CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#dll
Igavshne
Igavshne

Reputation: 697

Installation of dll's into GAC

I would like to have a smooth and efficient installation of the solution, but what I "inherited" is very far from that, and the guy who programmed most of it has left the company.

At present I am trying to install it on a test-server, and not all the dll's land in the correct places after the installation.

Firstly, if I use log4net in a project, then I need the log4net.dll in the folder after the installation (I guess). How do I get the log4net.dll to be copied with the project dll?

Secondly, Project A expects Project C's dll to be in the GAC or so it seems when I debug in Visual Studio and check where the modules are loaded from. I also see that this is entered in the post build event commandline of Project A:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\x64\GacUtil.exe" -i "$(TargetPath)" copy "$(TargetPath)" "C:\Program Files\MySolution\bin"

So how do I get Project C's dll into the GAC by way of the installation? I get an error on the Test Server because it can't load C.dll.

UPDATE WITH MORE DETAIL

After the solution has been installed with Windows Installer, a few folders are created in the parent folder such as Apps, bin, Engines, Service etc.

In the Apps folder, I have A.exe, which is looking for C.dll. However, C.dll lands up in the bin folder. As mentioned above, during execution of A.exe, it actually loads the modules of C.dll from the GAC (and on my laptop, those files are in the GAC because of the post-build event command line specified in the properties of Project C, but not in the GAC of the Test Server to which I am trying to install this solution).

So yes, I assume I could run something like this:

gacutil -i C.dll

after the installation, but it doesn't seem right.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1375

Answers (2)

Igavshne
Igavshne

Reputation: 697

I found what I was looking for! Select the Setup project, then go to the menu "View" -> Editor -> File System. It seems you can specify where the dlls must go, and what should be copied to the GAC during installation.

Upvotes: 0

Martin Noreke
Martin Noreke

Reputation: 4136

There are two parts to your question relating to the GAC, and ensuring DLLs are copied.

GAC

Check out this link (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dkkx7f79%28v=vs.110%29.aspx) from MSDN on how to install into the GAC. The key thing is it must be strongly named or it will fail.

DDLs

Depending on how you are referencing Log4Net, there are a few ways to do this.

  • If you can add a reference in your project, make sure the property CopyLocal is set to true
  • If you just have the file locally, you can add it to a sub folder of your project with a symbolic link (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/306234), and then set the CopyToOutputDirectory property.

Hopefully these help you along.

Upvotes: 2

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