My solution uses a proprietary assembly, which when debugging the solution throws an Exception saying it can't find an assembly that is meant to be one of the projects in my solution.
I cannot add a reference to the proprietary assembly because all I have is the DLL.
When I compile everything into a single application directory and run the app it works fine, but I want to debug.
Where should assemblies be placed if you want a proprietary assembly in the solution to see them?
I assume the issue is that there is no path specified and it is just looking in a default directory of some kind.
This will get you started.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/yx7xezcf(v=VS.100).aspx
Also search MSDN for AssemblyResolve, this will link you to additional articles to deepen your knowledge on this subject.
HTH!
Related
I might be a bit stupid, but I want to create a tool in Visual Studio in C# and want to call third party tools via their API-DLLs. The only topics I found here are dealing with one of the two methods that I already know:
Compilation time: add a reference to "C:\FooTool\foo.dll" in my project + "using fooToolNamespace.fooToolClass" in my code (compilation time) --> I can "naturally" use the classes of the DLL and will even get full IntelliSense support if a suiting XML-file is available with the DLL. Also compilation time checks will be done for my usage of the dll.
Dynamic (run time): calling e.g. Assembly.LoadFile(#"C:\FooTool\foo.dll") and then using reflection on it to find functions, fields and so on --> no IntelliSense, no compilation time checks
So I actually have the DLL at hand and thus option 1) would be nice during development. But if my tool is used on a different PC, the third-party DLL might be in a different path there, e.g. "C:\foo\foo.dll" and "C:\bar\foo.dll".
In my understanding using a copy of "foo.dll" will not work, because "foo.dll" might have dependencies, e.g. requiring other files of the FooTool-directory. Thus in my understanding I have to call the DLL which is "installed" to the target PC and not a local copy of it.
So can I somehow change the path where my tool accesses the "foo.dll" at runtime and still use method 1) during development?
Or is there another way of doing things?
Or am I just dumb and there is a simple solution for all this?
Thanks a lot for the help and have a great day
Janis
To be able to use option 1 (a referenced DLL), you need to put the DLL somewhere "where your EXE (or, more precisely, the Assembly Resolver) can find it" on the customer's PC.
So where does the assembly resolver look for your DLL?
In the directory where the EXE resides (for desktop/console applications) or the bin subdirectory (for web applications). Since you mention that your DLL requires other dependencies as well, you'd need to copy them to that location as well.
The Global Assembly Cache (GAC). If your dependency supports this, installing it to the GAC ensures that it can be found by your application.
These two are the "supported" scenarios. There is also the possibility to tweak the assembly resolver to look into other directories as well, but that should be reserved for special cases where the other two options failed. (We had such a case and solved it with a custom AssemblyResolve handler on the application domain.)
At the moment of creating a project of type "Library of Classes, usually one can generate a dll when compiling, but how could I generate a dll without losing others that I already have included?
I explain with an example: It turns out that Nuget downloaded an S22.Imap dll with the one I worked with, later I generated the dll in the traditional way that I explained in the beginning, but when I wanted to work with dll in another computer, I got errors that were not I found functions that contained the S22.IMAP dll. So to solve this problem, I had to copy the dll of my project, S22.IMAP in an additional way in a specific path of the other computer.
My question is:
How could you generate a dll that includes the ones included in the project you were working with?
All the referred 3rd party dlls (S22.Imap.dll in your example) will be copied to the output folder together with your own dll file (let's say a.dll) when you build your project. That means you should always copy them together (S22 + a.dll) to the place you want to refer them, on another computer/folder/place.
If you really want to make them only one file (although it is not recommended), you can set the S22 one as some "nested resource". Then you will get only one a.dll file and the S22 one is inside the a.dll. See below page for some reference:
Embedding one dll inside another as an embedded resource and then calling it from my code
AND, ILMerge is some tool that can help you do so.
