Develop Reference

C# Loading assemblies dynamically

I'm having an issue when compiling text into dynamic objects at runtime.
I wrote a simple piece of code to compile the text:
public class CompileFactory
{
public dynamic Compile(String classCode, String mainClass, Object[] requiredAssemblies)
{
CSharpCodeProvider provider = new CSharpCodeProvider(new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{ "CompilerVersion", "v4.0" }
});
CompilerParameters parameters = new CompilerParameters
{
GenerateExecutable = true, // Create a dll
GenerateInMemory = true, // Create it in memory
WarningLevel = 3, // Default warning level
CompilerOptions = "/optimize", // Optimize code
TreatWarningsAsErrors = false // Better be false to avoid break in warnings
};
// Add all extra assemblies required
foreach (var extraAsm in requiredAssemblies)
{
parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(extraAsm as string);
}
CompilerResults results = provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, classCode);
if (results.Errors.Count != 0)
{
return "FAILED";
}
return results.CompiledAssembly.CreateInstance(mainClass); ;
}
}
This is how I am using the Compile method.
List<string> assemblies = new List<string>{"System.Net.Mail.dll", "System.Net.dll"};
dynamic obj = compile.Compile(fileText, pluginName, assemblies.ToArray());
As you can see I'm adding references to extra assemblies at some point. For some reason when I add using System.Net; to the text file, it will not be referenced and I get errors. The text I'm compiling is literally a .cs file saved as text. I thought of working around this by extracting the using * and adding them separately, however for when adding System.Net.Mail.dll, the metadata file cannot be found.
Has anyone experienced something similar? I really would like to just add the using * to the file and be ready with it.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

The issue here is that System.Net.dll does not exist. You can check in which assembly a .Net type is by right clicking somewhere it is referenced and choosing "Go to definition". This will bring up a tab with the class definition "from metadata". At the top of this file, you've got a #region showing where this type comes from. In the case of a TcpClient, we can see this:
#region Assembly System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
// C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.5.2\System.dll
#endregion
Change your call to Compile with "System.dll" instead of "System.Net.dll" and it should work just fine
Edit/Clarification: It is not possible to get an assembly name from a using statement.

Add new cs files on-the-fly to load on my running application?

I have a command handler which basically works like this:
ControlList.Handlers[CommandType.MyCommandComesHere].Handle(data);
Handlers is a Dictionary<CommandType, ICommandHandler> and CommandType is a enum.
Handle by its turn would lead it to this:
using System;
using log4net;
namespace My_Application
{
public class MyCommand : ICommandHandler
{
private static readonly ILog Logger = LogManager.GetLogger(typeof(MyCommand));
public void Handle(Events data)
{
Console.WriteLine("I can load cs files on the fly yay!!");
}
}
}
My question is how can I make so my application would compile and let me use that cs file while its running?
Any simple example of this would be greatly appreciated but not required as long as I can get some pointers as to what I need to look for as I am not even sure what do I need to make this happen.
To put it simple I am currently trying to understand how could I load a cs file into my application that is already compiled and is currently running.

Using CodeDOM, you need to first create a compiler provider. (You might want to set GenerateExecutable to false and GenerateInMemory to true for your purposes.)
var csc = new CSharpCodeProvider();
var parameters = new CompilerParameters(new[] { "mscorlib.dll", "System.Core.dll" }, "foo.exe", true);
parameters.GenerateExecutable = false;
parameters.GenerateInMemory = true;
Then, you can compile the assembly using CompileAssemblyFromSource and get the CompilerResults returned from it. From this returned object, get a reference to the generated assembly, using its CompiledAssembly property.
var results = csc.CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, "contents of the .cs file");
var assembly = results.CompiledAssembly;
Then you can use reflection to create instances from that assembly and call methods on them.
var instance = assembly.CreateInstance("MyCommand");
// etc...
Alternatively, if you're only interested in short code snippets, it might be worth it to use Roslyn instead. You need to create a ScriptEngine first.
var engine = new ScriptEngine();
Then you can just Execute strings on it - or Execute<T> if you're confident that the expression in the string returns a type assignable to T.
var myObject = engine.Execute("1+1");
var myInt = engine.Execute<int>("1+1");
It's definitely more immediate, so it's worth looking into if it serves your purpose.

