I have a console application and two class library projects.
The console application has to project references to the class library projects.
When I build, it generates DLLs for these two projects. Do I have to include these with my console applications exe file? Is there a way I can make it so I don't have to include these 2 dlls?
Ideally, I'd like to have a single exe.
You must include any referenced assemblies as they are dependencies of your application.
That being said, however, Microsoft offers a tool called ILMerge that will allow you combine the dependency assemblies with your executable to create one, all-inclusive, executable assembly that you can ship to customers.
You should be able to accomplish by selecting your references and setting the "Copy Local" property to false.
You can merge the assemblies into one, using ilmerge, otherwise you'll have to deploy the exe file and the dlls. e.g. you can run a command like
ilmerge /target:winexe /out:MyProg.exe Program.exe ClassLib1.dll ClassLib.dll
Visual Studio provides no built-in way to do this, so you'd have to run the above command manually,as a Post Build event, or add it manually to your .csproj file.
Be careful with ILMerge and make sure you understand the performance implications of going this route.