how to embed reference dll file?

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I have two projects in the same solution. Project A needs to refer to Project B.

In Project A debug folder, there is a dll file generated from Project B.

Project A.exe runs fine if it is in the same fold as this dll file, but it will get an error massage, “Unhandled exception……Could not load file or assembly……”, if I move Project A.exe to another location without moving this dll file together.

Questions: is there a way to “embed” (I am not sure about this term) Project B dll file into Project A.exe, so I don’t need to keep them together all the time?

Thanks for your answer or hint:)

Posted 5-Jun-13 5:27am

fishcosine

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 5-Jun-13 11:49am

First of all, you should understand that EXEs and DLLs are not essential to .NET. There are modules and assemblies.
—SA

fishcosine 8-Jun-13 23:36pm

Thank you both for the answers!!

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Thomas Daniels · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-05T05:37:00

Solution 1

Hi,

Yes, it's possible.
Use ILMerge:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/mbarnett/ILMerge.aspx[^]
Merging .NET assemblies using ILMerge[^]
You can download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17630[^]

Posted 5-Jun-13 5:37am

Thomas Daniels

Comments

CHill60 5-Jun-13 11:39am

I like that! My +5

Thomas Daniels 5-Jun-13 11:42am

Thank you!

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 5-Jun-13 11:46am

Right idea, a 5.
(I'm not sure if OP really needs it, but that's certainly a solution.)
—SA

Thomas Daniels 5-Jun-13 11:51am

Thank you!

CHill60 · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-05T05:38:00

Solution 2

Instead of "moving" an exe around create a deployment package that contains all the dependent stuff you need (this might include config files and other resources for example).

Here's a starting point on deployment topics[^]
Another one to watch out for is on the properties for references like this ensure that Copy Local = True is set

Posted 5-Jun-13 5:38am

CHill60

Comments

Thomas Daniels 5-Jun-13 11:43am

Deployment is a good idea, my 5!

CHill60 5-Jun-13 11:48am

Thank you! Folks are going to think we're each other's sock puppet if we keep this up ;-p

Thomas Daniels 5-Jun-13 11:50am

:laugh:

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 5-Jun-13 11:48am

Yes, the point is: maybe OP does not really need to merge the assemblies to have a single module. My 5 suggesting to consider the alternative.
The problem of merging can be resolved according to Solution 1.
—SA

fishcosine 8-Jun-13 23:37pm

Thank you both for the answers!!