clone both projects wherever they want and simply edit a non-source-controlled configuration file to allow the main project's solution to locate dependency project.
Currently, main solution locates dependency project using a relative path:
../dependency_project/dependency_project.csproj
If I enforce that all developers should clone these two projects to the same directory, the main solution will successfully link to the dependency project and everything will be happy. However, I would prefer that another developer can place the dependency project wherever they want.
Does Visual Studio 2019 Community support any kind of solution configuration file which could be kept ignored by version control and used to resolve the path to the dependency project?
Solution files are very primitive and do not offer such a dynamic functionality. However, if you don't need dependency_project to show up in the IDE, you can still reference it from main_project.csproj and that does give you more options. It should still build fine even if the project doesn't show up in Solution Explorer.
For example, you could reference it through an environment variable, with a default expected path if that variable isn't set:
<PropertyGroup>
<DependencyProjectPath Condition=" '$(DependencyProjectPath)' == ''>../dependency_project/dependency_project.csproj</DependencyProjectPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectReference Include="$(DependencyProjectPath)" />
</ItemGroup>
If you set the DependencyProjectPath environment variable before opening the solution (because VS inherits the environment variables from where it was launched), it will override the default setting here (based on the Condition attribute).
We have several external DLL files being referenced in our Web Application Project. We have a deployment project for installing on the hosting servers. When we were using .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 the DLL files were being copied to the bin folder. Since we have upgraded to .NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010 this no longer happens, and we are getting server errors since the references cannot be found.
CopyLocal is set to true, and I cannot find anything inside the web.config which suggests this is being set elsewhere.
There is a bug in Visual Studio 2010. By default the XML in the solution file looks like this:
<Reference Include="DevExpress.SpellChecker.v11.1.Core,
Version=11.1.5.0,
Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b88d1754d700e49a,
processorArchitecture=MSIL">
<HintPath>..\References\DevExpress.SpellChecker.v11.1.Core.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
Whereas MSBuild is expecting this below, so that the DLL file will be included in the deployment:
<Reference Include="DevExpress.SpellChecker.v11.1.Core,
Version=11.1.5.0,
Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b88d1754d700e49a,
processorArchitecture=MSIL">
<HintPath>..\References\DevExpress.SpellChecker.v11.1.Core.dll</HintPath>
<Private>True</Private>
</Reference>
The trick is to set Copy Local to False, save the project and then reset it to True - save again. This includes the Private node correctly, which MSBuild respects.
It appears that the default for no included private node (Copy Local) in Visual Studio 2010 is True, while MSBuild reads that missing node as False.
I was getting the same problem and rather than add a "BeforeBuild" step I created a test that simply did this
[TestMethod]
public void ReferenceAssemblyThatDoesNotCopyToBuildFolder()
{
Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.Logging.LoggingExceptionHandler referenceThisButDoNotUseIt = null;
}
And that fixed the error The type 'Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.Logging.LoggingExceptionHandler...' cannot be resolved
Something weird had happened to my deployment project. When I saw it had no detected dependencies, I removed the primary output and re-added it.
The dependencies are now showing up and being placed in the bin folder when installed.
I was getting exactly the same issue. We have a Visual Studio 2008 project which references the EnterpriseLibrary. When we run our integrated build using TFS and our Web deployment project, all the DLL files are copied over. When we upgraded to Visual Studio 2010, TFS 2010 and WDP 2010, some of the DLL file's were missing. Strangely, this only occurs to some DLL files and not others.
For example, we get the Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.dll copied in both cases, but not the Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.ExceptionHandling.Logging.dll.
As a workaround I copied the files accross using a "BeforeBuild" step.
It now seems to build OK.
I just had the same issue and wanted to share what I found as it might help someone:
The reason in my case was that the assembly was installed in the GAC during an installation of some third-party application.
If the DLL file is in the GAC, the compiler won't bother to copy it to the destination folder, unless you specifically mark it for "copy local" using the "Private" node in the project file as mentioned by Junto.
The thing is that if you don't add that node, and you develop on one machine and build on a different one, and the DLL file is only in the GAC of the build machine, the default behavior without the private node will cause the file to be copied correctly on the development machine, but not on the build machine.
The bigger problem is if the DLL file is not referenced directly, but the project references a second project that in turn references the DLL file. In that case, you cannot mark the DLL file to be "copy local" in the project, as it is not referenced by it. So if the DLL file exists in the GAC - it won't get copied to your output folder.
