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I've been working on a program which makes use of the .Net Framework. It's not based on it but it makes use of some little bits of the platform, despite of my efforts to replace most of those little bits with API calls. Well, my program is almost done and ready to publish, and now one big question remains: what's the best way to publish it?

For a while I used the VB.Net built-in publish tool but then I realised it wasn't actually like what I expected it to be (i.e. pretty much similar to any typical install program).

On the other hand, if I choose any other alternative, I can't guarantee that my software is packaged with (or alerts for the not presence of) it's dependencies, in this case the .Net references.

I've noticed that there is the "Copy Local" option for these references. Does this make my software "independent", I mean if I only use abcd.dll and set the Copy Local to TRUE, will the program run just fine or will it still force my 'clients' to install the .Net platform? (I know, is yet much likely they already have it installed nowadays, we're talking about versions 2.0 to 3.5...that's actually the fact I've been relying on).

Thanks in advance!

K09P
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  • Your post is inconsistent. If you have any .net components, which is managed code, you need .net framework. You can deploy your app by many means, from xCopy to clickOnce. You can package-in .net framework installation and run checks if .Net FW is installed. Just let you know that deployment projects found in VS2008 are gone in 2012. So, may be you will benefit from using 3rd party tool. "Inno", for example, is free. – T.S. Jul 16 '13 at 15:18

1 Answers1

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Short answer is you will always need to install the full framework if you use any of it. The Dependency tree in the .Net framework is quite deep, and though you do not depend on other .Net assemblies, it is highly likely that the portions you depend on will.

You could use a package publisher like WiX (Windows installer XML Toolset) to create a more user friendly installer experience... http://wixtoolset.org/

Claies
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