I am following a book and learning C# in Visual Studio 2013. I can make programs and run them and all that, but how can I form a program into an independent one on my machine instead of having to run it through a Visual Studio?

When you build you choose “debug” or “release”. They will create folders in your project called “debug” and “release” usually in a bin folder. That is where you will find your exe file.

Right click on the project in the solution browser and click ‘Build’ - then navigate to the directory where the project is saved and find the ‘bin’ folder. It should be somewhere in there. Make sure it's NOT a vshost application.

That's how it's done in VS2010, not sure how it changed or if it changed.

procd wrote:

When you build you choose “debug” or “release”. They will create folders in your project called “debug” and “release” usually in a bin folder. That is where you will find your exe file.

So when I find the EXE file, if I want to move the whole application to, say, a USB drive, do I drag only the EXE or the other files along wih it? Sorry if I sound dumb what I'm sayin is does that EXE file store all the data necesary for the program to run independently?

The directory should also contain all the exe files' dependencies like other dll's. So best to copy the whole folder. For my compiler I package up all the dependencies into the exe but for most cases that isn't really needed.

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

Zeusking19 wrote:

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

But if the computer doesn't have the .NET framework, you'll have to do something else. In fact, you can make the project entirely standalone if you make all of the references copy to the output directory.

download the top 10 developer for free and use it trial version.
Also install .net framework 4+.

that's it.
Credit :- 300mb movies

hope it works for you
that's it.
________________________________________________
Credit :- 300mb movies

Zeusking19 wrote:

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

Basically this.
Depending on what you use on the computer, it should have the .NET framework already installed on it. If the computer doesn't, then it doesn't take that long to install it.

Sonickyle wrote:

Zeusking19 wrote:

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

Basically this.
Depending on what you use on the computer, it should have the .NET framework already installed on it. If the computer doesn't, then it doesn't take that long to install it.

Problem is, you have to install the .NET framework that the application was made with. That is, if it was made with .NET 2.0, you have to install .NET 2.0 for the application to work.

DigiTechs wrote:

Sonickyle wrote:

Zeusking19 wrote:

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

Basically this.
Depending on what you use on the computer, it should have the .NET framework already installed on it. If the computer doesn't, then it doesn't take that long to install it.

Problem is, you have to install the .NET framework that the application was made with. That is, if it was made with .NET 2.0, you have to install .NET 2.0 for the application to work.

What's wrong with that?

Sonickyle wrote:

DigiTechs wrote:

Sonickyle wrote:

Zeusking19 wrote:

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

Basically this.
Depending on what you use on the computer, it should have the .NET framework already installed on it. If the computer doesn't, then it doesn't take that long to install it.

Problem is, you have to install the .NET framework that the application was made with. That is, if it was made with .NET 2.0, you have to install .NET 2.0 for the application to work.

What's wrong with that?

Do users like to spend long times waiting for files to download and install?

DigiTechs wrote:

Sonickyle wrote:

DigiTechs wrote:

Sonickyle wrote:

Zeusking19 wrote:

Actually, just the EXE will work fine as long as the computer has .NET Framework. Even Debug mode will put it into the bin/Debug folder.

(Source: Deployed .NET Application to a Windows PE Image)

Basically this.
Depending on what you use on the computer, it should have the .NET framework already installed on it. If the computer doesn't, then it doesn't take that long to install it.

Problem is, you have to install the .NET framework that the application was made with. That is, if it was made with .NET 2.0, you have to install .NET 2.0 for the application to work.

What's wrong with that?

Do users like to spend long times waiting for files to download and install?

I do if it's worth opening many different programs that require it.