How to List All Required Assemblies for an EXE

[Charles Law]

I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
important for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my Help
About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists _loaded_
assemblies and their version, but I have one assembly that is not loaded
until the user has done something quite specific in the program, and I need
to list this one too. Other applications seem to manage it, so I wonder how
it can be done in .NET.

Furthermore, the code I have at present does not locate the assembly. I also
need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all assemblies are
being loaded from the right place.

Can anyone help?

TIA

Charles

[Jason Newell]

Charles,
I have a C# application that does something similar (I think) to what
you're wanting. I'll paste the specific code below. The code is in C#
but should be easily converted to VB.NET. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
############### ############### ############### ############### ############### ####
private static bool PreloadAssembli es()
{
Assembly assembly = System.Reflecti on.Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly();

AssemblyName[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();

foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
try
{
Assembly.Load(a ssemblyName);
}
catch (System.IO.File NotFoundExcepti on)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " was not found.",
"File Not Found",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.BadImag eFormatExceptio n)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " is an invalid file image.",
"Bad Image Format",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Securit y.SecurityExcep tion)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"You do not have rights to assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + ".",
"Security Error",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Excepti on)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " cannot be loaded.",
"Assembly Load Error",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
############### ############### ############### ############### ############### ####

Charles Law wrote:

I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
important for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my Help
About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists _loaded_
assemblies and their version, but I have one assembly that is not loaded
until the user has done something quite specific in the program, and I need
to list this one too. Other applications seem to manage it, so I wonder how
it can be done in .NET.

Furthermore, the code I have at present does not locate the assembly. I also
need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all assemblies are
being loaded from the right place.

Can anyone help?

TIA

Charles

[Charles Law]

Hi Jason

Thanks for the response. I have converted and run the code you posted but I
don't seem to be quite there yet. I think my problem can be explained as
follows

I have a hierarchy of assemblies like this

MainApp -> SubAssembly1
-> SubAssembly2
-> SubAssembly3 -> SubAssembly4
-> SubAssembly5

If I list the referenced assemblies after preloading I get SubAssembly1,
SubAssembly2, SubAssembly3, and SubAssembly5, but not SubAssembly4.

Can you think of a way to get at SubAssembly4? Also, I still don't seem to
be able to identify where each assembly was loaded from.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:uf******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP12.phx.gbl. ..

Charles,
I have a C# application that does something similar (I think) to what
you're wanting. I'll paste the specific code below. The code is in C#
but should be easily converted to VB.NET. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
############### ############### ############### ############### ############### ####
private static bool PreloadAssembli es()
{
Assembly assembly = System.Reflecti on.Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly();

AssemblyName[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();

foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
try
{
Assembly.Load(a ssemblyName);
}
catch (System.IO.File NotFoundExcepti on)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " was not found.",
"File Not Found",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.BadImag eFormatExceptio n)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " is an invalid file image.",
"Bad Image Format",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Securit y.SecurityExcep tion)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"You do not have rights to assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + ".",
"Security Error",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Excepti on)
{
MessageBox.Show (
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " cannot be loaded.",
"Assembly Load Error",
MessageBoxButto ns.OK,
MessageBoxIcon. Error);
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
############### ############### ############### ############### ############### ####

Charles Law wrote:

I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
important for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my Help
About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists _loaded_
assemblies and their version, but I have one assembly that is not loaded
until the user has done something quite specific in the program, and I
need to list this one too. Other applications seem to manage it, so I
wonder how it can be done in .NET.

Furthermore, the code I have at present does not locate the assembly. I
also need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all
assemblies are being loaded from the right place.

Can anyone help?

