Develop Reference

"Failed to initialize the [add-in name] because the assembly [path to an add-in DLL file] does not exist" when launching Revit

I've exhausted every resource possible and can not figure out what the issue is. Button images won't show & keep getting this message when I try to use the command.
Failed to initialize the [add-in name] because the assembly [path to an add-in DLL file] does not exist
when launching Revit. Here's my code that I'm using.
#region Namespaces
using Autodesk.Revit.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.Revit.Attributes;
using Autodesk.Revit.DB;
using Autodesk.Revit.UI;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using Microsoft.CSharp;
using System.Media;
using System.Reflection;
using System.IO.Packaging;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Autodesk.Revit.UI.Selection;
using Autodesk.Revit.DB.Architecture;
#endregion
namespace TpMechanical
{
internal class App : IExternalApplication
{
public Result OnStartup(UIControlledApplication a)
{
String tabname = "TpMechanical";
String panelname = "Tools";
//Option 1
BitmapImage b1Image = (System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage)TpMechanical.Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("_design3_fhY_icon.ico");
BitmapImage b2Image = (System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage)TpMechanical.Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("_design3_fhY_icon.ico");
BitmapImage b3Image = (System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage)TpMechanical.Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("_design3_fhY_icon.ico");
//Option 2
//Bitmap b1Image = (System.Drawing.Bitmap)(TpMechanical.Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("Icon1.ico"));
//Bitmap b2Image = (System.Drawing.Bitmap)(TpMechanical.Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("Image1.jpg"));
//Bitmap b3Image = (System.Drawing.Bitmap)(TpMechanical.Properties.Resources.ResourceManager.GetObject("Image2.bmp"));
//Option 3
//BitmapImage b1Image = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack:application:,,,/TpMechanical/Resources/Icon1.ico"));
//BitmapImage b2Image = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack:application:,,,/TpMechanical/Resources/Image1.jpg"));
//BitmapImage b3Image = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack:application:,,,/TpMechanical/Resources/Image2.bmp"));
a.CreateRibbonTab(tabname);
var Tools = a.CreateRibbonPanel(tabname, panelname);
var button1 = new PushButtonData("TpButton1", "Button1", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location, "TpMechanical.command");
button1.ToolTip = " This is a short description";
button1.LongDescription = "This is a long description \n " +
"this is the second line";
var btn1 = Tools.AddItem(button1);
button1.Image = b1Image;
var button2 = new PushButtonData("TpButton2", "Button2", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location, "TpMechanical.command2");
button2.ToolTip = " This is a short description";
button2.LongDescription = "This is a long description \n " +
"this is the second line";
button2.Image = b2Image;
var button3 = new PushButtonData("TpButton3", "Button3", Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location, "TpMechanical.command3");
button3.ToolTip = " This is a short description";
button3.LongDescription = "This is a long description \n " +
"this is the second line";
button3.Image = b3Image;
Tools.AddStackedItems(button2, button3);
return Result.Succeeded;
}
public Result OnShutdown(UIControlledApplication a)
{
return Result.Succeeded;
}
}
}
I also have my manifest code below.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<RevitAddIns>
<AddIn Type="Command">
<Text>Command TpMechanical</Text>
<Description>Some description for TpMechanical</Description>
<VisibilityMode>AlwaysVisible</VisibilityMode>
<Assembly>C:\My Revit- Custom Files\01-Revit 2021\Revit 2021 Repos\TpMechanical\bin\Debug\TpMechanical.dll</Assembly>
<FullClassName>TpMechanical.Command</FullClassName>
<ClientId>9EDCBEA6-942A-4D9A-932D-612B5E02DC9C</ClientId>
<VendorId>com.typepad.thebuildingcoder</VendorId>
<VendorDescription>The Building Coder, http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com</VendorDescription>
</AddIn>
<AddIn Type="Command">
<Text>Command TpMechanical</Text>
<Description>Some description for TpMechanical</Description>
<VisibilityMode>AlwaysVisible</VisibilityMode>
<Assembly>C:\My Revit- Custom Files\01-Revit 2021\Revit 2021 Repos\TpMechanical\bin\Debug\TpMechanical.dll</Assembly>
<FullClassName>TpMechanical.Command2</FullClassName>
<ClientId>1A164A1B-8B02-499A-8ADB-94A75557CD66</ClientId>
<VendorId>com.typepad.thebuildingcoder</VendorId>
<VendorDescription>The Building Coder, http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com</VendorDescription>
</AddIn>
<AddIn Type="Command">
<Text>Command TpMechanical</Text>
<Description>Some description for TpMechanical</Description>
<VisibilityMode>AlwaysVisible</VisibilityMode>
<Assembly>C:\My Revit- Custom Files\01-Revit 2021\Revit 2021 Repos\TpMechanical\bin\Debug\TpMechanical.dll</Assembly>
<FullClassName>TpMechanical.Command3</FullClassName>
<ClientId>C5CEC594-E407-40A8-B1B0-163DAA179CDD</ClientId>
<VendorId>com.typepad.thebuildingcoder</VendorId>
<VendorDescription>The Building Coder, http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com</VendorDescription>
</AddIn>
<AddIn Type="Application">
<Name>Application TpMechanical</Name>
<Assembly>C:\My Revit- Custom Files\01-Revit 2021\Revit 2021 Repos\TpMechanical\bin\Debug\TpMechanical.dll</Assembly>
<FullClassName>TpMechanical.App</FullClassName>
<ClientId>C12635D2-96E2-4DF4-B172-7BD9487F7AE9</ClientId>
<VendorId>com.typepad.thebuildingcoder</VendorId>
<VendorDescription>The Building Coder, http://thebuildingcoder.typepad.com</VendorDescription>
</AddIn>
</RevitAddIns>
enter image description here

