I'm trying to make a tool similar to Unity (obviously at a lower scale) and I need to be able to compile scripts which work in both the editor and the final game.
My approach to that is compiling the code in the editor using the ReferencedAssembly of my game executable, while the game executable already contains all the scripts which are present in compile time.
However I'm having a problem with the editor part. Basically I set
parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add ("path/to/Game.exe");
parameters.GenerateInMemory=true;
parameters.GenerateExecutable=false;
and then compile. There are no compilation errors but when trying to use
var typeArray=results.CompiledAssembly.GetTypes();
a ReflectionTypeLoadException exception is thrown:
Could not load file or assembly 'Game, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies.
However, copying my executable Game.exe to the tool's directory, and changing the reference assembly to
parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add ("Game.exe");
allows me to compile and access to GetTypes without errors.
So, my questions are:
a) how can I make GetTypes work when using an assembly which is in another directory? (note: I'd rather not add the path to the GAC, as it should be a generic tool)
b) would it be possible to access type info without loading the referenced assembly? I mean, in NET 4.5 Type and TypeInfo are supposed to be splitted just for this reason, isn't it?
Regarding your point a): "how can I make GetTypes work when using an assembly which is in another directory?
I think you could you use Assembly.LoadFrom Method (String) to load the assembly from another directory.
Regarding your point b): "would it be possible to access type info without loading the referenced assembly?"
I'm not sure you'd be able to access type info without loading it in some fashion, but are you aware of loading Assemblies into the Reflection-Only Context?
The reflection-only load context allows you to examine assemblies compiled for other platforms or for other versions of the .NET Framework. Code loaded into this context can only be examined; it cannot be executed. This means that objects cannot be created, because constructors cannot be executed. Because the code cannot be executed, dependencies are not automatically loaded. If you need to examine them, you must load them yourself.
On a second reading of your question, how does "game.exe" get referenced in your project file?
If it's a case of MSBuild needing to copy it to the build output folder of the project, you could add "game.exe as an item in the project, set the build action to "None" and the Copy to Output Directory Property to "Copy if newer".
Related
I currently have a .NET application which references "SomePackage.dll" and "SomeUtilities.dll".
SomePackage.dll is contained in a separate folder, and one of the assemblies it depends on is also named "SomeUtilities.dll".
In other words, I added a reference in my project to \somePath\SomePackage.dll, and there exists a file \somePath\SomeUtilities.dll that SomePackage.dll depends on. Since I already have a reference in my project to a assembly called SomeUtilties.dll, I could not add a reference to \somePath\SomeUtilties.dll.
As a result, when I try to run my application and initialize a module in from SomePackage.dll, I receive an error:
Could not load file or assembly 'SomeUtilities.dll..." or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference.'
To work around this, I used gacutil in the VS developer command prompt to add \somePath\SomeUtilities.dll to the GAC. Now both assemblies are resolved fine, but I was wondering if there was a better way to resolve this name collision that doesn't involve adding to the GAC. I'm worried about potential issues that may arise with installing into the GAC, and have heard that .NET has the ability to look through certain subfolders to resolve assemblies, but am not sure where to find more on this concept.
You can use bind redirect.
Open the .config file to find the location of < assemblyBinding>
Remove the < assemblyBinding> reference.
Type in Package Manager Console: Add-BindingRedirect.
Windows/.NET has a tool called FUSLOGVW.exe that will help find issues with assemblies. This tool is useful but sifting through the logs is cumbersome. There is an open source tool that is a wrapper around FUSLOGVW.exe and makes it much easier to sift through the data and find the root of the problem. I would use this
https://github.com/awaescher/Fusion
I have a solution that includes several projects. A few are libs that are building dll's used in my main project in this solution.
My main project builds with output type console application.
This all works fine.
When i change the build output type to a class library (since i want to use this project as a plugin eventually). The project will still build, this time to a dll.
When i use this plugin in an application where i use it as a dll however, it will run up to a certain point where it's trying to load a type defined in an external dll (so NOT built by my solution) and throw the exception:
Could not load type 'externalinterface' from assembly 'externallib, version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'.
The dll's are all in the correct folder,etc.
Also worth noting, the plugin is tested in another location than where i built it. The executable still works on this location, the dll/plugin does not. Same amount of dll's in their folders etc.
EDIT: I already used ILSpy (dll inspector) to open the actual dll that is being referenced (so externallib in the errormessage) and checked if 'externalinterface' was present and it is.
EDIT2: RESOLVED! The program that loaded my plugin was loading the same dll that caused the exception. The dll it loaded was of another version than the one i loaded.
Check whether the type externalinterface is present in the referred dll.
