visual studio 2010 - Include 3rd party dll in the Sharepoint project while packaging the wsp

Question

In one of my projects I am using a 3rd party dll which is from Codeplex. While I was developing my code in my development box I had used gacutil command to get it added into GAC.

Now, I need to send the wsp for the project to teh Test Team for deployment on our Test box and they do not take individual dll.

How can I package the third party dll along with the wsp that I am sending so that it gets deployed into GAC and is used by the code.

Please let me know.

Answer 1

why are you locally using gacutil.exe?

To include external assemblies in your SharePoint project, for example lets take the Ninject.dll, you just add the assembly as reference to your project as you would do in any other CLR project.

To ensure that the Ninject.dll is included in your WSP you have to open the Package Configuration - just open the "Package" node in your SharePoint project and dbl. click the given entry. Scroll down to the end of the screen and open the advanced mode. There you can add an assembly for deployment. Just simply use the "Add Assembly -> Add Assembly from Project Output" Action and select Ninject.dll.

When packaging the next time your custom assembly will be included in your WSP.

Cheers