Rereading your question a third time over, it sounds as if your add-in is trying to reference a .NET assembly DLL that cannot be found when Revit tries to load it. Looking at the list of namespaces that you reference in your source code using statements, I see nothing but standard Autodesk Revit, Microsoft and .NET assemblies listed. So, they should all be present and accessible. Are you using anything else elsewhere in your code that is not obvious from that list? You might be able to use tools like fuslogv to analyse your add-in dependencies during load time, as suggested in the note on Exploring Assembly Reference DLL Hell with Fuslogvw.

I suggest you try again with a minimal one-liner external command and a minimal one-liner add-in manifest.
Follow these steps: Revit developers guide add-in registration.
Ensure that Revit has read access to its AddIns folder.
Look at the Hello world walkthrough.
Do not say you exhausted all resources. That would take too long and probably exceed your life span. New resources are being added faster than you can consume them, so any attempt is doomed to fail.
The error message is telling you that the problem is not in the internal implementation code, but just in the basic registration.
Why do you add internal to the IExternalApplication implementation? Isn't that a contradiction? What does that mean?
Why do you use The Building Coder VendorId? That is incorrect. You are not The Building Coder.
Your Assembly path is complex and littered with spaces. In general, I try to avoid such complex paths and all spaces in folder names. I also prefer forward slashes to backward ones. You can omit the folder name entirely if you place the DLL in the same place as the add-in manifest in the AddIns folder.

