This is pretty easy to replicate but also code here:
https://github.com/dominicshaw/dotnet-publish-error
create an empty wpf project using .NET7
create a publish profile for ClickOnce
publish via command line (not visual studio)
Publish profile is almost totally standard (view here)
Command line from project directory:
dotnet publish PublishError.csproj -p:PublishProfile=ClickOnceProfile
Subsequent error:
MSBuild version 17.4.0+18d5aef85 for .NET
Determining projects to restore...
All projects are up-to-date for restore.
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\7.0.100\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4149,5): error MSB4062: The "Microsoft.Build.Tasks.RequiresFr
amework35SP1Assembly" task could not be loaded from the assembly Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core, Version=15.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKey
Token=b03f5f7f11d50a3a. Confirm that the <UsingTask> declaration is correct, that the assembly and all its dependencies are available, a
nd that the task contains a public class that implements Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITask. [C:\Users\shawd\source\repos\PublishError\Publi
shError\PublishError.csproj]
I have the latest SDKs installed and VS2022 up to date. This only happens via command line - I am able to publish from Visual Studio (I am setting up devops, so require command line).
This happens regardless of adding nuget package for Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core. Note however nuget package v15.1.0.0 is not available - I have tried 15.1.548 and the latest instead.
Totally at a loss! Any ideas very welcome.
Thanks vm
During the tests with your project and files, I finally managed to publish it successfully with the command dotnet publish PublishError.csproj -p:PublishProfile=FolderProfile.
Here is the document for dotnet publish, as is referred,
The preceding example uses the FolderProfile.pubxml file that is found
in the <project_folder>/Properties/PublishProfiles folder. If you
specify a path and file extension when setting the PublishProfile
property, they are ignored. MSBuild by default looks in the
Properties/PublishProfiles folder and assumes the pubxml file
extension.
And I also succeeded with dotnet publish with your project.
==============================
update on 11/19
So I suppose that the issue is resulted from your definition for -p:PublishProfile=ClickOnceProfile,it will change the path where this command would search for the publish file
A partial answer as my workaround for anyone struggling with a similar problem:
I have found it impossible to do this with the dotnet cli but I can do it with MSBuild if I specifically target 17.4 (VS2022). By default, my Azure DevOps Server 2020 capability is the 2019 MSBuild (15.X), so I have to be explicit:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Professional\Msbuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe" /restore /Verbosity:m /t:Publish /p:RuntimeIdentifier=win-x64 /p:configuration=Release /p:PublishProfile=ClickOnceProfile
This works - so in my pipeline I have created a batch file which runs this, then I copy the files to my ClickOnce location.
Not ideal, but a working pipeline.
Interesting side note - this dotnet cli command which should be idenitical (and indeed uses the correct 17.4 MSBuild) - does not work (with the same error):
dotnet msbuild -target:Publish -property:RuntimeIdentifiers=win-x64;Configuration=Release;PublishProfile=ClickOnceProfile
Related
I'm building an ASP.NET Core 2.0 Web API application that is hosted in an Ubuntu environment. So far, I've had great success getting things building and running (for the .NET Core app) in Ubuntu.
For the database, I have a SqlProj included in my solution. The project includes typical things such as tables, SPs, and pre/post deployment scripts. I'm using the following command (on my Windows-based dev machine) to build and deploy this project:
msbuild .\MyProject.DB.sqlproj /t:Build /t:Publish /P:SqlPublishProfilePath="./PublishProfiles/MyProject.DB.publish.xml"
When I take this approach, everything builds and deploys properly; however, since I will be taking advantage of the .NET Core CLI commands + CI/CD that targets an Ubuntu environment, I'd like to do something more like:
dotnet msbuild .\MyProject.DB.sqlproj /t:Build /t:Publish /P:SqlPublishProfilePath="./PublishProfiles/MyProject.DB.publish.xml"
In Windows, I immediately get the error:
error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.4\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\SSDT\Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.SqlTasks.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
Basically, what I'm asking is how to successfully build and deploy a SqlProj project in an Ubuntu environment. I've tried Googling, but I have had zero luck thus far. All of the similar issues that I've found were for individuals who were editing their .proj file to target their VS folder's SSDT. All of these individuals were fixing the issue in Windows. This approach will not work in Ubuntu, since the targets file uses Windows registry keys.
