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Cannot access embedded resource in asp.net

I'm trying to move an image and a style sheet from a user control to embedded resources in the assembly. I have used Reflector to see that the image and .css file are embedded in the assembly, but when I try to access them using the URL created by ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(), the resource is not found. I'm stumped.
Assembly default namespace:
TestWebApp
The paths to the files (marked as BuildAction: Embedded Resource) are
TestWebApp/Resources/CSS/PaymentHistory.css
TestWebApp/Resources/Images/loading.gif
And so my resources are registered as:
[assembly: WebResource("TestWebApp.Resources.CSS.PaymentHistory.css", "text/css", PerformSubstitution = true)]
[assembly: WebResource("TestWebApp.Resources.Images.loading.gif", "image/gif")]
User Control (in the same assembly) that accesses the resources :
TestWebApp.UserControls.PaymentHistory
To simplify, I'm currently just trying to reference the image and not the stylesheet. In my user control's Page_Load, I set the ImageUrl of an Image control to the resource URL:
image1.ImageUrl = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(this.GetType(), "TestWebApp.Resources.Images.loading.gif");
At runtime, everything appears to work without errors but it renders a broken image. Here is the rendered image source:
<img style="border-width:0px;" src="/WebResource.axd?d=8fC_1tLPjrUCxmFc_Q2MKY0-pHAak-sTWkpLLV3D56H_c08LujXC63ia2PNICE65_i-Q4JqprAigLpbrXG-rIAr6ePO4HHcdQKgdd3szlThv2gizxOJLJsPRNe-b_M6ApTwPsH_5oZAuONTN0cumOTRr1nA1&t=635133745137507721" id="ph1_image1">
If I navigate to that URL in my browser, I get a 404, The resource cannot be found. What am I doing wrong?
EDIT:
There must be something fundamental I'm not understanding and/or I'm doing something really stupid. Here is a simple VS 2010 example. I have followed all of the required steps I'm aware of to embed JScript1.js and access it via WebResource.axd, but it gets the error.

In the Default.aspx.cs file of your example project, change this.GetType() to typeof(_Default):
Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptInclude("JScript1",
Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(typeof(_Default), "EmbeddedResources.JScript1.js"));
Similarly, in the PaymentHistory.ascx.cs file, change this.GetType() to typeof(PaymentHistory):
image1.ImageUrl = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(
typeof(PaymentHistory), "TestWebApp.Resources.Images.loading.gif");
Explanation: GetWebResourceUrl looks at the type argument to determine which assembly contains the embedded resource. Specifying this.GetType() as the type is incorrect because, in an .aspx or .ascx code-behind class, this.GetType() refers not to that class but rather to the derived class that gets dynamically generated from the .aspx or .ascx markup. This derived class resides in a separate assembly, so GetWebResourceUrl can't find the embedded resource.

Is the resource in a separate project or in the same project as your User Control? If separate you have to substitute this.GetType() with an object's GetType() function that resides in the separate project.
If in the same project, just do Page.GetType(), because you want a reference to the page and not the user control

First of all, the type that you are passing to the GetWebResourceUrl call (or to the RegisterClientScriptResource I show below) is actually there to point to which assembly contains your resource. The problem is that "this.GetType()" is returning a type that is not in the current executing assembly (as strange as that may be).
The following 2 lines demonstrate the issue.
Response.Write(this.GetType().Assembly.FullName + "<br>");
Response.Write(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName + "<br>");
The first line returns the name of a "App_Web_??????" assembly. The second returns the expected "EmbeddedResources" assembly.
In the call below, I just pass in the first type I get back from the executing assembly and the call works.
Page.ClientScript.RegisterClientScriptResource(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetTypes()[0], names[0]);
this.GetType() actually returns a type that the web server creates that inherits from your type. That is why typeof(_Default) would also work to designate the correct assembly.