I am being inundated with similar questions these days. Here is another similar one, a summary of a recent email thread:
[Q] I have dived into the Getting Started with Revit platform API, following the DevTV tutorial by Augusto Goncalves. None of my commands appear on the Revit UI > Add Ins > external commands.
[A] One thing you ought to read is the introductory section of the Revit API developers guide. It tells you exactly what to do to install and launch your add-in. It is shocking of that information is not clear and does not work in the tutorial, though. Thank you for bringing it up!
Installing a Revit add-in is really simple, but people run into difficulties like you describe anyway.
There are only two relevant components:
Add-in manifest file *.addin
.NET class library assembly DLL
These are the important steps:
The DLL must implement IExternalCommand; that means, it must implement the Execute method.
The add-in manifest must point to the DLL and must be placed in the Revit Add-Ins folder for Revit to find and load it.
If the DLL and add-in manifest both reside in the Revit AddIns folder, the full DLL path can be omitted; otherwise it must be specified.
That is really all.
There are thousands of places explaining it; they all say the same thing.
Good luck and lots of fun with the Revit API :-)
[R] I have not had any luck since yesterday about my add-in not appearing in the Revit external commands.
I have carefully structured my code correctly. The add-in manifest file is pointing to my project .dll file. My project class explicitly implements the IExternalCommand interface and fires up the Execute method just fine.
I don't understand what the issue could be, not sure it could be the revit version am using am trying to figure out all possibilities.
[R2] I managed to debug my code. Kindly, ignore previous message.
The location of my manifest add-in file was locked. I guess that was done when my account was set up. The location needed permission to be accessed. This path:
C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit\Addins\2022\
I utilised the try and catch exception to see the issue.
Once I gave access permission, the add-in file is now visible; it worked!

Figure out why Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Project.Build() returns false

I'm trying to build C# projects using .csproj files.
For this I'm using the following code:
Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Project project = new Microsoft.Build.EvaluationProject(projectFile);
bool success = project.Build();
But not all projects are build and for some I get false as the result of project.Build().
Any ideas how to understand what is going wrong?
Or maybe anyone can suggest an alternative way to compile projects using .csproj files?

You need to add an ILogger to the Build method as a parameter. I suggest implementing one as the MSDN article suggests. Just copy paste their code, add any missing references and you'll be fine.
Then you can call Build as follows:
Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Project project = new Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Project(projectFile);
BasicFileLogger logger = new BasicFileLogger();
logger.Parameters = logFilePath;
logger.Verbosity = LoggerVerbosity.Normal; //Increase it if you don't get enough data
bool success = project.Build(logger);
The example logger will write all data that you would see during a normal build to the file at logFilePath. Based on that you should be able to discern the issue.

Is there anyway to use the NDepend API to get a list of assemblies and their associated projects?

I am currently trying to get a list of 3rdParties shipped with each product and have come across the NDepend API. Based on the research I have done, it seems like you feed in a solution file and out comes a list of DLLs and EXE's associated with that solution. So far I have tried:
static void Main(string[] args)
{
var ndependServicesProvider = new NDependServicesProvider();
var projectManager = ndependServicesProvider.ProjectManager;
var visualStudioManager = ndependServicesProvider.VisualStudioManager;
var projPath = "C:\\code\\depot\\Captiva\\IA\\EIM\\_Trunk\\Src\\BuildInputAccel.Installers.sln";
var sln = projPath.ToAbsoluteFilePath();
var vsSlnOrProjFilePaths = new List<IAbsoluteFilePath> { sln };
var assembliesFilePath = (from vsSlnOrProjFilePath in vsSlnOrProjFilePaths
from assembliesFilePathTmp in visualStudioManager.GetAssembliesFromVisualStudioSolutionOrProject(vsSlnOrProjFilePath)
select assembliesFilePathTmp).Distinct().ToArray();
IProject project = projectManager.CreateTemporaryProject(assembliesFilePath, TemporaryProjectMode.Temporary);
project.CodeToAnalyze.SetApplicationAssemblies(assembliesFilePath);
projectManager.SaveProject(project);
IAnalysisResult analysisResult = project.RunAnalysis();
Console.Write(analysisResult.CodeBase);
}
And have gotten a An unhandled exception of type 'System.IO.FileNotFoundException' occurred in mscorlib.dll
Does anyone know what I am doing wrong here. I simply want to output a list of dll's and exes associated with each project within a solution. PS: I am very new to C# so sorry if this seems trivial!