EDIT: I'm aware that SSDT is needed in order to perform such a deployment using MSBuild. I've found no evidence that installing/using SSDT is even possible in Ubuntu. If it is not, perhaps there is an alternative solution?
FYI, I'm aware that using a code-first approach with EF Core is possible. I'm attempting to take the raw SP approach (along with leveraging indexes) and keep track of all of my code using SqlProj instead. This will all be stored and CI/CDed from a Git repo.
You can use this NuGet package to deploy without installing SSDT https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Data.Tools.Msbuild
I don't know if it will run on Ubuntu or integrate at all with the dotnet cli
My 2020 Solution
I would like to revisit this in 2020 with an updated answer to my original question.
I have taken a different approach to building an deploying SQL Server projects. My current approach is to build a pipeline that uses a vs2017-win2016 agent and use this to build a .dacpac. From there, you build a deployment pipeline to deploy the dacpac (from your artifact drop) out to the SQL Server instance.
This approach better accommodates DevOps methodologies and removes the manual process associated with my previous solution.
You can read more about this here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/apps/aspnet/build-aspnet-dacpac?view=azure-devops
I can't speak to whether or not this will work on Ubuntu, but we recently got through this on a Windows build machine that does not have SSDT installed, using the NuGet package mentioned above. The breakthrough came from piecing together the details in the article below, specifically that using the SDK with MSBuild needed to have environment variables set in order to work.
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ssdt/2016/08/22/part-5-use-your-own-build-and-deployment-agent/
With that added info, we installed the NuGet package in the root of the solution folder and then wrote a build script in PowerShell. The script sets the environment variables first and then calls MSBuild on the SqlProj file with the appropriate output directory. We don't specifically publish at that point, but instead publish the artifact to Octopus Deploy in our workflow which does the actual deployment.
Again, not sure it will help on Ubuntu, but thought the additional detail might be useful.
As an alternative, it is possible to achieve this with dotnet cli and sqlpackage as explained here using an MSBuild Sdk.
You basically have a database project. Let's call it "DatabaseProject".
You create a new project which is a .NET standard c# library that you can call "DatabaseProject.Build".
Then you can configure you DatabaseProject.Build.csproj as such:
<Project Sdk="MSBuild.Sdk.SqlProj/1.11.4">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
<Configurations>Debug;Release</Configurations>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="..\DatabaseProject\**\*.sql" />
<Content Remove="..\DatabaseProject\bin\*.sql" />
<Content Remove="..\DatabaseProject\**\*.PostDeployment.sql" />
<PostDeploy Include="..\DatabaseProject\**\*.PostDeployment.sql" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
Be Aware The version used V1.11.4 is the one that supports the current .NET SDK shipped with visual studio at the time of the edit of this post. Check out the github repo to get the latest nuget version for your projet.
Using dotnet build will generate a dacpac that you will be able to use with either dotnet publish or sqlpackage.
You can then publish to you SqlServer instance.
If you're like me using a linux runner in your CI, you'll probably need SqlServer authentification method and then run either
sqlpackage /Action:Publish \
/SourceFile:\"DatabaseProject.Build/bin/Debug/netstandard2.0/DatabaseProject.Build.dacpac\" \
/TargetServerName:MyDatabaseServerName \
/TargetDatabaseName:MyDatabaseName \
/TargetUser:Username\
/TargetPassword:Password
or using a profile generated by visual studio :
sqlpackage /Action:Publish /Profile:\"DatabaseProject/PublishProfile/MyProfile.publish.xml\" /SourceFile:\"DatabaseProject.Build/bin/Debug/netstandard2.0/DatabaseProject.Build.dacpac\"
or
dotnet publish /p:TargetServerName=MyServerName /p:TargetDatabaseName=MyDatabseName /p:TargetUser=<username> /p:TargetPassword=<password>
Azure Data Studio now has an extension that lets you build database projects (sqlproj) using the dotnet tool. The brains behind building the project lies in the SQL Server Tools package, which is where the extension gets the required "BuildDirectory" DLL and targets dependencies.
