[RESOLVED] [2008] Compile exe from user input problem

[cmmorris1]

Hey guys,

I have a big problem that I know I can not work out by myself so I have tried to simplify what I need so I can figure out the bigger picture by myself so here goes.

I borrowed kleinma's open default browser code from the codebank and I want to take the user input url from textbox1 and when button1 is clicked it will create an executable that will launch the domain input into the textbox.

That's the very simple version of it, if someone can help me figure out how to make it work I would REALLY appreciate it! Here is the code I have for this simple form. It has one textbox for user input and one button to generate the exe after user inputs the url into the textbox.

I noticed some code problems in the button1 that I found online, and I'm not sure how to make this work correctly but with kleinma's code you call it like this:

BrowserExec.LaunchNewBrowser(url here)

So I think this code goes into the button1 right? and then is this the correct code to be generating an exe from it? Can anyone give me my missing piece?

Imports Microsoft.Win32
Imports System
Imports System.CodeDom.Compiler
Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Reflection
Imports System.Windows.Forms
 
Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub TextBox1_TextChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.TextChanged
 
    End Sub
 
    Public Shared Function Button1_Click((ByVal sourceName As String) As Boolean
 
        Dim sourceFile As FileInfo = New FileInfo(sourceName)
        Dim provider As CodeDomProvider = Nothing
        Dim compileOk As Boolean = False
 
        ' Select the code provider based on the input file extension.
        If sourceFile.Extension.ToUpper(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) = ".CS" Then
 
            provider = New Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider()
 
        ElseIf sourceFile.Extension.ToUpper(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) = ".VB" Then
 
            provider = New Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider()
 
        Else
            Console.WriteLine("Source file must have a .cs or .vb extension")
        End If
 
        If Not provider Is Nothing Then
 
            ' Format the executable file name.
            ' Build the output assembly path using the current directory
            ' and <source>_cs.exe or <source>_vb.exe.
 
            Dim exeName As String = String.Format("{0}\{1}.exe", _
                System.Environment.CurrentDirectory, _
                sourceFile.Name.Replace(".", "_"))
 
            Dim cp As CompilerParameters = New CompilerParameters()
 
            ' Generate an executable instead of 
            ' a class library.
            cp.GenerateExecutable = True
 
            ' Specify the assembly file name to generate.
            cp.OutputAssembly = exeName
 
            ' Save the assembly as a physical file.
            cp.GenerateInMemory = False
 
            ' Set whether to treat all warnings as errors.
            cp.TreatWarningsAsErrors = False
 
            ' Invoke compilation of the source file.
            Dim cr As CompilerResults = provider.CompileAssemblyFromFile(cp, _
                sourceName)
 
            If cr.Errors.Count > 0 Then
                ' Display compilation errors.
                Console.WriteLine("Errors building {0} into {1}", _
                    sourceName, cr.PathToAssembly)
 
                Dim ce As CompilerError
                For Each ce In cr.Errors
                    Console.WriteLine("  {0}", ce.ToString())
                    Console.WriteLine()
                Next ce
            Else
                ' Display a successful compilation message.
                Console.WriteLine("Source {0} built into {1} successfully.", _
                    sourceName, cr.PathToAssembly)
            End If
 
            ' Return the results of the compilation.
            If cr.Errors.Count > 0 Then
                compileOk = False
            Else
                compileOk = True
            End If
        End If
        Return compileOk
 
 
    End Function
 
End Class

Thanks for looking!

Chris

[cmmorris1]

I'm not sure I even am using the right code to generate the exe. Can anyone point me in the right direction for how to do something like this?
It sounds pretty straight forward easy but I'm having a really difficult time with this.
Chris

[.paul.]

try this: i've included the zipped project so you can see it working.

Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports System.CodeDom.Compiler
 
Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub cmdCompile_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cmdCompile.Click
 
        txtCode.Text = txtCode.Text.Replace(String.Format("{0}{1}{1}{2}", "(", Chr(34), ")"), String.Format("{0}{3}{1}{3}{2}", "(", TextBox1.Text, ")", Chr(34)))
 
        ' Create the compiler.
        
        Dim provider As CodeDomProvider = New Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider()
        ' Define some parameters.
        ' In this case, we choose to save the assembly file to a file.
        Dim Param As New CompilerParameters()
        Param.GenerateExecutable = True
        Param.OutputAssembly = "TestApp.exe"
        Param.IncludeDebugInformation = False
        Param.CompilerOptions = "/target:winexe"
 
        ' Add some common assembly references (based on the currently running application).
        Dim Asm As System.Reflection.Assembly
        For Each Asm In AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies()
            Param.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(Asm.Location)
        Next
 
        ' Compile the code.
        Dim Results As CompilerResults = provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(Param, txtCode.Text)
 
        ' Check for errors.
        If Results.Errors.Count > 0 Then
            Dim Err As CompilerError
            Dim ErrorString As String = String.Empty
            For Each Err In Results.Errors
                ErrorString &= Err.ToString()
            Next
            MessageBox.Show(ErrorString)
        Else
            ' Launch the new application.
            Process.Start("TestApp.exe")
        End If
 
    End Sub
 
End Class

[cmmorris1]

Man, that is perfect! Thank you VERY much!

Chris

[.paul.]

i've made an amendment to the code + the zip file in post #3
it'll run windowless now.

[cmmorris1]

Hey .paul. I really appreciate that a lot man, it's running great :-) Looks like it even picks out the default browser on its own :-)

Thanks again!

Chris

[.paul.]

process.start(url) - loads url in your default browser

[ahostbr]

process.start(url) - loads url in your default browser

vista has problems with this though... atleast my 64x ultimate... everytime i use process.start(url) i get an error saying it cannot find firefox (my default browser) and then the page will load anyway... ive had to use this code to fix that... thank you very much paul