TIA

Charles

[Jason Newell]

Charles,
I'm a little closer with this next code. I'm busy at work so I can't
finish it for you. Maybe this will help you get over the hump.
I converted the PreloadAssembly () method into a recursive method so
that it will traverse the Assembly structure. The problem right now is
it gets into an endless loop. Need some check there to get out of the
loop. Once you have an Assembly object, you can use the CodeBase
property to determine where the assembly is being loaded from. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer

############### ############### ############### ############### ############### #########
PreloadAssembly (Assembly.GetEx ecutingAssembly ());
static void PreloadAssembly (Assembly assembly)
{
Console.WriteLi ne(assembly.Cod eBase);

AssemblyName[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();
foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
Assembly referencedAssem bly = Assembly.Load(a ssemblyName);
PreloadAssembly (referencedAsse mbly);
}
}

############### ############### ############### ############### ############### ########
Charles Law wrote:

Hi Jason

Thanks for the response. I have converted and run the code you posted but I
don't seem to be quite there yet. I think my problem can be explained as
follows

I have a hierarchy of assemblies like this

MainApp -> SubAssembly1
-> SubAssembly2
-> SubAssembly3 -> SubAssembly4
-> SubAssembly5

If I list the referenced assemblies after preloading I get SubAssembly1,
SubAssembly2, SubAssembly3, and SubAssembly5, but not SubAssembly4.

Can you think of a way to get at SubAssembly4? Also, I still don't seem to
be able to identify where each assembly was loaded from.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:uf******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP12.phx.gbl. ..

Charles,
I have a C# application that does something similar (I think) to what
you're wanting. I'll paste the specific code below. The code is in C#
but should be easily converted to VB.NET. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
############# ############### ############### ############### ############### ######
private static bool PreloadAssembli es()
{
Assembly assembly = System.Reflecti on.Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly();

AssemblyNam e[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();

foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
try
{
Assembly.Load (assemblyName);
}
catch (System.IO.File NotFoundExcepti on)
{
MessageBox.Sh ow(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " was not found.",
"File Not Found",
MessageBoxBut tons.OK,
MessageBoxIco n.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.BadImag eFormatExceptio n)
{
MessageBox.Sh ow(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " is an invalid file image.",
"Bad Image Format",
MessageBoxBut tons.OK,
MessageBoxIco n.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Securit y.SecurityExcep tion)
{
MessageBox.Sh ow(
"You do not have rights to assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + ".",
"Security Error",
MessageBoxBut tons.OK,
MessageBoxIco n.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Excepti on)
{
MessageBox.Sh ow(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " cannot be loaded.",
"Assembly Load Error",
MessageBoxBut tons.OK,
MessageBoxIco n.Error);
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
############# ############### ############### ############### ############### ######

Charles Law wrote:

I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
important for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my Help
About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists _loaded_
assemblies and their version, but I have one assembly that is not loaded
until the user has done something quite specific in the program, and I
need to list this one too. Other applications seem to manage it, so I
wonder how it can be done in .NET.

Furthermor e, the code I have at present does not locate the assembly. I
also need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all
assemblies are being loaded from the right place.

Can anyone help?

TIA

Charles

[Charles Law]

Hi Jason

Great minds ... I tried making it recursive before I posted back last time,
and hit exactly the same problem. It seems like there are circular
references amongst the Microsoft assemblies, which is unfortunate.

Thanks for looking at it again.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:Ot******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Charles,
I'm a little closer with this next code. I'm busy at work so I can't
finish it for you. Maybe this will help you get over the hump.
I converted the PreloadAssembly () method into a recursive method so that
it will traverse the Assembly structure. The problem right now is it gets
into an endless loop. Need some check there to get out of the loop. Once
you have an Assembly object, you can use the CodeBase property to
determine where the assembly is being loaded from. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer

############### ############### ############### ############### ############### #########
PreloadAssembly (Assembly.GetEx ecutingAssembly ());
static void PreloadAssembly (Assembly assembly)
{
Console.WriteLi ne(assembly.Cod eBase);

AssemblyName[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();
foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
Assembly referencedAssem bly = Assembly.Load(a ssemblyName);
PreloadAssembly (referencedAsse mbly);
}
}

############### ############### ############### ############### ############### ########
Charles Law wrote:

Hi Jason

Thanks for the response. I have converted and run the code you posted but
I don't seem to be quite there yet. I think my problem can be explained
as follows

I have a hierarchy of assemblies like this

MainApp -> SubAssembly1
-> SubAssembly2
-> SubAssembly3 -> SubAssembly4
-> SubAssembly5

If I list the referenced assemblies after preloading I get SubAssembly1,
SubAssembly2, SubAssembly3, and SubAssembly5, but not SubAssembly4.