Here you can see a code in Vb.NET that uses the Reflection library to detect the current Assembly Name and the current NameSpace.
If you concatenate the namespace with embedded image name, you can use the command Page.clientScript.GetWebResourceURL to generate a link for image as you see in first function
In second function, you see a loop in all of resources name until find the complete name of embedded resouce.
Friend Class ReadResources
' Get our assembly.
Private Shared executingAssembly As System.Reflection.Assembly = Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
' Get our namespace.
Private Shared myNamespace As String = executingAssembly.GetName().Name.ToString()
''' <summary>
''' Generate resource link
''' </summary>
Friend Shared Function GetResourceLink(ByVal ref As String,
ByVal obj As Object,
ByVal page As Web.UI.Page) As String
Dim out As String = Nothing
out = Page.ClientScript.GetWebResourceUrl(obj.GetType, myNamespace & "." & ref)
If out Is Nothing OrElse out.Length <= 0 Then
out = FindResource(ref, obj)
End If
Return out
End Function
Friend Shared Function FindResource(ByVal reference As String,
ByVal obj As Object) As String
Dim out As String = ""
For Each embedded In obj.GetType().Assembly.GetManifestResourceNames()
If embedded.Contains(reference) Then
out = embedded
Exit For
End If
Next
Return out
End Function
End Class

Why does GetManifestResourceStream returns null while the resource name exists when calling GetManifestResourceNames?

I have a web application project. I generated the DLL and import it in another project. I implemented VirtualPathProvider.
I followed this web site: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910441/en-us?spid=8940&sid=global, and everything works until I add another site master.
I added site_export.master and changed its Build Action to Embedded Resource.
I changed my page to use the new site master.
GetManifestResourceStream() returns null when I load site_export.master.
I call GetManifestResourceNames() to check if site_export.master exists in the DLL and it does. It's in the list. All of the name spaces match. I didn't list the name space out here.
Why can't GetManifestResourceStream() load my new site_export.master? It loads site.master just fine. I know my DLL is loaded because I can see other files in the DLL.

Remember the following issues...
Step 1. Build action set to embedded resource see
C#’s GetManifestResourceStream Gotcha
Step 2. Use namespace.resourcename see GetManifestResourceStream() returns null ?
Actually, this method returns null if a private resource in another assembly is accessed and the caller does not have ReflectionPermission with the ReflectionPermissionFlag.MemberAccess flag.

Side-hint. To make sure you're in the right assembly and with right name: dump and evaluate all the resources available in your target assembly
string[] names = assembly.GetManifestResourceNames();
(in my case, I misused a namespace from another assembly)

I did this to make it work:
Step 1: Select the resource (CRDF.xsl in my case) and right click > Properties.
Set Build Action to "EmbeddedResource" and Logical Name to name of your choice, e.g. CRDFXSL.
Step 2 : Change your Source code like this:
Assembly _assembly;
_assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
xslStream = _assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("CRDFXSL");
_xmlReader = XmlReader.Create(xslStream);
Thus everything went smoooooooth..

Hint and Caution:
If the "Assembly name" and "Default namespace" does not match in the project file then also GetManifestResourceStream would return null. GetManifestResourceNames still returns the names of assemblies but during loading the manifest would not work.

Try this:
Dim ctx As Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core.ResourceContext = New Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core.ResourceContext()
ctx.Languages = {Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.Name}
Dim rmap As Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core.ResourceMap = Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core.ResourceManager.Current.MainResourceMap
Dim res = rmap.GetValue("Assets/sample.png", ctx)
Dim resFile = Await res.GetValueAsFileAsync
The Windows.ApplicationModel.Resources.Core.ResourceManager.Current.MainResourceMap list all resources.

How to read names and versions of assemblies

I have to create an application to read the name of all DLLs (assemblies) in my application path along with its version. And also to read the same of all the dll in the sub folders.
How to do this in C#. Can any one help me with sample code?
EDIT : how to read details of Legacy dlls( External dlls- not created in .NET)
Thanks in advance.

You should search through your given root directory by calling Directory.GetFiles(). You can run through the result and load every assembly by calling Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom() (cause if you load it that way it won't be added to the AppDomain, thous no unload is needed).
With these Assembly classes you can access the GetName() function and take a look into the Version property to get the version information.
Other properties, that are not easily to get, can be reached through the GetCustomAttribute() function like this:
((AssemblyCopyrightAttribute)assembly.GetCustomAttribute(typeof(AssemblyCopyrightAttribute), true).Copyright
With these informations you should be able to built up the list you like.
Update:
And here's the obligatory linq code sample:
var rootPath = #"C:\MyRoot\Folder";
var query = Directory.GetFiles(rootPath, "*.dll", SearchOption.AllDirectories)
.Select(fileName =>
{
try
{
return Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(fileName);
}
catch
{
return null;
}
})
.Where(assembly => assembly != null)
.Select(assembly => new
{
Version = assembly.GetName().Version.ToString(),
Name = assembly.GetName().Name
});
foreach (var infos in query)
{
Console.WriteLine(infos.Name + " " + infos.Version);
}
Update 2:
So to get it from normal DLLs you should take a look into this question.