Though not documented, if you want to set this up completely headless outside of Azure Data Studio, you can follow their CLI guide, https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/azure-data-studio/extensions/sql-database-project-extension-build-from-command-line?view=sql-server-ver15, but instead extract the necessary files from the RHEL release in https://github.com/microsoft/sqltoolsservice/releases and then follow the rest of the extension's documentation. Here is a working Dockerfile that demonstrates the approach:
FROM mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:6.0
WORKDIR /app
RUN apt-get update \
&& apt-get install -y curl
# SSDT dlls and targets file used by Azure Data Studio Extension can be found in the SQL Tools Service project
RUN curl -sSL -o /tmp/sqltools.tar.gz https://github.com/microsoft/sqltoolsservice/releases/download/v3.0.0-release.181/Microsoft.SqlTools.ServiceLayer-rhel-x64-net6.0.tar.gz
# Extract files that are required per https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/azure-data-studio/extensions/sql-database-project-extension-build-from-command-line?view=sql-server-ver15
RUN mkdir /tmp/sqltools && tar -xzf /tmp/sqltools.tar.gz -C /tmp/sqltools && \
mkdir /app/BuildDirectory && cd /tmp/sqltools && cp \
Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.dll \
Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql.dll \
Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.SqlTasks.targets \
Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Tasks.Sql.dll \
Microsoft.Data.Tools.Utilities.dll \
Microsoft.SqlServer.Dac.dll \
Microsoft.SqlServer.Dac.Extensions.dll \
Microsoft.SqlServer.TransactSql.ScriptDom.dll \
Microsoft.SqlServer.Types.dll \
System.ComponentModel.Composition.dll \
System.IO.Packaging.dll \
/app/BuildDirectory && \
rm -r /tmp/sqltools
#dotnet build your-database-project.sqlproj /p:NetCoreBuild=true /p:NETCoreTargetsPath="/app/BuildDirectory"
The commented command at the end shows what you could run inside the container in the directory with your database project.
This can also then be combined with a container utilizing sqlpackage to implement a full dacpac build and publish automation toolset.
As mentioned, the easiest way to build DacPac file on a linux agent is done via MSBuild.Sdk.SqlProj
Go to your database project directory in parallel to .sqlproj file create a directory like DB.Build under it create DB.Build.csproj copy.pase the content as below
<Project Sdk="MSBuild.Sdk.SqlProj/1.1.0"> <!-- This will pull in the required tools and dependencies to build a .dacpac with .NET Core -->
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="..\src\DB\masterdata\**\*.sql" /> <!-- link in the new .csproj to the .sql scripts in your existing database project -->
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
After run you will see dacpac file appears under DB.Build/bin/Release/netstandard2.0/DB.Build.dacpac
Here's my build agent output (Ubuntu agent on Azure devops)
Starting: SQL DB build Release
==============================================================================
Task : .NET Core
Description : Build, test, package, or publish a dotnet application, or run a custom dotnet command
Version : 2.187.0
Author : Microsoft Corporation
Help : https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/build/dotnet-core-cli
==============================================================================
Info: .NET Core SDK/runtime 2.2 and 3.0 are now End of Life(EOL) and have been removed from all hosted agents. If you're using these SDK/runtimes on hosted agents, kindly upgrade to newer versions which are not EOL, or else use UseDotNet task to install the required version.
