C# and native resources

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Problem: C# 2.0 doesn't imbed a UAC manifest in the EXE files that it
produces.
Problem: The suggested solution on MSDN is unworkable (manually opening the
EXE using VS as a resource editor and inserting the manifet resource).
Problem: Changing the C# project to explicitly link a .RES file suppresses
the generation of the native VS_VERSIONINFO resource by the C# compiler.

All in all, MS made it harder than necessary to produce a Vista-compliant
EXE from C# 2.0.

So how have people solved this problem?

It seems like some kind of command-line tool to insert the manifest resource
after the fact would be a good solution - there are a variety of such tools
on that market, all of which seem overpriced for such a simple task.

Any free tools out there that can insert a manifest resource into an
existing EXE?

-cd

[Willy Denoyette [MVP]]

"Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]" <cp*****************************@mvps.org.nospam >
wrote in message news:e4**************@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...

Problem: C# 2.0 doesn't imbed a UAC manifest in the EXE files that it
produces.
Problem: The suggested solution on MSDN is unworkable (manually opening
the EXE using VS as a resource editor and inserting the manifet resource).
Problem: Changing the C# project to explicitly link a .RES file
suppresses the generation of the native VS_VERSIONINFO resource by the C#
compiler.

All in all, MS made it harder than necessary to produce a Vista-compliant
EXE from C# 2.0.

So how have people solved this problem?

It seems like some kind of command-line tool to insert the manifest
resource after the fact would be a good solution - there are a variety of
such tools on that market, all of which seem overpriced for such a simple
task.

Any free tools out there that can insert a manifest resource into an
existing EXE?

-cd

Carl, the Windows SDK comes with a tool called the "Microsoft (R) Manifest
Tool" the PE file is: mt.exe.

You can use this tool to embed a manifest in a post build step in VS2005.
VS2008 supports this by default, see the project settings.

Willy.

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

"Willy Denoyette [MVP]" <wi*************@telenet.bewrote in message >
Carl, the Windows SDK comes with a tool called the "Microsoft (R) Manifest

Tool" the PE file is: mt.exe.

You can use this tool to embed a manifest in a post build step in VS2005.
VS2008 supports this by default, see the project settings.

OK, I wondered if mt.exe could do what I need. I'll take a look at the docs
for it. Glad to hear that they got this sorted out in VS2008 - it's a bit
of a pain in VS2005.

-cd

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

So far, nothing but disaster. I tried a different manifest fragment using
the v2 schema. That is acceptable to mt.exe, but the resulting EXE file
doesn't run, failing with "Configuration System Failed to Initialize".
That's after re-signing the EXE with sn.exe too.

Can anyone post a simple, complete example of embedding a manifest in a C#
exe file that's sufficient to let the app run 'asInvoker' on Vista?

-cd

[Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]]

Willy Denoyette [MVP] wrote:

Here's a KB article describing an alternate solution:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944276

Yeah, I'd found that one previously. Not a very automatable solution. I'll
stick with the post-build step. It does the job and it's all integrated
into my FinalBuilder-based product build.

-cd