I'm a bit confused on what you actually want, but check the Assembly class: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.assembly.aspx

Use Assembly.Load. There is one problem, you can't unload it, so if you do it too much times your memory will be filled by garbage.

If you call AssemblyName.GetAssemblyName, the assembly doesn't get loaded into your appdomain.
To include subfolders, you'll likely need to write a recursive function. Directory.GetDirectories or DirectoryInfo.GetDirectories can be used to retrieve all subfolders.

Use Assembly.GetName() to get an object, where you can extract the assembly version, as one part of an assemblies name is its version.
As already mentioned above, an assembly loaded with Assembly.Load cannot be unloaded and therefore remains in memory. You can however create a separate AppDomain, which you can unload again. Data transfer between AppDomains is possible by passing serializable objects, which is no problem for you because you just want to pass a string.
If you actually want to load the assemblies in the context of an extendable application, have a look at MEF.
Best Regards,
Oliver Hanappi

Use Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom if you don't need to execute any code from that assembly and you want only gather some info about members contained inside.

Why doesn't my ScriptReference find the Embedded Resource?

I have an AJAX control project that has a .js file which is configured as an embedded resource.
My main web application references this project, and when I try to load up the control I get this error:
Assembly does not contain a Web resource with name 'MyFile.js'.
Here is my implementation of getScriptReferences:
public IEnumerable GetScriptReferences()
{
// create reference to the JS
ScriptReference jsReference = new ScriptReference();
jsReference.Assembly = "MyNamespace";
jsReference.Name = "MyNamespace.MyFile.js";
return new ScriptReference[] { jsReference };
}
I'm not quite sure what I'm missing. I've tried changing the Name parameter to be just the file name, the namespace and file name, the namespace, assembly, and file name...and I"m not having any luck. Any suggestions are appreciated.

You have to define the web resource in code on the assembly that contains your embedded resource. Typically you would do this in an AssemblyInfo.vb or .cs file.
[assembly: System.Web.UI.WebResource(
"MyNamespace.MyFile.js",
"text/javascript", PerformSubstitution = true)]
See this article if you need some more help.

Did you make sure to add an entry for the Javascript file into your AssemblyInfo.cs? Something like:
[assembly: WebResource("MyNamespace.MyFile.js", "text/javascript")]
Otherwise, the assembly won't allow access to the resource.

Get Assembly name at compile time in Visual Studio

Is there a way to find out the assembly name at design-time (i.e. not using reflection or runtime APIs such as System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly) from within Visual Studio?
The scenario requires a tool to get the assembly name that a Visual Studio project will eventually compile into.
This is like parsing the AssemblyName property of the .csproj - I am wondering if there are any APIs that can give this information reliably.
Please do not respond back with runtime APIs that use reflection - there is no assembly file present at the time I need the assembly name - just the metadata of the assembly in the csproj file.

if you are calling the tool via a post/pre-build event, this data is very easy to access.
Just go to the "project properties->Build Events" tab, then select either "edit pre-build" or "edit post-build", depending on when you want the tool to run. This should bring up an edit window with the ever helpful "Macros >>" button. Press this and you will be given a heap of macros to use and should be pretty much everything you need.

The "API" you could use is LINQ to XML after all the .csproj file is just xml. (and you can get the location of the .csproj file if you need from the solution file which for some reason is not XML but can be easily parsed)

You can use "TargetName" available in Macros for Post-build events. It will give you the assembly name for your project.

After a quick run through MSDN I found this article which might be a good start for some further research:
Accessing Project Type Specific Project, Project Item, and Configuration Properties

I think you will need to write some regular expression that will give you the value of "AssemblyTitle" attribute in AssemblyInfo.cs file.
Something like this:
public class Assembly
{
public static string GetTitle (string fileFullName) {
var contents = File.ReadAllText (fileFullName); //may raise exception if file doesn't exist
//regex string is: AssemblyTitle\x20*\(\x20*"(?<Title>.*)"\x20*\)
//loading from settings because it is annoying to type it in editor
var reg = new Regex (Settings.Default.Expression);
var match = reg.Match (contents);
var titleGroup = match.Groups["Title"];
return (match.Success && titleGroup.Success) ? titleGroup.Value : String.Empty;
}
}