/opt/hostedtoolcache/dotnet/dotnet build /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.csproj -dl:CentralLogger,"/home/vsts/work/_tasks/DotNetCoreCLI_5541a522-603c-47ad-91fc-a4b1d163081b/2.187.0/dotnet-build-helpers/Microsoft.TeamFoundation.DistributedTask.MSBuild.Logger.dll"*ForwardingLogger,"/home/vsts/work/_tasks/DotNetCoreCLI_5541a522-603c-47ad-91fc-a4b1d163081b/2.187.0/dotnet-build-helpers/Microsoft.TeamFoundation.DistributedTask.MSBuild.Logger.dll" --configuration Release /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation=/home/vsts/work/1/recommender-service-cicd/DacPac/
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.5.0+d4cbfca49 for .NET Core
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Restore completed in 51.72 ms for /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.csproj.
Using package name RecommenderAPI.DB.Build and version 1.0.0
Using SQL Server version Sql150
Deleting existing file /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/obj/Release/netstandard2.0/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.dacpac
Writing model to /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/obj/Release/netstandard2.0/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.dacpac
RecommenderAPI.DB.Build -> /home/vsts/work/1/s/src/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build/bin/Release/netstandard2.0/RecommenderAPI.DB.Build.dacpac
Build succeeded.
0 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:01.71
Finishing: SQL DB build Release
Note: Make sure to restore you NuGet packages in step prior to build
I have an SSIS package (created in VS 2013) that contains a C# 2012 Script Task.
The job of the script task is to download a file from an SFTP server using WinSCP .NET assembly and place it on my server (Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014)
My package runs fine when I run it on my Dev machine, but when I deploy to the server my package fails at this task with the error message
Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation
I've done some digging and it looks like it has something to do with the reference to WinSCPnet.dll.
Quoting WinSCP article on Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation:
This is just a high-level exception. The root cause is usually stored in the InnerException.
If you are getting this exception in SSIS, you can use try … catch block to capture the error, as show in the example for using WinSCP .NET Assembly from SSIS.
If you cannot access the inner exception easily, inspect WinSCP session log and debug log file (Session.SessionLogPath, Session.DebugLogPath). If those file are not even created, the root cause can be loading of WinSCPnet.dll assembly. See Could not load file or assembly ‘file:///…\WinSCPnet.dll’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified..
Installing the assembly to allow its loading is covered in Installing section of Using WinSCP .NET Assembly from SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS):
Installing
First, you need to install the WinSCP .NET assembly. Do not use the NuGet package.1
You also need to install the assembly to the GAC or subscribe AppDomain.AssemblyResolve event to allow loading the assembly.
The installation to GAC is covered by Installing to GAC section of Installation instructions for WinSCP .NET assembly:
Installing to GAC
In special cases, you may need to install the assembly into Global Assembly Cache (GAC), particularly to use it from SSIS.
When you install the assembly to GAC, you need to configure a path to WinSCP executable.
On Development Machine
To install the assembly into GAC on development machine, i.e. the one that has Windows SDK installed, use following command:
gacutil.exe /i WinSCPnet.dll
Windows SDK comes with Microsoft Visual Studio. You can also install it separately.
Use correct gacutil.exe for your version of .NET framework:
For .NET framework 4.0 or newer, use gacutil from Windows SDK 7.1 (or newer):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\bin\gacutil.exe;
For .NET framework 3.5, use gacutil from Windows SDK 6.0:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bin\gacutil.exe
On Production or User's Machine
To install the assembly into GAC on production or user’s machine, you may install the assembly into GAC using:
Windows Installer, by creating .msi package;
Any other installer system that supports installing to GAC, e.g. Inno Setup;
System.EnterpriseServices.Internal.Publish.GacInstall method. PowerShell example:
Add-Type -AssemblyName "System.EnterpriseServices"
$publish = New-Object System.EnterpriseServices.Internal.Publish
$publish.GacInstall("WinSCPnet.dll")
An absolute path to the DLL needs to be specified and Administrator privileges are required. Otherwise the above method will fail (and the only indication of the failure is sent to Windows Event log).
See How to fix NuGet WinSCP.NET in SSIS Script Task?
