Can I build a console application into my C# GUI application?

Question

Is it possible to include a command line utility in my C# WinForm Application? To be more specific, is it possible to compile a command line util into an .exe file so that I can write a GUI to control the command line tool?

Answer 1

If you have a dependency on another application, then packaging that utility inside your EXE is a bad idea, because that means every time that dependency is updated, you should be updating your application. I would just build your windows application and help the user find the required EXE. This is how Exact Audio Copy works which relies on another 3rd party application for encoding (specifically LAME ).