How do I change where a class library is located in my C# program.

Question

I have a test version of my program that uses a class library that points to a server at an IP address. The production server has a different IP address. I copied the orginal program into a new folder to test in production. But it still points to the class library in the other folder. How can I change this?

Arep

Sam Hobbs · Answer

The important thing is that you have accomplished what you need to do. Certainly you have learned from the experience and hopefully it was useful to learn it; at least most of it. It sounds to me that there is not much documentation about the program and there should be more. For what it is worth, in a larger organization you might not be able to access the production data from a program that has not been implemented. In larger organizations you would have to at least implement into a semi-production ("release"?) library. Organizations such as banks where data security is important would require that there be a record of what source code was used corresponding with anything done to the data.

A Repasky · Answer

Sam, I finally have time to answer your last statements. Other things have come up. When I said the production version of the program, I did not mean that the program had been in production, I meant that it was going against the production database tables and not a copy of the database on another server. As far as the program it is still in development (not a production program). The only thing that changed in the class library was the IP address, userid, & password. So it was all in Debug configuration still using actual source code. I thought I could just copy everything, code and all, into a new folder and change the code, but the problem was that it was still pointing at the old folder for the Class library. This program is being written to do research on info in the DB, so it will probably never be a production program. I had tried a rebuild and it did not fix the problem. The Lead Programmer did know that. He had to go to a meeting and said to figure it out. So I posted to this forum. When he came back he told me what to try and my other post explain that. Now whether he did not know what to do before his meeting, I do not know. He does play games to see if I can figure out something so that it will be a better learning experience. Thanks for trying to help. arep

Sam Hobbs · Answer

My guess is that all you had to do was a rebuild. However, did you leave out something from your explanation of what you did? My guess is that you changed the configuration to "Debug" from "Release". If you did not do that then it would be appropriate to do that. The lead programmer should have been able to tell you that you need to do a rebuild. Perhaps he did not know the answer and if so then he should have said so. There should be a policy for how to perform maintenance. The policy should be documented. It should document how to obtain a copy of an application for maintenance purposes and how to implement (promote) the application back to production. If the policy is not clearly documented then you can suggest that that be done. The likely response is that they are too busy fighting fires to take the time to prevent fires. Of course, they won't say that using those words but it is essentially what they are likely to say using different words. So you can volunteer to do it. You could suggest that a committee be created for the purpose; management likes committees.

A Repasky · Answer

Here is what I did and it seems to point to the new code and new production program. I was trying to do this without the lead programmers help. He was asking me to solve this myself, but this morning he was in a good move and told me what to do. I had copied the original code and all executables, the whole folder into a new folder. This included the class library and all source code. I hope this answers the first post from Sam. So in the new folder I was trying to just change the code to point at the new IP address and new Userid and password. But on the Open it aborted with a comm error, because the class library did not have the changes compiled, because it was still pointing to the original folder. So here is what I did. In the new folder I deleted every executable in the Debug folder. Then I right clicked the Solution and did a Clean Solution and a Rebuild Solution. Now everything points to the correct folder. Thanks, Arep

Mahesh Chand · Answer

You should copy DLL into your local application and copy/deploy it with it. Also reference locally if you are using Add Reference. If you are using code to load the library, map local path. Search this website for finding current application path (Windows App) or MapPath (Web app).

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Please define "my program"; are you referring to source code or the executable? Since you say "my" I assume you wrote it for yourself and only you use, so you are the only one that knows how to use it and what it does and how it does it. If not, then you should be more clear about it than "my program". What type of program is it? Also please define " points to a server ". When I was young, I was taught that it is impolite to point.