At the end of the NDepend API getting started page you'll find instruction about what to do.
Actually can use the integrated Code Querying LINQ (CQLinq) facility to query live 3rd party assemblies referenced and their usage.
1) from the NDepend start page > Analyze VS solution
2) choose your solution
3) run analysis
Then you can just edit this code query:
from a in ThirdParty.Assemblies
select new { a, a.AssembliesUsingMe }
et voilà
If some third-party assemblies are missing it is because they haven't been resolved at analysis time. Look at analysis error list and update the list of folder where NDepend will look for assemblies in NDepend Project Properties > Code to Analyze > Directories

How to edit a resource assembly in C# .net application

Now, I am working on edit existing string/icon resource assembly which is code in C# in VS. I have search some method to edit the binary file directly, particularly, I use mono.cecil (http://www.mono-project.com/docs/tools+libraries/libraries/Mono.Cecil/), almost all the localized resource files work fine. But only the English original resource file does not work. So I think I should give up this way, I hope to edit the file manually, either open source or original .net API is ok. Anyone have this kind experience to edit the resource file, please let me know:
BTW, the English project contains core logic code and references other dlls (OtherDLL.dll), this may cause exceptions when using mono.cecil, the code and exception is below.
AssemblyDefinition assemblyDefinition = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(resourceFileName);
// Some code
assemblyDefinition.Write(newFileName); // This will cause exception: "Failed to resolve assembly: 'OtherDLL, Version=10.1.1.1, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
The english dll is TestDll.dll under deployment directory, and other localized resource dlls are TestDll.resources.dll under localized directory, like /de/TestDll.resources.dll and /zh-CN/TestDll.resources.dll.
Now I need the method to achieve the target(edit and save resource part), so please help me to find a way to achieve the goal. Any comments will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

The problem is that you need to set the search directories for the assembly references in the metadata tables to be rewritten correctly:
var assemblyFile = #"c:\myassembly.dll";
var resolver = new DefaultAssemblyResolver();
// add directory of the source assembly for references
resolver.AddSearchDirectory(Path.GetDirectoryName(assemblyFile));
// add .NET runtime directories
var runtimeDir = RuntimeEnvironment.GetRuntimeDirectory();
foreach (var dir in Directory.GetDirectories(RuntimeEnvironment.GetRuntimeDirectory(), "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories))
{
resolver.AddSearchDirectory(dir);
}
var mod = AssemblyDefinition.ReadAssembly(assemblyFile, new ReaderParameters { AssemblyResolver = resolver }).MainModule;
mod.Write(assemblyFile + ".patched");
When you want to change resources with Mono.Cecil:
var strings = mod.Resources.SingleOrDefault(a => a.Name == "English.resources");
mod.Resources.Remove(strings);
using var ms = new MemoryStream();
using var rw = new ResourceWriter(ms);
rw.AddResource("GreetingText", "Hello World");
rw.Generate();
ms.Position = 0;
mod.Resources.Add(new EmbeddedResource("English.resources", ManifestResourceAttributes.Public, ms));
mod.Write(assemblyFile + ".patched");
Regards

How to use DotNetZip

I've downloaded DotNetZip from codeplex and I am totally lost as to what to do next.
I want to extract a .zip archive
I know I use something like this
string zipToUnpack = "C1P3SML.zip";
string unpackDirectory = "Extracted Files";
using (ZipFile zip1 = ZipFile.Read(zipToUnpack))
{
// here, we extract every entry, but we could extract conditionally
// based on entry name, size, date, checkbox status, etc.
foreach (ZipEntry e in zip1)
{
e.Extract(unpackDirectory, ExtractExistingFileAction.OverwriteSilently);
}
}
My question is, what project do I add and/or what references do I add?
Thanks

Just add a reference to Ionic.Zip.dll - you do need to make sure you are using the right reference for your target framework version (silverlight, WPF etc)
Then the above code should work assuming you import the Ionic namespace
Also not sure what you mean by 'what project should I add' - you already have a project right, or is this just a test project and you need to create a new project? If so any project type will do - but the best tests are either a console app or a forms/wpf app