Embedding DLL's into .exe in in Visual C# 2010

Question

I'm working on a C# program that uses iTextSharp.dll and WebCam_Capture.dll. When I build the program, it creates executable in the debug folder and it also copies these two dll's to the debug folder as expected. I want to merge them into a single executable, however I failed. These two libraries are visible in the references normally in the solution explorer. I also add them as resources. Executable size got bigger which equals the sum of three files, nevertheless the executable still requires these libraries in its directory... I played with "build action" property of the resource files but no change. I also tried ILmerge but it gave me an error. so what should I do?

Update: This is what I get from ILmerge:

An exception occurred during merging:
Unresolved assembly reference not allowed: System.Core.
at System.Compiler.Ir2md.GetAssemblyRefIndex(AssemblyNode assembly)
   at System.Compiler.Ir2md.GetTypeRefIndex(TypeNode type)

It is just a windows application by the way, a form to be filled and printed as pdf with a photo taken via webcam if available. Thanks all!

Answer 1

You can use ILMerge to merge multiple assemblies together. You've already said you did this, and you've received an error. Though I don't know why, you can use an alternative: if the libraries are open source (and their licenses are compatible with yours), you can download the source code, add it to your project and compile. This will result in a single assembly.

The ILMerge page also lists Jeffrey Richter's blog as yet another alternative to solve your issue:

Many applications consist of an EXE file that depends on many DLL files. When deploying this application, all the files must be deployed. However, there is a technique that you can use to deploy just a single EXE file. First, identify all the DLL files that your EXE file depends on that do not ship as part of the Microsoft .NET Framework itself. Then add these DLLs to your Visual Studio project. For each DLL file you add, display its properties and change its “Build Action” to “Embedded Resource.” This causes the C# compiler to embed the DLL file(s) into your EXE file, and you can deploy this one EXE file.

At runtime, the CLR won’t be able to find the dependent DLL assemblies, which is a problem. To fix this, when your application initializes, register a callback method with the AppDomain’s ResolveAssembly event. The code should look something like this:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += (sender, args) => { 
   String resourceName = "AssemblyLoadingAndReflection." + 
       new AssemblyName(args.Name).Name + ".dll"; 
   using (var stream = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
                               .GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName)) { 
      Byte[] assemblyData = new Byte[stream.Length]; 
      stream.Read(assemblyData, 0, assemblyData.Length); 
      return Assembly.Load(assemblyData); 
   }   
}; 

Now, the first time a thread calls a method that references a type in a dependent DLL file, the AssemblyResolve event will be raised and the callback code shown above will find the embedded DLL resource desired and load it by calling an overload of Assembly’s Load method that takes a Byte[] as an argument.