Merging dlls into a single .exe with wpf

Question

I'm currently working on a project where we have a lot of dependencies. I would like to compile all the referenced dll's into the .exe much like you would do with embedded resources. I have tried ILMerge but it can't handle .xaml resources.

So my question is: Is there a way to merge a WPF project with multiple dependencies into a single .exe?

Answer 1

http://www.digitallycreated.net/Blog/61/combining-multiple-assemblies-into-a-single-exe-for-a-wpf-application

This worked like a charm for me :) and its completely free.

Adding code in case the blog ever disappears.

1) Add this to your .csproj file:

<Target Name="AfterResolveReferences">   <ItemGroup>     <EmbeddedResource Include="@(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths)" Condition="'%(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.Extension)' == '.dll'">       <LogicalName>%(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.DestinationSubDirectory)%(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.Filename)%(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths.Extension)</LogicalName>     </EmbeddedResource>   </ItemGroup> </Target> 

2) Make your Main Program.cs look like this:

[STAThreadAttribute] public static void Main() {     AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += OnResolveAssembly;     App.Main(); } 

3) Add the OnResolveAssembly method:

private static Assembly OnResolveAssembly(object sender, ResolveEventArgs args) {     Assembly executingAssembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();     AssemblyName assemblyName = new AssemblyName(args.Name);      var path = assemblyName.Name + ".dll";     if (assemblyName.CultureInfo.Equals(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) == false) path = String.Format(@"{0}\{1}", assemblyName.CultureInfo, path);      using (Stream stream = executingAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream(path))     {         if (stream == null) return null;          var assemblyRawBytes = new byte[stream.Length];         stream.Read(assemblyRawBytes, 0, assemblyRawBytes.Length);         return Assembly.Load(assemblyRawBytes);     } }