WIndows form GUI editor in Monodevelop - monodevelop

I have written a tool in Visual Studio Community using a C# windows form project. When I started the project I was unaware Microsoft insist on a user signing into an account after 30 days, (even though they offer an offline installation). For security reasons I cannot connect the computer to the internet to login. I have downloaded MonoDevelop and successfully opened and compiled the project. However, I would like to have the ability to "easily" edit the GUI. MonoDevelop's documentation seems to have little in-sight as to if this is possible. I checked out http://www.monodevelop.com/documentation/stetic-gui-designer/ which describes the process for native Mono applications. When I open the Form1.cs file, I am presented only with the option to view the source code. Is it possible to view the GUI designer?

The Stetic GUI Designer is only available for GTK 2.x based applications and not for Windows' Forms.
There is a project called WinForms Designer that might help you, it has not been updated for many years, but it still runs on at least OS-X (that is only OS that I have personally used it on).
http://www.mono-project.com/archived/winforms_designer
Note: For OS-X (or Linux) using the latest Mono, you will need to update the Makefile and replace the references to gmcs to mcs

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asp.net core 1. how change the Target Runtime to x86

i develop an Asp core web application (.net framework).
how i specify a run as 32-bit applications?
the publish wizard do not give way to change the Target Runtime, which the selected option is x64 is selected.
I installed on my machine the x86 version of .NET Core Installer.
publish wizard screenshot:
PS Why do I need x86.
I had to run the site on a computer that installed Microsoft Access 32-bit (2003, for an old software).
I also need to access data in Microsoft Access file, which requires me to use the Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 driver.
The problem is, probably, that the app's core ASP.NET always running as 64-bit applications, is what gives me the known exception 'driver not registred'
stil after set "enable 32-bit application" in IIS.
i cant install the 64-bit access driver engine, because it requires the removal of MS Access 32-bit...
As mentioned here you need to add the "runtimes" key to your project.json file like below image.
Once you do this, the Target Runtime entry in Publish menu will list all of your specified runtimes. Although this is not enough to get it working since using the Publish menu and selecting x86 version will have no effect and will result in x64 binary files. (This bug may be fixed in future).
The workaround is to navigate to your project folder where the project.json resides. Open a command prompt and type the following to have your binary in desired runtime:
dotnet publish --runtime win7-x86
If you get any error yet, you may need to have the corresponding runtime installed (Download form here).
More info:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/articles/core/app-types
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/articles/core/rid-catalog#what-are-rids
There is also a platform key under buildOptions listing all possible targets, but yet because of some issues (like #1624) it has no effect and it seems the system ignores that.

Running another MSI through visual studio installer

I want to install MySQL installer msi with my setup.(MySQL installer has to install silently. I am using batch file in custom action to do this.)
However, the problem is that MySQL's msi cannot be run from within main setup.msi it gives out 1618 error(Another installation needs to be completed.) I would like to know an easy way around this.
Background info: MySQL installer unpacks the manifest which contains MySQLInstallerConsole.exe it is then called through another cmd command to install MySQL.
So all I am looking to do is to execute MySQL installer so that it unpacks the manifest. Later I would call the MySQLInstallerConsole.exe to install MySQL through custom action.
Just to mention even more possibilities- some my colleagues mentioned (VS bootstrapper, burn):
Just start writing a batch or script for calling the two MSIs after each other.
Always a good starting point maybe, if you have no experience with MSI.
Write your own mini setup.exe bootstrapper with 5 lines of code to do the above.
(To be more concrete in "Third party tools":) Buy InstallShield or Advanced Installer or InstallAware, this are the tools with ready GUIs to do such easy bootstrapping.
I would recommend the second out of them. Starting another MSI are only two clicks. Similar with the other. But there are BIG differences between the three, especially InstallAware is special.
! Mentioned "mini bootstrappers" of those tools are not as powerful as Burn or the others followed:
Buy the ready setup suite SetupFactory which can be used as a bootstrapper for MSIs.
Use the InstallShield "Suite" project type, if you buy the Premium Edition of InstallShield. Costs big bucks, but has a friendly user interface. I was successful using it before some years, but I had to work around a handful of bugs as always with IS (but I guess you will discover bugs with most tools. Way it is.)
There (again) Burn would come in handy, you could fix potential bugs or behaviours on your own here ...
Only it could take you more time in the beginning.
... Of course there may be more.
There isn't an easy work around. Windows Installer enforces a 1 installation at a time rule through the use of a mutex. You need to create a bootstrapper / chainer to serialize the installation of your packages. Visual Studio Deployment Projects don't support this. I'd suggest looking at Windows Installer XML (WiX) and it's Burn boostrapper / chainer engine.
The documentation is a bit sparse, but in the Visual Studio world the customized bootstrap is the Bootstrap Manifest Generator. The docs start here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms165429.aspx
and there is an old article here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163899.aspx
but it's not clear how much info and support is available since setup projects were removed from setup projects and then restored.