You didn't include the details of the exception the application is throwing. However, based on the message you gave, it appears your assembly does not have a strong name. If the application attempting to load your assembly as a plugin does have a strong name, then .NET will require all assemblies loaded by it also have a strong name, so you need to configure your assembly to have a strong name before continuing.
Maybe some supported dll's which is used by the 'externalinterface' is missing in the target machine. In the target machine, check is all the necessary dll's are present in the output folder.
Or blindly copy paste all the dlls in the output folder from the machine where the code is working to the target machine where you have the problem. After this, if the code is working in the target machine, then try to analyze which supporting dll you are missed to copy.
I am trying to make a simple c# program using Growl C# API.
I tried to compile my program in two different ways:
1) I kept my .dll file in the same directory as my .cs file. Than I ran
csc /r:Growl.Connector.dll,Growl.CoreLibrary.dll /out:test.exe *.cs
It compiled fine and also ran fine.
2) Now I have created a directory inside my current working directory named growl and kept all my .dll references there.
Now when I try to compile it using the below command
csc /r:"D:\Modified\Growl_NET_Connector_SDK\libraries\growl\Growl.Connector.dll","D:
\Modified\Growl_NET_Connector_SDK\libraries\growl\Growl.CoreLibrary.dll" /out:test.exe *.cs
It compiled fine but when I tried to run it the below mentioned exception occurred.
Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Growl.Connector, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=n
eutral, PublicKeyToken=980c2339411be384' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
at GrowlNotification.Program.Main(String[] args)
So, my question is what is the correct way to reference .dll file in csc when files are in an external folder.
Here is the directory structure for 2nd case.
So, my question is what is the correct way to reference .dll file in csc when files are in an external folder.
You're already referencing them at build time. You just need to make them available at execution time too, but copying them into the same directory as the executable, when you want to run it.
You could also investigate using the Global Assembly Cache if these are signed assemblies, but personally I'd stick with just keeping the executable with the libraries on which it depends.
You can add these using the /lib and /reference command-line switches while compiling.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s5bac5fx.aspx
But (Quote from the article)
An alternative to using /lib is to copy into the working directory any
required assemblies; this will allow you to simply pass the assembly
name to /reference. You can then delete the assemblies from the
working directory. Since the path to the dependent assembly is not
specified in the assembly manifest, the application can be started on
the target computer and will find and use the assembly in the global
assembly cache.
Because the compiler can reference the assembly does not imply the
common language runtime will be able to find and load the assembly at
runtime. See How the Runtime Locates Assemblies for details on how the
runtime searches for referenced assemblies.
so Jon Skeet's answer is better. (I'm just adding this to provide more info than I could in a comment, not as an answer. Jon's answer is the best IMO)
You can create symlinks to the assemblies in your libraries folder so you would only need to keep them updated in one location.
here's my scenario:
I have three projects: two DLLs and one console application, let's name them foo.dll, bar.dll and console.exe. Console.exe loads foo.dll using Assembly.LoadFile(#"c:\foo.dll"). Foo.dll's project has a reference to bar.dll and makes use of a class. Console.exe loads foo.dll fine, the problem occurs when foo.dll tries to use bar.dll's class. I get a "could not load assembly: "bar.dll" blah blah exception.
Some points:
All projects are strong named
Would prefer to not use the GAC
Bar.dll is in c:\bar.dll
So everything is in the same local directory, the correct dlls are being referenced (via project properties, and I've used Reflector to make sure the assembly versions are correct). If I install bar.dll to the GAC everything works as expected.
I think it has something to do with the Assembly.LoadFile call, and making a hop to the second DLL, but I'm not sure.
Thanks for your time and input.
Assembly.LoadFile() should only ever be used in very special circumstances. The assembly doesn't have a loading context, that's why bar.dll cannot be found. The only real use case is tooling, programs that dump assembly metadata.
Use Load or LoadFrom(). Troubleshoot problems with fuslogvw.exe
I have an assembly generated from DSL, and I need to make a reference to it from my project.
However, I'd like to have reference to Debug assembly from Debug project config, and to Release from Release.
Is it possible to achieve?
Okay, so what I've found... assembly reference can be edited manually in the project file, putting $(Configuration) instead of "Debug"/"Release" path part. It works without problems.
Well, add assembly generation from DSL as a build event - that way, you can generate correct version (debug/release) of assembly. Configuration Name is available as macro [$(ConfigurationName)]. Also, you have to be smart in such command line to skip assembly generation if its already generated and DSL has not been modified - it means you need to have different intermediate target location based on configuration and then copy from that location to some other main location (if file is modified). This other location is the one from where you will reference the assembly in your project.