Deploying/Publish with ClickOnce Guide

[amaitland]

Looking for some help? Get priority support by sponsoring the project

---

Publishing with ClickOnce may require additional steps depending on your project format and structure.

• Currently works when PlatformTarget is x86/x64
• AnyCPU requires that you SelfHost the BrowserSubProcess see section below.

---

Packages.config with a single project (csproj/vbproj)

If you are using the older Nuget packages.config format then you have two options

Option 1:
Add the following to a PropertyGroup in your csproj/vbproj file before the .targets entries (which are at the bottom).

<CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction>

Option2:

Follow the Microsoft documentation to Migrate from packages.config to PackageReference.

---

Packages.config with multiple projects (csproj/vbproj)

If you have CefSharp installed in a library project that uses pacakges.config things become a little tricky. The None entries will copy the CEF resources to a directly referring project, changing to Content (changing the CefSharpBuildAction to Content changes to using <Content/> entries) means the files are only copied to the library project, not any referring projects.

1. Installing the CefSharp packages in your main project and adding <CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction> to the first PropertyGroup of your main project file is one option as listed above.
2. Converting your library project to PackageReference should allow for the references to flow through to consuming projects as buildTransitive. Noting that I haven't tested this with a mix of PackageReference and packages.config, so if you mix and match then option 1. is the fall-back if this doesn't work.

---

AnyCPU

Publishing when targeting AnyCPU behaves strangely, the x64 folder is missing a copy of CefSharp.dll which is required by the BrowserSubprocess. The file is copied correctly when the projects builds normally, so there's some quirk of the Publish process. I have yet to identify the root cause of the issue.

To workaround can self host the BrowserSubProcess to workaround the problem. Self Hosting means that instead of using CefSharp.BrowserSubProcess.exe to run the renderer, gpu, network, audio processes that are typically spawned, you use your own applications executable. You also MUST set performDependencyCheck to false.

WinForms

For WinForms your Program.cs would look something like:

public static class Program
{
	[STAThread]
	public static int Main(string[] args)
	{

		CefRuntime.SubscribeAnyCpuAssemblyResolver();

		//For Windows 7 and above, best to include relevant app.manifest entries as well
		Cef.EnableHighDPISupport();

		var exitCode = CefSharp.BrowserSubprocess.SelfHost.Main(args);

		if (exitCode >= 0)
		{
			return exitCode;
		}

		var settings = new CefSettings()
		{
			//By default CefSharp will use an in-memory cache, you need to specify a Cache Folder to persist data
			CachePath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), "CefSharp\\Cache"),
			BrowserSubprocessPath = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName
		};

		//Perform dependency check to make sure all relevant resources are in our output directory.
		//IMPORTANT: MUST set performDependencyCheck false
		Cef.Initialize(settings, performDependencyCheck: false, browserProcessHandler: null);

		var browser = new BrowserForm();
		Application.Run(browser);

		return 0;
	}
}

WPF

For WPF this is a little more difficult as the compiler generates the Main method for you. You need to:

• Create your own custom entry point (typically adding a Program.cs file with a static Main method would be the convention)
• Change the Startup Object to use your own main method, (Right click Properties on your project, Startup Object is a dropdown).

An example of Program.cs for WPF might look like this:

public static class Program
{
	[STAThread]
	public static int Main(string[] args)
	{

		CefRuntime.SubscribeAnyCpuAssemblyResolver();

		//For Windows 7 and above, best to include relevant app.manifest entries as well
		Cef.EnableHighDPISupport();

		var exitCode = CefSharp.BrowserSubprocess.SelfHost.Main(args);

		if (exitCode >= 0)
		{
			return exitCode;
		}

		var settings = new CefSettings()
		{
			//By default CefSharp will use an in-memory cache, you need to specify a Cache Folder to persist data
			CachePath = Path.Combine(Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData), "CefSharp\\Cache"),
			BrowserSubprocessPath = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.FileName
		};

		//Perform dependency check to make sure all relevant resources are in our output directory.
		//IMPORTANT: MUST set performDependencyCheck false
		Cef.Initialize(settings, performDependencyCheck: false, browserProcessHandler: null);

		var app = new App();
		app.InitializeComponent();
		return app.Run();
	}
}

---

Troubleshooting

Add the following to your csproj/vbproj file at the end

<Target Name="CefSharpAfterBuildDebug" AfterTargets="AfterBuild">
    <CallTarget Targets="CefSharpAfterBuildDiagnostic" />
</Target>

Change your MSBuild project output verbosity to Normal:

1. Go to Tools->Options menu in VS
2. Open Projects and Solutions->Build and Run
3. Change the value of the MSBuild project build output verbosity. Pick Normal or higher

After you build, check the output window for a block of text that looks like:

>Target CefSharpAfterBuildDebug:
>  Target CefSharpAfterBuildDiagnostic:
>    CefSharp After Build Diagnostic
>    CefSharpBuildAction = Content
>    CefSharpPropertiesLoaded = true
>    CefSharpTargetDir =
>    CefSharpTargetDirAnyCpu32 = x86\
>    CefSharpTargetDirAnyCpu64 = x64\
>    RuntimeIdentifier = win7-x64
>    EffectivePlatform =
>    Platform = x64
>    PlatformName = x64
>    Platforms = x86;x64;AnyCPU
>    PlatformTarget = x64
>    CefSharpPlatformTarget = x64
>    PlatformTargetAsMSBuildArchitecture = x64
>    TargetFramework = net472
>    TargetFrameworkVersion = v4.7.2
>    libcef.dll exists = bin.net472\x64\Debug\net472\libcef.dll
>    CefSharpTransformXmlDllPath = C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v16.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll
>    NuGetProjectStyle = PackageReference
>    NuGetToolVersion = 5.11.1
>    OutputType = WinExe
>    OutDir = bin.net472\x64\Debug\net472\
>    Prefer32Bit = false

You can check CefSharpBuildAction was set correctly, confirm the PlatformTarget is as expected. Post this information when asking for help.

---

Testing with MinimalExample

The MinimalExample can be deployed using ClickOnce and I suggest anyone having problems follow these instructions and get that working as a reference. Then you can compare your project to the example.

Option 1:

• Open CefSharp.MinimalExample.sln in VS2019
• Build
• Close Solution
• Edit CefSharp.MinimalExample.WinForms.csproj adding <CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction> to the first PropertyGroup (Example at CefSharp.MinimalExample.WinForms.csproj#L31)
• Open CefSharp.MinimalExample.sln in VS2019
• Rebuild
• Comment out Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls from app.manifest in CefSharp.MinimalExample.WinForms
• Right click CefSharp.MinimalExample.WinForms and publish
• Use default options
• Install ClickOnce deployed app.

Make sure that when installing on client machines that Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 or higher is installed.
You can use the Windows Sandbox for testing purposes, making sure to install Visual C++ 2019 or highter
Loads as expected.

---

A lot of work goes into maintaining supporting this project, if you are using CefSharp in a commercial application please support my efforts by sponsoring the project.