You need to install WinSCPnet.dll in the Global Assembly Cache for SSIS to pick up this dependency, see this blog for further details. You can install a DLL in the GAC using the following steps, see the documentation for further details:
Copy the WinSCPnet assembly to your local computer into a folder.
Start Visual Studio Command Prompt.
Type the following command: gacutil.exe /if ""
This installs the assembly to the GAC, overwriting any existing assembly that has the same assembly name.
If you have already registered the appropriate Dll's are are still getting this error, and you are passing in variables that are package-scoped, be sure to add them to the "ReadOnlyVariables" in the script task.
Right click on the task and click "Edit...", then click the "..." on the "ReadOnlyVariables" property, and add the variables that are referenced in your script.
I'm attempting to build a .sqlproj on a TFS Build Server. I've followed the instructions here:
http://sqlproj.com/index.php/2012/03/headless-msbuild-support-for-ssdt-sqlproj-projects/
which I was directed to from here:
How to build .sqlproj projects on a build server?
But I still cannot build. The error is:
C:\Program Files
(x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\SSDT\Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.SqlTasks.targets
(441): The "SqlModelResolutionTask" task could not be instantiated
from "C:\Program Files
(x86)\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\SQLDB\Dac\120\Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Tasks.Sql.11.dll".
System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for
'Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Tasks.Sql.DataTask' threw an exception.
---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The
system cannot find the file specified. at
Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql.Extensibility.ToolingShim.ConfigureExtensions()
--- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Tasks.Sql.DataTask..ctor()
The SqlTasks.targets file, used by the SQL project, references this:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Microsoft\SQLDB\Dac\120\Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Tasks.Sql.11.dll
which in turn references the invalid version mentioned above.
However, the files installed by the process in the link above don't install this version. They do install version 10.3.0.0, which is referenced by
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\110\DAC\bin\Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Tasks.Sql.12.dll
but this file is not the one used by the .targets file.
I don't know what the numbers at the end of this dll mean, but it seems odd to me that the one ending 12.dll references an earlier version of the one ending 11.dll.
I'm using Visual Studio 2013 and SQL Server 2012 - neither of which are installed on the build server, which I believe is the recommended situation. I don't know what the IDE folder is, or why the .targets file is using it.
I've spent about two days now trying to get this to build, but I'm out of ideas. Anyone know what's going on?
If you are running VS2013 SSDT is built into VS as long as you select it on the install screen. Install VS2013 with SSDT onto your build server. create a build definition and under Process > Build > Advanced Add the following to the MSBuild arguments to build the sql proj
/t:Build
if you have a publish profile and want to test publishing to SQL then add the publish switch and provide the link to the profile file
/t:Publish /p:SqlPublishProfilePath=MyDB.publish.xml.
this will publish the db to the server specified in the publish file.
the publish profile file can be created by opening the project in Visual Studio, right click on the project and select publish. Select save once you are happy with the publish options and then check in the file to source control so the build can find it, (project Root).
I was having this issue building a SQL Server project on an Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline. None of the pre-built build tasks would work for me. And it is not possible to install a VS instance on the build server, I guess.
I solved this by avoiding to add a SQL Server project to the solution.
I achieved this by using an MSBuild SDK, capable of producing a SQL Server Data-Tier Application package (.dacpac) from the set of SQL scripts. By adding this second project to the solution, I managed to continue taking advantage of linking the project to a live database through SQL Server Object Explorer on Visual Studio. I gave a more detailed explanation in this answer.
We have a VB.Net Winforms (x86) application that uses the freely redistributable version of Crystal Reports. Although the application works fine on my test machine, when installing on a client's machine and trying to print a report from the application, the error: The system cannot find the file specified. File name: 'CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine ... is displayed.
The inno-setup includes the CR redistributable "CRRedist2008_x86.msi" which was installed by the client during the installation. (We also tried running the "CRRedist2008_x64.msi" but received an "unsupported processor type" error).
