How to run my C# Visual Studio Application with Mono under Linux?

i have written a C# .NET 4.5 WinForms application with Visual Studio 2013. Now i would like to run this application with Mono on my Linux machine (Mint 17.1).

I have already done the following steps:

Analysed my .exe under Windows with the Mono Migration Analyser
- All tests of Moma were pass (i had to adapt a RTL property)
Installed mono-complete (apt-get install mono-complete, current version is 3.2.8)
compiled with xbuild (no options) my csproj file (0 errors 1 warning: /usr/lib/mono/4.5/Microsoft.Common.targets: warning : Reference 'System.Deployment' not resolved)
tried to start the application with ./app.exe from my console

The application does not start, but i see an exception, which doesn't give me any hint about what could be wrong. Here is the excepion:

Unhandled Exception:
System.ArgumentException: dataMember
  at System.Windows.Forms.ListBindingHelper.GetList (System.Object dataSource, System.String dataMember) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource.ResetList () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource.set_DataMember (System.String value) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource:set_DataMember (string)
  at mda.vaulty.main.Database.VaultManagment.InitializeBindingSources () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at mda.vaulty.main.Database.VaultManagment..ctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at mda.vaulty.main.MainForm..ctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) mda.vaulty.main.MainForm:.ctor ()
  at mda.vaulty.main.Program.Main () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
[ERROR] FATAL UNHANDLED EXCEPTION: System.ArgumentException: dataMember
  at System.Windows.Forms.ListBindingHelper.GetList (System.Object dataSource, System.String dataMember) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource.ResetList () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource.set_DataMember (System.String value) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource:set_DataMember (string)
  at mda.vaulty.main.Database.VaultManagment.InitializeBindingSources () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at mda.vaulty.main.Database.VaultManagment..ctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at mda.vaulty.main.MainForm..ctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) mda.vaulty.main.MainForm:.ctor ()
  at mda.vaulty.main.Program.Main () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

The project is a .NET 4.5 project, which as far as i know is fully compatible with Mono. I am using a strong typed DataSet, DataGrids with DataBindings and user specific application settings. Could one of those Components cause the problem? The app.config is created by the xbuild process and it contains the expected content (app settings with default values).

What is also created by the xbuild compiler, is an mdb file. But this file unknown to me, because VS2013 does not create such.

Do you have an idea why the application is not starting?

Thanks,

Regards,

Michael

Solution

at (wrapper remoting-invoke-with-check) System.Windows.Forms.BindingSource:set_DataMember (string) at mda.vaulty.main.Database.VaultManagment.InitializeBindingSources () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at mda.vaulty.main.Database.VaultManagment..ctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 at mda.vaulty.main.MainForm..ctor () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0

It appears that you do not have a database/datasource defined on your Linux/Mint box and thus the filename exception. Out of the box, Mono provides a SQLite install but that is it. There are (were) a number of ODBC providers available for various flavors of Linux at one time (check with your DB provider).

This of course would not be checked this Moma.

Also, I would recommend running it under Mono on your Windows box. Install a Windows build of mono and try running your app.

Mono ODBC / http://www.mono-framework.com/ODBC

BTW: mdb files are mono's version of pdb files for debug builds. They contain extra info (fully-qualified paths to source files, symbols, etc.. for the soft debugger (i.e. gdb)