Possible solutions to this case are:
Uninstall the DLL file from the GAC
Add a direct reference to the DLL file in the end project(s)
Re-sign the DLL file with a new strong name, which will differentiate it from the DLL file in the GAC.
I am not sure how it was set up in Visual Studio 2008, but I am almost positive that you might have been using the Post-Build event command line. In there you can tell to copy the DLL files you need for deployment. An example is given below:
mkdir $(SolutionDir)\Deployment
copy "$(SolutionDir)Your_Library_Name\Your_Dll_ForDeployement.dll"
$(SolutionDir)\Deployment\
I didn't meet the same problem but similar. I had WPF main project and referenced project where the referenced did not copy. I found that in my case the main project was set for NET 4.0 Client Profile and the referenced for NET 3.5. When I set the main project to 3.5 the compiled dll of the referenced project started to copy.
(I don't know why because I solved it by practice)
I too ran into a similar issue where referenced dlls were not copied into the bin in published folder. I was using a TFS checked out copy that didn't include the bin folder into the application.
-> So just included the bin folder.
-> Built the referenced applications
-> Published the website project
Now I see all the referenced dlls in bin in the published folder
I had a similar issue with VS 2012 Express. I used Tesseract libraries in my project. Everything worked well until I used this project in a solution where were more than one project. Problem was that some DLLs (liblept168.dll, libtesseract302.dll) that are normally placed in folders bin/debug/x86 or bin/debug/x64 were copied only when I rebuilt whole solution.
Changing a single line and building it again caused that the DLLs were deleted and not copied back.
I solved this issue by adding a reference of the project that creates missing DLLs to the startup project.
rzen and others, thanks - your comments led to a solution for us.
We have a project that targets version 10 of the Microsoft.ReportViewer.Common.dll and Microsoft.ReportViewer.WebForms.dll assemblies (separate "libs" folder we created at the 'src' level). But when we did a build, the output included version 12, which was recently installed on the build server.
Using comments here, we ensured that 'Copy Local' was set to True and that the flag was set in the project file. However, it was still deploying version 12. So what we found that did the trick was ensuring that the 'Specific Version' property was also set on the two references. Voila, version 10 of each file is now being deployed!
There was much rejoicing.
JH
If your project does not directly load the library, it won't always be deployed, even if it is referenced explicitly! I got confused because I could see it in a local Bin directory but not when deployed. The dll in the Bin directory was an old file that wasn't removed during Clean which is why I was confused.
A full clean and rebuild and it wasn't in my local Bin folder either which showed me the problem (I only use it in web.config). I then referenced the dll file itself in the project and set it to copy to output to make sure it gets deployed.
We can use the <Private>False</Private> to not to copy the referenced DLL files to the bin directory. This is useful when we are building applications in a separate TFS build server where we need to build the application and not to copy the DLL files to the bin directory.
Check the framework of the project in which the DLL file has been referenced. The framework should be .NET 4.0. Please correct it if the framework is Client Profile.
Adding the parameter
/deployonbuild=false
to the msbuild command line fixed the issue.
Got a similar issue when upgrading old WebSites into WebApplications.
The "Clean Solution" command would wipe out all external DLL files I purposely left in my bin folders.
Besides, it was not possible to bring those DLL back automatically simply by referencing them all, since many of them have the same file name (it happens when you work with many language specific resources)
Like stevie_c did, I took advantage of the Pre-Build command, but made it simpler:
I just used a xcopy command in the Pre-Build operation of the WebApplication project's properties. This way I could bring over the necessary external DLL files just before the build would start.
I need some help regarding Visual Studio solution and project organization.
I have a solution with several projects. All of them are written in C# and are compiled as libraries to be used by the GUI. Some of these libraries have also dependencies with others. For example, TestExecutive needs LoggingFramework, Communications needs LoggingFramework too.
Which is the best way of organizing? I'm thinking on a folder assemblies to hold libraries' binaries in one place. Something like:
Solution
|
|-- TestExecutive
|-- LoggingFramework
|-- assemblies
There is also another problem. One of the projects uses a native C dll. Where do I have to place this library? With the librarie's assembly or with the final executable?
EDIT:
Ok, now suppose I have the WinForms program running. I have source code and binaries mixed. Which features do I need to generate something I can distribute? I mean, with all the libraries and configuration files, but without source code. I have done this before with Nullsoft installer, but I don't know if visual studio can help you doing that.