vb Could not load file or assembly Mysql

I made application in vb 2010. And everything works great at mine computer. I made release and publish the application when i sen!
Pictures
Could not load file or assembly Mysql...
Also is there any way i can put net framework 4.5 to be installed with my application ?
You can include NET Framework by the following way. At least in Visual Basic 2010...
Through Project Tab you open Project properties.
Then in Publish Tab you Click Prerequisites Button.
There you can select the things you want to diistribute and the way they will be distributed.

Is there the tool than can automatically and silently install required dev tools/packages onto a machine in one go

I am looking for a tool (open source preferred) that can install required software (like ASP.NET MVC, etc) onto my machine in one go. Once I knew there is an open source tool for Windows but I forget the name. Hence the question.
http://chocolatey.org/ can be scripted and has a good collection of packages. Give that a try.

Access 2007 Engine: How do I include it in my .msi installer?

I have a .NET application which uses an accdb file (MS Access 2007 format) as its database. To install this app on another machine I need to install the Access engine on that machine. Microsoft has this file: AccessDatabaseEngine.exe which includes the engine, but when extracted during installation, runs another .msi installer.
As you can guess, since this msi is run during the installation of another msi (my app's installer) the Access engine setup fails with error 1500: "Another installation is in progress. Finish that one before continuing this one..."
I found the Runtime for Access 2007 as well, and it does install the engine, but the Runtime package is again an msi installer which means I'm still having the same problem.
Any ideas to include the engine in my app's installer?
You probably want to have a look at this article: Adding Programs to Access 2007 Deployment Packages
The Access Developer Extensions offer a basic but functional installer that can take care of the general deployment scenarios.
The best think would be to build your own msi pack including needed access files. You could use a product like VERITAS Wininstall. You have this "Discover" method that allows you to build a fully operationial .msi file by (1) taking 2 snapshots of your system (one before the installation, one after) then (2) creating the .msi file corresponding to the installation process.
Anyway, I'd advise you to have multiple packs, one for Access, that can be installed with a "for all users" option when the computer joins your company's domain, one for your app. By doing so you will be able to distribute new versions of your app without redistributing Access, which takes a few mega of space as well as a few minutes of user's most precious time).
Sio if Microsoft already delivers an Access Runtime msi package, just keep it 'as is' and distribute it automatically on your network when a new machine joins the domain.
I wouldn't recommend WinInstall, we have it in my office and we have to keep calling them in to package stuff for us as it's so finiky to use. Some things they haven't been able to package at all. WISE Studio is better or a free alternative is AppDeploy whihc I have heard great things about.
I found this software called "Bootstrapper Manifest Generator" or BMG. It helps create a prerequisite package using an MSI or EXE installer file, and adds it to VS2008 Prerequisites dialog box in Setup and Deployment projects. Although it's not that user friendly, it does the job. It's on MSDN: code.msdn.microsoft.com/bmg
Thought it's good to save others from going through all the trouble.