>>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I've bought Telerik RadControls for use in a C# 4.0 WPF desktop application developed using VS 2010 and am struggling on understanding how to distribute it with my Mere Mortals .Net application. I have found a section on installing the Telerik controls in the MM.NET help file, but I think that is how to get them installed on the development machine, not how to install them on the client's machine. I have also found these instructions here
>>>>>>
>>>>>>http://www.telerik.com/help/wpf/protecting-telerik-radcontrols-assembly.html
>>>>>>
>>>>>>but I am not making sense of them. Has anyone done this before and can give a newbie a helping hand?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>This looks like it is telling me I need the source code of the controls and then I hav eto merge them into my project. Is there an easier way where I just distribute the actual control as a separate dll or whatever?
>>>>>
>>>>>A quick look at that link seems to show that you only need take that approach if you want to compile the Telerik stuff directly into your executable (i.e. same assembly)
>>>>>
>>>>>Elsewhere it seems to imply that you simply take the standard approach of referencing the relevant Telerik assemblies in your own assemblies (which presumably is what you have done anyway? ) - which comes down to just making sure those assemblies are present in the same folder as your exe on the production machine....
>>>>
>>>>Funny, I had just decided to see if copying the dlls over would work and that apparently works. Where did you see the reference to just making sure the assemblies are available?
>>>
>>>
>>>If you just copy the dll used for developing, then anyone can use it
>>>
>>>
>>>Looks like there are two options to protect their Intellectual Property
>>>
>>>(1) Add the dll as an embedded resource ( it won't be visible as a file)
>>>(2) Protect the dll with a passphrase and add the passphrase to your app.xaml - so only your app cas use the dll
>>>
>>>Easiest imo is to include all the dlls as embedded resources, you can even deflate them. That way you only have one exe to distribute
>>
>>Thanks. I found some instructions on how to embed a resource. I guess the only down side is that will make the exe much bigger?
>
>
>Yes, it makes the exe bigger - but
>(1) there's only one item to distribute/copy - you don't care/forget about the extra 10 dlls you need
>(2) If the size of the exe is a problem, you can deflate the dlls prior to embedding them. That will cut the size of the exe roughly in two
>Of course, when the assembly is needed, you have to inflate it
>
>ps: To test an exe with embedded assemblies - copy it to another location. If it finds the assemblies on disc (in the same folder) it will use those instead of the embedded

I didn't know the last bit - which seems to defeat one of the reasons to embed in the first place ?
But, IIRC, it's possible to programmatically load the embedded assembly.....

UPDATE: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/222655/embedding-assemblies-inside-another-assembly (second answer)