In general, you don't. A DLL is a dynamic linked library, and you would normally only combine static libraries during a build. Here is an answer on the difference between static and dynamic linking.
Typically you would include all the DLLs you need in the installer package. If you use Visual Studio to create the installer, it can detect the dependencies for you. When you run the installer, all of the necessary DLLs are deployed. Nearly all commercial .NET software follows this pattern.
It is possible to merge an assembly into another assembly using a tool called ILMerge. This would be a very unusual thing to do, and could cause issues with intellectual property and code signing, so it is not recommended.
I have a existing Java Project which needs functionality from a SDK written in C#. It should open a WPF Window and send the information back to Java on close.
For a basic connection of those two worlds i created a Java Project ("DotNetCaller") calling native functions. These are implemented in a C++/CLI Project ("DotNetBridge") which calls the C# Project ("DotNetApplication").
I already can set Strings from Java in C# and callback from C# to Java.
But as soon as i add a WPF Window and try to launch it with:
Application app = new Application();
app.Run(new DotNetWindow());
in a STA Thread it crashes.
The DotNetApplication doesnt find mscorlib.resources, after i provide the DLL, PresentationFramework.resources is missing and if i provide that, the DotNetApplication.resource is missing (which i cant provide).
If i call the DotNetApplication alone or from the DotNetBridge the Window displays as expected.
Can anyone tell ma what i'm really missing here?
Thanks
Edit:
I looked at this example once more and tried to adapt it to my needs.
I have set the dll directory of the ResolveEventHandler to the .NET dir in "Referenced Assemblies"
C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference
Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.0
and added a Window in C#.
It failed aswell but with a new exception in the C++ part rather than C#.
The ResolveHandler gets called with an empty argument causing an uncatchable exception in mscorelib.
I added a check if the String is empty and this basic approach works fine now.
I'm still unsure if i have the correct approach for this, so feel free to contribute.
Your AppDomain::AssemblyResolve handler probably needs to be overhauled and based on your own understanding of what you want to do. There is some guidance here. The basic rule is that you return nullptr for requests that you can't handle.
But first you have to plan the locations in which you want to deploy (and/or debug) your assemblies. A simple layout would be to put all of the assemblies that your JNI DLL depends on in the same folder as the JNI DLL (with the exception of any that will be installed in the GAC). You can then use its location to satisfy resolution requests. But remember to return nullptr if no file containing a manifest for an assembly with the requested name is present there. (This is likely the case with your ".resources" requests. If there isn't one it's okay unless you know otherwise.)
I'd be a little surprised if an assembly in a Reference Assemblies folder wasn't also in the GAC—but it'd be up to the assembly provider. Reference Assemblies is for design and build tools (e.g. Visual Studio). (The old way was for each folder that had assemblies in it to be registered for each version of Visual Studio so the assemblies could be used for design and build.) If a dependency is not in the GAC, you can use the "Copy Local" property on the reference to make it available for debugging.
You might find the Assembly Binding Log Viewer useful while designing and troubleshooting. With it you can see all the folders and extensions that are tried before giving over to calling the AppDomain::AssemblyResolve handler chain. (Disable logging when you are done.)
I am not a .NET developer, so there might be some basic things I don't know.
I have some experience coding in C#, but now I have a question. One of my projects (A) references another ptoject (B), with "local copy" set. When B.dll is in the same location as A.exe everything works. But when B.dll is put in a common directory from PATH it doesn't work.
One of my coworkers said he thought I should make B strongly signed. Is he correct? Is that why one would strongly sign an assembly?
I read a bit about in in the internet but all I saw was about security... If so, how does one sign an assembly and what consequences does it have? Please note that I am using VS2003 .Net 1.1.
Edit: Thank you all very much for your answers, however all the links you provided refer to later versions of VS and .NET which have some sort of Signing tab in project properties. Does anybody know (or give a link )how to strongly name the assembly in VS2003 .Net1.1?