I have read about Merge Modules that are prerequisites for .NET 1/2 (VS 2002/2005), but cannot find any useful information related to .NET 3.5 and am wondering if these files are still required and how to package and deploy them if they are in fact needed.
Any guidance on how to resolve this installation issue is much appreciated.
Edit
The Inno-Setup contains the following command that checks to see if CR is installed and if not the MSI is launched from the final setup form:
[Run]
Filename: "{app}\CRRedist2008_x86.msi"; Description: "Crystal Reports"; Flags: nowait postinstall skipifsilent; Check: EnsureCrystalReports105Installed();
The problem is that you are not actually executing the MSI file. You can see this by running your installer with /LOG and reviewing the resulting log file.
This is because MSI files cannot be directly executed -- they're data files, not programs.
To resolve this, you need to run msiexec instead, passing the MSI file as a parameter; eg.
[Run]
Filename: {sys}\msiexec.exe; Parameters: "/i ""{app}\CRRedist2008_x86.msi"""; ...
You should review the command line parameters accepted by msiexec and properties accepted by the MSI file to see if you want to do something different, eg. running the install silently instead of interactively.
Also, running it as postinstall is fine if this component is optional for your application and it can gracefully handle it not being installed. If this is not the case then you should treat it as a prerequisite instead and always install it via PrepareToInstall.
I've written my first C#.NET WinForms application and am ready to publish the first build for users to install. I'm using log4net as my logging utility, and have it set as:
<appender name="ErrorAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
<param name="File" value="Logs\"/>
<param name="AppendToFile" value="true"/>
<param name="DatePattern" value="yyyy-MM-dd' Log.txt'" />
// etc
When I build my application, however, nothing ever gets logged. While running in visual studio, everything goes to /bin/Debug/Logs/yyyy-MM-dd Log.txt.
How do I specify where my program should install to, and what the working directory should be?
Keep in mind this program is fairly minimal (<6K lines of code) and I don't really know the difference in all the publishing types inside of visual studio. I just want to distribute an .exe to my users and track errors under a directory such as C:\Program Files\myapp. What am I doing wrong?
EDIT: When I right click the program and go to Properties from within the solution explorer, I'm setting the following options (which may be incorrect, I've never done this before):
Build -> All Configurations -> Output Path: C:\Program Files\myapp\bin\
Debug -> All Configurations -> Working directory: C:\Program Files\myapp\bin\
Publish -> Publish Location: C:\Program Files\myapp\Publish\
Publish Wizard -> Publish Location: C:\Program Files\myapp\Publish\
Publish Wizard -> From a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
Publish Wizard -> The application will not check for updates
Are these settings correct or am I royally screwing something up? What I would like is for the user to be prompted an install location (defaulted to: C:\Program Files\myapp), and this location always be used for the working directory (so I know where the log file is). How do I achieve this?
Since you are using Click Once for deployment, the application will not be in the typical C:\Program Files\myapp directory.
Vista and Windows 7:
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\<obscure foler>\<obscure folder>
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\LocalSettings\Apps\2.0\<obscure foler>\<obscure folder>
Dig around in those directories and you should see the log4net files.
Edit
An alternative to Click Once deployment is the Visual Studio installer: Walkthrough: Deploying a Windows-based Application. This will allow you to install the application in the standard C:\Program Files\myapp directory.
I'd recommend you create few dummy projects with the installer to gain some familiarity with the various options. Initially, creating MSI's with the installer can seem daunting if you haven't used it before; after a bit of usage, the VS installer will become quite easy to use.
Another suggestion would be to test your installers on a virtual machine so you don't do anything inadvertently in your personal environment.
When running in Visual Studio the log files get written under the Debug folder as that's where the exe is.
When you install the application to C:\Program Files\myapp (or where ever) the logs will be created relative to that location and so should be in C:\Program Files\myapp\Logs/yyyy-MM-dd Log.txt - assuming that the user has rights to create directories and files at that location.
The simplest way to prove this is to install the application and run it. Then check where the log file is created.