Run .exe File with Dependencies on Location - c++

Question

I have a Visual Studio project (Project 1) that generates an executable file (a.exe). I have a project (Project 2) that runs the executable from project (Project 1) multiple times with different command line arguments. On the command line I can run:
C:\filepath\Solution\Project1> a.exe //command 1
But I cannot run:
C:\filepath\Solution\Project2> C:\filepath\Solution\Project1\a.exe //command 2
Because the .exe file depends on the surrounding file hierarchy.
In Project 2, I can run a system call to execute command 2, but I hit hierarchy/location dependency issues. The Solution structure is as follows:
Solution
--> Project 1
--> a.exe
--> Project 2
--> main.cpp // this will run system call to command 2
Is there any way I can get around this without changing the a.exe file?

Answer 1

In Project2, how are you executing Project1's .exe? If you set the Current Working Directory (CWD) to the folder where Project1's .exe resides, it should work as expected:
var p = new ProcessStartInfo(#"C:\Project1\bin\project1.exe");
p.WorkingDirectory = #"C:\Project1\bin";
Process.Start(p);
If this doesn't work for whatever reason, you can simply copy the entirety of Project1's binary output and the associated file structure into Project2's output folder. There are two ways to do this:
Option 1 (preferred): Add the binary output of Project1 to Project2. To do this, right-click on the Project2 node in Solution Explorer, select Add | Existing item... In the "Add Existing Item" dialog, change the file type to "All Files". Navigate to Project1's bin folder, select the Project1 .exe and all dependencies, click the "down arrow" on the right side of the "Add" button, and select "Add as link". In Solution Explorer, select the newly-added file links in Project2, and in Properties change "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy if newer". For each subfolder in Project1's bin folder, you must use Solution Explorer to create a new corresponding folder in Project1, then repeat this process for all files in that subfolder.
Option 2: Create a post-build step to copy Project1's binaries and surrounding folder heirarchy to Project2's bin folder. To do this, right-click on the Project2 node in Solution Explorer and select Properties. Go to Build Events, and enter a Post-build command line such as the following:
xcopy "C:\Project1\bin\" "$(TargetDir)" /S
Option 1 is preferred because with Option 2, external tools are less likely to realize Project 2's dependency on Project1. In both cases, Project2 must be updated to run the Project1 .exe directly from Project2's output folder.
Good luck!