Assembly.Load problems

[Razzie]

Hey all,

I'm working on this project where I'm dynamically loading an assembly.
Basically what I want is that I can just replace my old dll file with a new
one without having to do anything else.
So to test this, I did the following: I temporarily tested it by saving my
dll file in C:\, so let's say I have C:\dynamic.dll.

I have created a winforms application with a simple button that calls the
method with Assembly.Load, which you can see here (notice a lot of debug
statement to try and find the problem):

public MyClass getClass(Domain domain)
{
AssemblyName assemblyName = new AssemblyName();
Assembly classAssembly = null;
try
{
assemblyName.CodeBase = @"C:\dynamic.dll";
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Codebase for dynamic dll set to: "
+ assemblyName.CodeBase);
classAssembly = Assembly.Load(assemblyName);
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Loaded dynamic.dll, returning
instance...");
return (MyClass)classAssembly .CreateInstance("MyClass2", false,
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.CreateInstance, null, null, null, new
Object[]{domain});
}
catch(Exception ex) {
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Exception: " + ex.Message); }
finally {
classAssembly = null; assemblyName =
null;System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Cleaning up"); }
return null;
}

So, now comes the problem. When I test this the first time, all is well. All
debug statements are printed and my output furthermore shows ''test.exe':
Loaded 'c:\dynamic.dll', Symbols loaded.' to show it actually loaded the
assembly.

However when I rename my dynamic.dll to bogus.dll and click the button again
(without closing the application) it won't throw an exception 'dynamic.dll
not found' or something, which I was expecting. It does show all debug
statements again, but nothing else. I first thought it was still in memory
or something, therefor I added the try-catch-finally block in my getClass
method and set my objects to null (but as I was expecting, that didn't
help).

So, is there more to this then meets the eye? Can I / Do I have to unload
the assembly somehow? Why doesn't it give the error when renaming my dll so
it shouldn't be found?

Thanks! Regards,

Razzie

[Dmitriy Lapshin [C# / .NET MVP]]

Hey Razzie,

Once you've loaded an assembly to the AppDomain, you cannot unload the
assembly - you have to unload the entire domain.
Therefore, if you need to reload an assembly 'on the fly', you have to use a
dedicated AppDomain. I have gone through all this hell while working on
X-Unity, so if you are stuck with some problem - post it here and hopefully
I notice your message and reply :-)

--
Sincerely,
Dmitriy Lapshin [C# / .NET MVP]
Bring the power of unit testing to the VS .NET IDE today!
http://www.x-unity.net/teststudio.aspx

"Razzie" <ra****@quicknet.nl> wrote in message
news:eT**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hey all,

I'm working on this project where I'm dynamically loading an assembly.
Basically what I want is that I can just replace my old dll file with a
new one without having to do anything else.
So to test this, I did the following: I temporarily tested it by saving my
dll file in C:\, so let's say I have C:\dynamic.dll.

I have created a winforms application with a simple button that calls the
method with Assembly.Load, which you can see here (notice a lot of debug
statement to try and find the problem):

public MyClass getClass(Domain domain)
{
AssemblyName assemblyName = new AssemblyName();
Assembly classAssembly = null;
try
{
assemblyName.CodeBase = @"C:\dynamic.dll";
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Codebase for dynamic dll set to:
" + assemblyName.CodeBase);
classAssembly = Assembly.Load(assemblyName);
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Loaded dynamic.dll, returning
instance...");
return (MyClass)classAssembly .CreateInstance("MyClass2", false,
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.CreateInstance, null, null, null, new
Object[]{domain});
}
catch(Exception ex) {
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Exception: " + ex.Message); }
finally {
classAssembly = null; assemblyName =
null;System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Cleaning up"); }
return null;
}

So, now comes the problem. When I test this the first time, all is well.
All debug statements are printed and my output furthermore shows
''test.exe': Loaded 'c:\dynamic.dll', Symbols loaded.' to show it actually
loaded the assembly.

However when I rename my dynamic.dll to bogus.dll and click the button
again (without closing the application) it won't throw an exception
'dynamic.dll not found' or something, which I was expecting. It does show
all debug statements again, but nothing else. I first thought it was still
in memory or something, therefor I added the try-catch-finally block in my
getClass method and set my objects to null (but as I was expecting, that
didn't help).

So, is there more to this then meets the eye? Can I / Do I have to unload
the assembly somehow? Why doesn't it give the error when renaming my dll
so it shouldn't be found?

Thanks! Regards,

Razzie

[Razzie]

'This hell'? Lol that sounds like it may be too much work for my project!
Anyway, I'll sure take a look at it as soon as I can. Thanks!

"Dmitriy Lapshin [C# / .NET MVP]" <x-****@no-spam-please.hotpop.com> wrote
in message news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...

Hey Razzie,

Once you've loaded an assembly to the AppDomain, you cannot unload the
assembly - you have to unload the entire domain.
Therefore, if you need to reload an assembly 'on the fly', you have to use
a dedicated AppDomain. I have gone through all this hell while working on
X-Unity, so if you are stuck with some problem - post it here and
hopefully I notice your message and reply :-)

--
Sincerely,
Dmitriy Lapshin [C# / .NET MVP]
Bring the power of unit testing to the VS .NET IDE today!
http://www.x-unity.net/teststudio.aspx

"Razzie" <ra****@quicknet.nl> wrote in message
news:eT**************@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...

Hey all,

I'm working on this project where I'm dynamically loading an assembly.
Basically what I want is that I can just replace my old dll file with a
new one without having to do anything else.
So to test this, I did the following: I temporarily tested it by saving
my dll file in C:\, so let's say I have C:\dynamic.dll.

I have created a winforms application with a simple button that calls the
method with Assembly.Load, which you can see here (notice a lot of debug
statement to try and find the problem):

public MyClass getClass(Domain domain)
{
AssemblyName assemblyName = new AssemblyName();
Assembly classAssembly = null;
try
{
assemblyName.CodeBase = @"C:\dynamic.dll";
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Codebase for dynamic dll set to:
" + assemblyName.CodeBase);
classAssembly = Assembly.Load(assemblyName);
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Loaded dynamic.dll, returning
instance...");
return (MyClass)classAssembly .CreateInstance("MyClass2", false,
System.Reflection.BindingFlags.CreateInstance, null, null, null, new
Object[]{domain});
}
catch(Exception ex) {
System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Exception: " + ex.Message); }
finally {
classAssembly = null; assemblyName =
null;System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Cleaning up"); }
return null;
}

So, now comes the problem. When I test this the first time, all is well.
All debug statements are printed and my output furthermore shows
''test.exe': Loaded 'c:\dynamic.dll', Symbols loaded.' to show it
actually loaded the assembly.

However when I rename my dynamic.dll to bogus.dll and click the button
again (without closing the application) it won't throw an exception
'dynamic.dll not found' or something, which I was expecting. It does show
all debug statements again, but nothing else. I first thought it was
still in memory or something, therefor I added the try-catch-finally
block in my getClass method and set my objects to null (but as I was
expecting, that didn't help).

So, is there more to this then meets the eye? Can I / Do I have to unload
the assembly somehow? Why doesn't it give the error when renaming my dll
so it shouldn't be found?

Thanks! Regards,

Razzie