I have looked for different ways to achieve this and found cs script library lightweight and usable. Here is code snippet how I use it. It runs cs code within app domain so it presumes, that the cs script being compiled comes form trusted source.
using CSScriptLibrary;
using csscript;
using System.CodeDom.Compiler;
using System.Reflection;
//Method example - variable script contains cs code
//This is used to compile cs to DLL and save DLL to a defined location
public Assembly GetAssembly(string script, string assemblyFileName)
{
Assembly assembly;
CSScript.CacheEnabled = true;
try
{
bool debugBuild = false;
#if DEBUG
debugBuild = true;
#endif
if (assemblyFileName == null)
assembly = CSScript.LoadCode(script, null);
else
assembly = CSScript.LoadCode(script, assemblyFileName, debugBuild, null);
return assembly;
}
catch (CompilerException e)
{
//Handle compiler exceptions
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Runs the code either form script text or precompiled DLL
/// </summary>
public void Run(string script)
{
try
{
string tmpPath = GetPathToDLLs(); //Path, where you store precompiled DLLs
string assemblyFileName;
Assembly assembly = null;
if (Directory.Exists(tmpPath))
{
assemblyFileName = Path.Combine(tmpPath, GetExamScriptFileName(exam));
if (File.Exists(assemblyFileName))
{
try
{
assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom(assemblyFileName); //Načtení bez kompilace
}
catch (Exception exAssemblyLoad)
{
Tools.LogError(exAssemblyLoad.Message);
assembly = null;
}
}
}
else
assemblyFileName = null;
//If assembly not found, compile it form script string
if (assembly ==null)
assembly = GetAssembly(script, assemblyFileName);
AsmHelper asmHelper = new AsmHelper(assembly);
//This is how I use the compiled assembly - it depends on your actual code
ICalculateScript calcScript = (ICalculateScript)asmHelper.CreateObject(GetExamScriptClassName(exam));
cex = calcScript.Calculate(this, exam);
Debug.Print("***** Calculated {0} ****", exam.ZV.ZkouskaVzorkuID);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
//handle exceptions
}
}

Running a runtime compiled C# script in a sandbox AppDomain

My application should be scriptable by the users in C#, but the user's script should run in a restricted AppDomain to prevent scripts accidentally causing damage, but I can't really get it to work, and since my understanding of AppDomains is sadly limited, I can't really tell why.
The solution I am currently trying is based on this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/5998886/276070.
This is a model of my situation (everything except Script.cs residing in a strongly named assembly). Please excuse the wall of code, I could not condense the problem any further.
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Compile the script
CodeDomProvider codeProvider = CodeDomProvider.CreateProvider("CSharp");
CompilerParameters parameters = new CompilerParameters()
{
GenerateExecutable = false,
OutputAssembly = System.IO.Path.GetTempFileName() + ".dll",
};
parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location);
CompilerResults results = codeProvider.CompileAssemblyFromFile(parameters, "Script.cs");
// ... here error checks happen ....//
var sandbox = Sandbox.Create();
var script = (IExecutable)sandbox.CreateInstance(results.PathToAssembly, "Script");
if(script != null)
script.Execute();
}
}
public interface IExecutable
{
void Execute();
}
The Sandbox class:
public class Sandbox : MarshalByRefObject
{
const string BaseDirectory = "Untrusted";
const string DomainName = "Sandbox";
public static Sandbox Create()
{
var setup = new AppDomainSetup()
{
ApplicationBase = Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, BaseDirectory),
ApplicationName = DomainName,
DisallowBindingRedirects = true,
DisallowCodeDownload = true,
DisallowPublisherPolicy = true
};
var permissions = new PermissionSet(PermissionState.None);
permissions.AddPermission(new ReflectionPermission(ReflectionPermissionFlag.RestrictedMemberAccess));
permissions.AddPermission(new SecurityPermission(SecurityPermissionFlag.Execution));
var domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(DomainName, null, setup, permissions,
typeof(Sandbox).Assembly.Evidence.GetHostEvidence<StrongName>());
return (Sandbox)Activator.CreateInstanceFrom(domain, typeof(Sandbox).Assembly.ManifestModule.FullyQualifiedName, typeof(Sandbox).FullName).Unwrap();
}
public object CreateInstance(string assemblyPath, string typeName)
{
new FileIOPermission(FileIOPermissionAccess.Read | FileIOPermissionAccess.PathDiscovery, assemblyPath).Assert();
var assembly = Assembly.LoadFile(assemblyPath);
CodeAccessPermission.RevertAssert();
Type type = assembly.GetType(typeName); // ****** I get null here
if (type == null)
return null;
return Activator.CreateInstance(type);
}
}
The loaded Script:
using System;
public class Script : IExecutable
{
public void Execute()
{
Console.WriteLine("Boo");
}
}
In CreateInstance of SandBox, I always get null at the marked line. I tried various forms of giving the name, including reading the type name (or fuly qualified name) from results.CompiledAssembly using reflection.
What am I doing wrong here?

