Merging dlls into a single .exe with wpf

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);    }}

Use Costura.Fody - It is available as Nuget Pkg for best and easiest way to embed resources in your assembly.

Install-Package Costura.Fody

After adding it to the project, it will automatically embed all added references to your main assembly.

{smartassembly} is one such product. It can obsfucate or embedd your dlls.

Try this: http://www.smartassembly.com/

You can also do a lot of improvements on your application so it will run faster.

And yes. You can use it for WPF.

Update 8/06/2015:ILRepack 2.0.0 (which is an open-source alternative to ILMerge) has now support for most of WPF cases merging: https://twitter.com/Gluckies/status/607680149157462016