A few things here:
When one project depends on another, you can set up that dependency in Visual Studio. Right click on a project and select Project Dependencies...
For other .NET assemblies that are NOT part of your solution (3rd party tools, etc.) I do exactly what you showed here -- I have a separate folder parallel to the projects. Then I set up the assembly reference in each of the projects with "Copy Local" set to true and it works fine.
For native C dlls, it's a little different. There is no direct reference to them in the references section of the solution explorer. The compiler isn't going to look at the dll to check your p/invoke references or anything like that. You just need to make sure the dll is part of the deployment on your top level web or winforms project. It's a content file just like a css file or image or something. Just add it as a file in the project and make sure the "Build Action" is set to Content so Visual studio knows to just copy the file as part of the deployment
I set my solution folders up a bit differently than you. At the top level I have the following folders:
\build
\lib
\src
The build folder has build scripts (NAnt, MSBuild, etc). Any 3rd party assemblies (or anything I'm not building in the solution) get put into the lib folder, in an appropriate sub-folder. For example, I'll have log4net, NUnit, RhinoMocks folders in the lib folder, each containing the files needed for that dependency. The src folder has the solution and all project files.
I like this structure because it clearly delineates between the project code and the other stuff that is required by the project. Also, I usually set up some custom build tasks to copy the resulting assemblies for my project into either a \deploy or \lib\ folder. This way you don't have to hunt in the \src\\bin\\ folder to get a built assembly or the whole project; however this seems a bit beyond the scope of your question.
Btw... I didn't come up with this structure on my own, I think I started off using Tree Surgeon and evolved my process from there.
I am looking for best practice in building multiple visual basic projects(all dll's).We have multiple projects, and our final deliverable will be a dll.Now, one project uses 2 other projects, and another refers to another project.Should projects reference the vbp files, or the dll? If they reference vbp files, how to build all the projects?
After some years with VB6, our projects tended to be structured like this:
All project source (project and source) organized under the source folder.
\project\source
\project\source\project1\
\project\source\project2\
...
All binaries (.dll and .exe) in one bin folder.
\project\bin\
All .dll set as binary compatible with resulting file in the single bin diretory.
After initial build to make the binarycomptible stable, every non breaking build would
be done by using a simple command file build.cmd placed in the folder above the source folder, maybe like this:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\VB6.EXE" /M .\source\project1\proj1.vbp
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\VB6.EXE" /M .\source\project2\proj2.vbp
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98\VB6.EXE" /M .\source\project3\proj3.vbp
del .\\bin\\*.exp
del .\\bin\\*.lib
The build order must be in the order of dependance.
Whenever a breaking change occured, the dependant VB project must be refrenced to the new binary.
Without breaking changes, the build.cmd usually did the job.
Unless you are specifically managing the type libraries externally from VB, you should use project references. If you reference the files, and you modify the public interface in various ways VB will generate new id's for various pieces in the typelibrary which will result in type mismatch errors.
You can use the Preserve Compatability settings to help alleviate this. Make sure your using at least project level (If your doing COM+ then you'll want binary the one based on an already compiled version of the dll)
As for compiling, you can compile a solution file (been a long time since I even had Vb6 installed but I think they were .vbg files).
Back in the day we used Visual Build, and also Visual Make which supported compiling the solution files.
You compile each project separately starting at the lowest level and working your way up the chain.
The big problem of builds with VB6 generally goes back to compatibility issues. The worst case compatibility problems the fix goes something likes this
Build A (with A being the one all the others reference)
Copy A into the compatibility directory
Build B that reference A
Copy B into the compatibility directory
Build C that references B and A
Copy C into the compatibility directory.
and so on.
This is because the typelibs of the COM DLL uses INCLUDE to add in the typelibs of the projects they reference. You can see the Type Libs of a VB6 COM DLL by using the OLE View tool that comes with Visual Studio 6.0.
Many times adding methods or properties will cause the DLL to fail to compile because MS Method of setting up the Typelibs renders them not binary compatible. This fails when the addition is otherwise permitted under the rules of binary compatibility.
The solution that works 90% of the time is to always put the newest version of the DLLs being reference in the compatibility directory.
Once you have a good set you can have a automated builder use it to build the project automatically.
Note that this issues occurs only when you add something that other DLLs reference and they need to maintain binary compatibility.
You need a system of making sure everybody has the correct set of compatibility DLLs to build against.