VB.NET independent appliation

[Maileen]

Hi,

In VC++, we are able to compile and build an application which will NOT
need any *.dll files as external link.

I use now VB.NET and i would like to do the same.
I don't want to see any error message because VB6runxx.dll is nissing,
or something like that.

How can i do that ?
thanks a lot,
Maileen

 

[Ken Dopierala Jr.]

Hi Maileen,

Can you ask your question differently. I did not understand what you are
trying to accomplish. VC++ relies heavily on DLL files but for the most
part they are distributed with Windows so you don't need to install them
along with your app. When you create an app in VB.Net all you need is for
the framework to be installed. Unless you are relying on outside DLLs.
Then, like with VC++, those DLLs will need to be installed. Good luck!
Ken.

 

[Patrick Philippot]

I use now VB.NET and i would like to do the same.
I don't want to see any error message because VB6runxx.dll is nissing,
or something like that.

How can i do that ?

Hi,

In order to run a .Net application, the .Net Framework must have been
installed on that system. So the only things that you need to install
are your own assemblies. If an assembly refers to another assembly that
is not part of the .Net Framework, you'll need to install it too.

 

[Cor Ligthert]

Nice written Ken

Cor

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

In VC++, we are able to compile and build an application which
will NOT need any *.dll files as external link.

I use now VB.NET and i would like to do the same.
I don't want to see any error message because VB6runxx.dll is nissing,
or something like that.

Are you referring to VB6 or VB.NET? VB.NET doesn't need a "VB6runxxx.dll"?

The answer is no, that's not supported.

There are some solutions, but most of them don't make much sense for
me in general. They are expensive and don't bring any benefit in most
cases.

<URL:http://www.remotesoft.com/>
-> "Salamander"

<URL:http://www.lesser-software.com/> is working on a tool to compile Win32
applications from .NET source.

Thinstall
<URL:http://thinstall.com/dotnet/>

I would include the .NET Framework in the setup package:

Deploying the .NET Framework in a setup package
<URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/dotnet/faqs/?id=deployframework>

 

[Ken Tucker [MVP]]

Hi,

If you are looking to distrbute an vb.net with out the framework
take a look at this.

(untested)
http://thinstall.com/help/index.html?linking_netframework.htm

Ken
--------------------------
Hi,

In VC++, we are able to compile and build an application which will NOT
need any *.dll files as external link.

I use now VB.NET and i would like to do the same.
I don't want to see any error message because VB6runxx.dll is nissing,
or something like that.

How can i do that ?
thanks a lot,
Maileen

 

[Mitchell Vincent]

Hi,

If you are looking to distrbute an vb.net with out the framework
take a look at this.

(untested)
http://thinstall.com/help/index.html?linking_netframework.htm

Ken
--------------------------

I use Thinstall for several projects and from my initial tests the
framework linking does work. I haven't written any full applications yet
but initial tests have been exciting! This does add several megs to your
executable file size, but not the 20+ megs for the entire framework..

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

I use Thinstall for several projects and from my initial tests the
framework linking does work. I haven't written any full applications yet
but initial tests have been exciting! This does add several megs to your
executable file size, but not the 20+ megs for the entire framework..

Notice that there may be legal problems when linking to part of the .NET
Framework.

 

[Mitchell Vincent]

Notice that there may be legal problems when linking to part of the .NET
Framework.

What makes you say that?

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

What makes you say that?

I doubt that Microsoft grants rights to decompose the libraries provided in
the .NET Framework package.

 

[Guest]

I believe, and I could be wrong, but if you put all your external DLL's in
the bin directory and set the references to that instance of the DLL, the
resulting compile assembly will contain all the DLL's and you won't need to
distribute the DLL's, just copy the assembly.exe. Someone, please correct me
if I'm wrong.

 

[Patrick Philippot]

I believe, and I could be wrong, but if you put all your external
DLL's in the bin directory and set the references to that instance of
the DLL, the resulting compile assembly will contain all the DLL's
and you won't need to distribute the DLL's, just copy the
assembly.exe. Someone, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hi,

This is wrong. Adding a reference to an external assembly doesn't mean
that this assembly will be statically linked to the calling assembly. In
..Net there's no idea of static linking. Everything is dynamic. If an
assembly references another assembly, the latter must be present on the
system, either locally or in the GAC.

 

[Maileen]

thanks for the info.

 

[smith]

You were able to but only if you didn't need anything from MSVCRTxx or MFC
;-)

Again, if the issue is that you want to detect if the VM/RT is installed
(that being the .Net Framework Runtime- which is the new VBRT/VM):
then this might help... it's a free utility with source code and the reasons
why:

http://www.smithvoice.com/d5loader.htm

If, however you want to code in .Net and release with fully linked
executables that do not require the Framework to already be installed then
you might take a look at Thinstall (www.thinstall.com is the home but the
url seems down while I write this but that happens to everyone now and
then... try it later and it should be back up)

Robert Smith
Kirkland, WA
www.smithvoice.com