How to publish a windows forms application

Question

I just finished a calculator on c# (windows form). How can I open only the windows form to use my program? I mean that everyone could open it without all parts of the project? I know ho to do it on .exe files once they are compiled but not on forms. I am using visual studio 2012.

Answer 1

But this is not valid way to take .exe from Debug folder you do flow step to release your application

1) First you Need to change solution configuration from debug to release and
then run your application or press f5.

2) after that you check that the debug folder of your project directory in
that you also able to find another folder that name is Release folder open
that folder and use .exe conatin by that folder.

Answer 2

I'd like one more thing (in simple terms) so everyone can benefit from:

In .NET, assemblies are the units of deployment. They will contain your forms, modules, classes and embedded resources. You always hear developers saying the famous phrase: Assemblies are the building blocks of everything in .NET.

the IDE will pack everything (excluding external dependencies) together in an assembly file (dll or exe). Those are the two units of deployment you'll frequently work with in .NET.

The first can execute seldomly (exe), the other (dll) cannot self-execute on its own (it doesn't have an entry-point). So the next time you build a project, you will find an exe or dll, depending on your type of your project, in the debug folder and you can be sure everything is packed inside it.

Answer 3

I don't know whether you have built the program with Release mode or Debug mode but go into your bin folder, go to the Release folder there should be a .exe file there. If it doesn't, go to Debug folder and you will find it. This .exe file is what you want to give to your friends to run it.

I assume that you are using .NET Framework 4.5. If your friends don't have .NET Framework 4.5, they are gonna have a bad time. So if you want to download .NET Framework automatically, continue reading.

Go and open your project's properties file, it should be in the solution explorer.Go to the publish tab and just do some settings and press publish wizard at the bottom and just follow the wizard. This is very self-explanatory.