Can you think of a way to get at SubAssembly4? Also, I still don't seem
to be able to identify where each assembly was loaded from.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:uf******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP12.phx.gbl. ..

Charles,
I have a C# application that does something similar (I think) to what
you're wanting. I'll paste the specific code below. The code is in C#
but should be easily converted to VB.NET. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
############ ############### ############### ############### ############### #######
private static bool PreloadAssembli es()
{
Assembly assembly = System.Reflecti on.Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly();

AssemblyNa me[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();

foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
try
{
Assembly.Loa d(assemblyName) ;
}
catch (System.IO.File NotFoundExcepti on)
{
MessageBox.S how(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " was not found.",
"File Not Found",
MessageBoxBu ttons.OK,
MessageBoxIc on.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.BadImag eFormatExceptio n)
{
MessageBox.S how(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " is an invalid file image.",
"Bad Image Format",
MessageBoxBu ttons.OK,
MessageBoxIc on.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Securit y.SecurityExcep tion)
{
MessageBox.S how(
"You do not have rights to assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + ".",
"Security Error",
MessageBoxBu ttons.OK,
MessageBoxIc on.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Excepti on)
{
MessageBox.S how(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " cannot be loaded.",
"Assembly Load Error",
MessageBoxBu ttons.OK,
MessageBoxIc on.Error);
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
############ ############### ############### ############### ############### #######

Charles Law wrote:

I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
important for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my Help
About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists _loaded_
assemblie s and their version, but I have one assembly that is not loaded
until the user has done something quite specific in the program, and I
need to list this one too. Other applications seem to manage it, so I
wonder how it can be done in .NET.

Furthermore , the code I have at present does not locate the assembly. I
also need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all
assemblie s are being loaded from the right place.

Can anyone help?

TIA

Charles

[Jason Newell]

Charles,
The endless loop can easily be adverted by keeping a list of
Asssemblies that you've already loaded and not trying to load them
twice. I just didn't have time to code it.
Your requirement was to list all required Assemblies with their path,
which is what this does. With the endless loop check implemented,
shouldn't this be your final solution?

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
Charles Law wrote:

Hi Jason

Great minds ... I tried making it recursive before I posted back last time,
and hit exactly the same problem. It seems like there are circular
references amongst the Microsoft assemblies, which is unfortunate.

Thanks for looking at it again.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:Ot******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Charles,
I'm a little closer with this next code. I'm busy at work so I can't
finish it for you. Maybe this will help you get over the hump.
I converted the PreloadAssembly () method into a recursive method so that
it will traverse the Assembly structure. The problem right now is it gets
into an endless loop. Need some check there to get out of the loop. Once
you have an Assembly object, you can use the CodeBase property to
determine where the assembly is being loaded from. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer

############# ############### ############### ############### ############### ###########
PreloadAssemb ly(Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly());
static void PreloadAssembly (Assembly assembly)
{
Console.Write Line(assembly.C odeBase);

AssemblyNam e[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();
foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
Assembly referencedAssem bly = Assembly.Load(a ssemblyName);
PreloadAssemb ly(referencedAs sembly);
}
}

############# ############### ############### ############### ############### ##########
Charles Law wrote:

Hi Jason

Thanks for the response. I have converted and run the code you posted but
I don't seem to be quite there yet. I think my problem can be explained
as follows

I have a hierarchy of assemblies like this

MainApp -> SubAssembly1
-> SubAssembly2
-> SubAssembly3 -> SubAssembly4
-> SubAssembly5

If I list the referenced assemblies after preloading I get SubAssembly1,
SubAssembly2 , SubAssembly3, and SubAssembly5, but not SubAssembly4.