The first thing that i'll check is if there are compilation errors (i had several headache caused by this issues)
The second idea is about the resolution of assemblies. I always add as a security check an event handler for AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve, where i seek on my known path for the missing Assemblies. When the not found assembly is the one i just compiled i add a static reference to it and return it.
What I usually do is this:
Create the new Assembly on file system with the compiler
Load its content with the File.ReadAllBytes
Load the dll with the Assembly.Load in the AppDomain in which i will be using the object
Add the AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve event
Just in case (since i use this a lot) i created a small library to accomply this kind of things
The code and documentation are here: Kendar Expression Builder
While the nuget package is here: Nuget Sharp Template

XNA C# Scripting with CSharpCodeProvider

I'm working on an RPG-style game in XNA and I'm working on implementing a scripting engine.
I've followed a few tutorials to try to get this working. Currently I read in the following from an XML file:
namespace MyGame
{
public class EngagedCode : ScriptingInterface.IScriptType1
{
public string RunScript()
{
ChangeFrame( 2 );
}
}
}
After I get that successfully into the project, I try to compile it with the following code:
Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider csProvider = new Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider();
CompilerParameters options = new CompilerParameters();
options.GenerateExecutable = false; //DLL
options.GenerateInMemory = true;
options.IncludeDebugInformation = true;
options.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);
CompilerResults result = csProvider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(options, code);
However, at this point I always get the following error:
'result.CompiledAssembly' threw an exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException'
It seems as if the system is unable to find the .dll I've compiled, and I don't know why. I don't know how to get past this error. Does anybody have any suggestions?

Even if you generate it in memory it still writes a .dll to disk, unless you have compilation errors, and then you get this useless System.IO.FileNotFoundException. So most likely you have compile errors.
In order to pull those compile errors you need to add the below.
CompilerResults results = csProvider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, textBox1.Text);
if (results.Errors.Count > 0)
{
foreach (CompilerError CompErr in results.Errors)
{
//Hooray a list of compile errors
}
else
{
//Successful Compile
}
}
Also if you want to skip all this. Take a look at this class. It allows you just use the method body, this may not be sufficient for you though. Also you will need to change the namespace in the const CodeStart string.

The following line is not required:
options.ReferencedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);

Compile simple string

Was just wondering if there are any built in functions in c++ OR c# that lets you use the compiler at runtime? Like for example if i want to translate:
!print "hello world";
into:
MessageBox.Show("hello world");
and then generate an exe which will then be able to display the above message? I've seen sample project around the web few years ago that did this but can't find it anymore.

It is possible using C#. Have a look at this Sample Project from the CodeProject.
Code Extract
private Assembly BuildAssembly(string code)
{
Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider provider = new CSharpCodeProvider();
ICodeCompiler compiler = provider.CreateCompiler();
CompilerParameters compilerparams = new CompilerParameters();
compilerparams.GenerateExecutable = false;
compilerparams.GenerateInMemory = true;
CompilerResults results = compiler.CompileAssemblyFromSource(compilerparams, code);
if (results.Errors.HasErrors)
{
StringBuilder errors = new StringBuilder("Compiler Errors :\r\n");
foreach (CompilerError error in results.Errors )
{
errors.AppendFormat("Line {0},{1}\t: {2}\n", error.Line, error.Column, error.ErrorText);
}
throw new Exception(errors.ToString());
}
else
{
return results.CompiledAssembly;
}
}
public object ExecuteCode(string code, string namespacename, string classname, string functionname, bool isstatic, params object[] args)
{
object returnval = null;
Assembly asm = BuildAssembly(code);
object instance = null;
Type type = null;
if (isstatic)
{
type = asm.GetType(namespacename + "." + classname);
}
else
{
instance = asm.CreateInstance(namespacename + "." + classname);
type = instance.GetType();
}
MethodInfo method = type.GetMethod(functionname);
returnval = method.Invoke(instance, args);
return returnval;
}

In C++ you can't use the compiler at runtime but you can embed an interpreter in your project, like CINT.

You can always do it in the dirty way, with system() and calling the compiler "gcc..." or your equivalent

Nick's suggestion is good, but there is an alternative which is probably simpler to implement (but might not be appropriate for all projects). If you can assume that your user has a compiler installed you can generate a file and then compile it using their compiler.

The .NET-framework provides a few classes which give you access to compilers and code generators for C# and VB.NET, resulting in either an assembly loaded into memory or a simple .exe-file. See CSharpCodeProvider and this article.
Alternately, you can just create the source files and compile them manually (command-line calls (system) to the compiler, makefiles).
Concerning the translation of your source: You'll have to use parsing mechanisms like regular expressions here, or use a compiler-compiler tool like Coco/R, yacc etc. (Note that under C++, boost::spirit can also be quite useful)

In C# you can create a .NET "CodeDom" tree and then compile this using the .NET compiler. This gives you full access to most features of .NET.
See the "System.CodeDom" namespace or the MSDN help for CodeCompileUnit for details.