Your problem is not related to assembly signing in the first place. .NET does not use the PATH environment variable to load assemblies. The process is actually a bit more complex and you best read all details in MSDN (also see steps 1 to 4):
How the Runtime Locates Assemblies
In your case it might be the best to install the shared assembly to the GAC. Installing to the GAC requires that your assembly has a strong name, so this is probably what your co-worker referred to.
Update:
As you asked specifically about strong-naming a .NET 1.1 assembly I'd suggest checking out the following question:
How to give a .NET 1.1 dll a strong name in VS2003
I think that what your co-worker might be referring to is "Strong Naming" an Assembly.
Strong Naming is what enables you to deploy your assembly to the GAC.
Once it is in the GAC, then any application using that assembly can always locate it. Path's are irrelevant and that is the preferred way to have shared assemblies deployed.
To strong name an assembly, you can use the sn.exe tool that comes with Visual Studio to generate a strong name and then sign the assembly using the keyfile that is generated via sn.exe.
EDIT : Example of how to use SN.exe to strong name an assembly is here
Also, I think you should understand how the runtime loads assemblies. From MSDN
The runtime uses the following steps to resolve an assembly reference:
Determines the correct assembly version by examining applicable
configuration files, including the application configuration file,
publisher policy file, and machine configuration file.
If the configuration file is located on a remote machine, the
runtime must locate and download the application configuration file
first.
Checks whether the assembly name has been bound to before and, if so,
uses the previously loaded assembly.
Checks the global assembly cache. If the assembly is found there, the
runtime uses this assembly.
Probes for the assembly using the following steps: If configuration
and publisher policy do not affect the original reference and if the
bind request was created using the Assembly.LoadFrom method, the
runtime checks for location hints.
If a codebase is found in the configuration files, the runtime checks
only this location. If this probe fails, the runtime determines that
the binding request failed and no other probing occurs.
Probes for the assembly using the heuristics described in the probing
section. If the assembly is not found after probing, the runtime
requests the Windows Installer to provide the assembly. This acts as
an install-on-demand feature.
Note: There is no version checking for assemblies without strong
names, nor does the runtime check in the global assembly cache for
assemblies without strong names.
The right way to do this is by deploying your .dll in the GAC. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815808
what is the reason you want to put the B.dll in a common directory? is it because it can be used by a another program? if so adding it to the GAC is the best option. See this one
As 0xA3 already mentioned you should read the article at MSDN. But what is not so good explained in the article is the usage of the AssemblyResolve event. It will be thrown if the Framework didn't find the assembly at any place, givin you a chance to start a search on yourself (maybe in your common folder) and return the needed assembly.
An example on how to use this, can be found in my question here.
I'm developing a custom PowerShell snap-in, which references another project in the solution.
When I try to debug the snap-in (following [these instructions][1]), the assembly fails to load and my cmdlet fails with the message "Could not load file or Assembly..."
How do you instruct PowerShell on how to locate assemblies, or how do you specify where are located the assemblies needed by the snap-in?
I'd prefer to avoid registering the assemblies in the GAC, at least during development.
Not sure of the exact behaviour, but I would try and make use of fuslogvw to see exactly where the runtime is looking for the problematic assemblies. That would give you a clue as to how to get them to be copied into the correct place on build. This post by Scott Hanselman is quite useful, and this is the official documentation.
If you find the solution, please add an answer, as this must be a common scenario.
SOLUTION (Posting it here as suggested by one of the comments to my question)
My problem was rather specific, as I'm developing on a 64 bits server machine, but I'm posting the solution in case it could help someone else as well.
Using fuslogvw as suggested, I saw that the dependent assembly was being searched using the machine.config file under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64 and then the binding failed; launching the project with "start without debugging", instead, the machine.config file under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework was taken (notice the missing 64 at the end).
I thought that the problem could be due to the image format, and infact the dependent assembly was being compiled with x86 as CPU target; I changed it to "Any CPU" and now the assembly is loaded correctly.