.net dll question

Question

I have a very n00b question about .NET and DLLs. I am developing an application using C# and WPF, and I soon realized that WPF doesn't support charting out of the box. So I did some searches and found WPF toolkit which looks promising, but I have to install a msi file and reference the dll from that project. Now my question is, if I build in release mode, will I be able to just hand over the "executable" to others? Thanks a lot in advance.

Answer 1

Not by building in release mode, but if you can set that up in the publish properties.

1. Open project properties
2. Go to Publish Tab
3. Click Application Files
4. Change the necessary DLLs to Publish Status Include

Answer 2

No, you will have to deploy the DLL along with the executable. That DLL could exist in the GAC or in one of the assembly probing locations. One exception I should point out is that you can use ILMerge to embed the DLL in the executable.

Answer 3

if you want to have just one exe you had over to the person you will need a utility like ILmerge to combine the external dll's in to the exe.