Can you think of a way to get at SubAssembly4? Also, I still don't seem
to be able to identify where each assembly was loaded from.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:uf***** ***********@TK2 MSFTNGP12.phx.g bl...
Charles,
I have a C# application that does something similar (I think) to what
you're wanting. I'll paste the specific code below. The code is in C#
but should be easily converted to VB.NET. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
########### ############### ############### ############### ############### ########
private static bool PreloadAssembli es()
{
Assembly assembly = System.Reflecti on.Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly();

AssemblyNam e[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();

foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
try
{
Assembly.Lo ad(assemblyName );
}
catch (System.IO.File NotFoundExcepti on)
{
MessageBox. Show(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " was not found.",
"File Not Found",
MessageBoxB uttons.OK,
MessageBoxI con.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.BadImag eFormatExceptio n)
{
MessageBox. Show(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " is an invalid file image.",
"Bad Image Format",
MessageBoxB uttons.OK,
MessageBoxI con.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Securit y.SecurityExcep tion)
{
MessageBox. Show(
"You do not have rights to assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + ".",
"Security Error",
MessageBoxB uttons.OK,
MessageBoxI con.Error);
return false;
}
catch (System.Excepti on)
{
MessageBox. Show(
"Assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + " cannot be loaded.",
"Assembly Load Error",
MessageBoxB uttons.OK,
MessageBoxI con.Error);
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
########### ############### ############### ############### ############### ########

Charles Law wrote:
>I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
>importan t for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my Help
>About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists _loaded_
>assembli es and their version, but I have one assembly that is not loaded
>until the user has done something quite specific in the program, and I
>need to list this one too. Other applications seem to manage it, so I
>wonder how it can be done in .NET.
>
>Furthermor e, the code I have at present does not locate the assembly. I
>also need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all
>assembli es are being loaded from the right place.
>
>Can anyone help?
>
>TIA
>
>Charles
>

[Charles Law]

Jason

Thanks for looking at it again.
I was referring to your earlier review rather than asking you to keep going.
You are right, with the list of loaded assemblies stopping recursion this
should do just what I want.

Thanks again.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:eh******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl... Charles,
The endless loop can easily be adverted by keeping a list of Asssemblies
that you've already loaded and not trying to load them twice. I just
didn't have time to code it.
Your requirement was to list all required Assemblies with their path,
which is what this does. With the endless loop check implemented,
shouldn't this be your final solution?

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer
Charles Law wrote:

Hi Jason

Great minds ... I tried making it recursive before I posted back last
time, and hit exactly the same problem. It seems like there are circular
references amongst the Microsoft assemblies, which is unfortunate.

Thanks for looking at it again.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:Ot******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP09.phx.gbl...

Charles,
I'm a little closer with this next code. I'm busy at work so I can't
finish it for you. Maybe this will help you get over the hump.
I converted the PreloadAssembly () method into a recursive method so that
it will traverse the Assembly structure. The problem right now is it
gets into an endless loop. Need some check there to get out of the loop.
Once you have an Assembly object, you can use the CodeBase property to
determine where the assembly is being loaded from. HTH

Jason Newell, MCAD
Software Engineer

############ ############### ############### ############### ############### ############
PreloadAssem bly(Assembly.Ge tExecutingAssem bly());
static void PreloadAssembly (Assembly assembly)
{
Console.Writ eLine(assembly. CodeBase);

AssemblyNa me[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();
foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
{
Assembly referencedAssem bly = Assembly.Load(a ssemblyName);
PreloadAssem bly(referencedA ssembly);
}
}

############ ############### ############### ############### ############### ###########
Charles Law wrote:

Hi Jason

Thanks for the response. I have converted and run the code you posted
but I don't seem to be quite there yet. I think my problem can be
explained as follows

I have a hierarchy of assemblies like this

MainApp -> SubAssembly1
-> SubAssembly2
-> SubAssembly3 -> SubAssembly4
-> SubAssembly5

If I list the referenced assemblies after preloading I get SubAssembly1,
SubAssembly 2, SubAssembly3, and SubAssembly5, but not SubAssembly4.

Can you think of a way to get at SubAssembly4? Also, I still don't seem
to be able to identify where each assembly was loaded from.

Charles
"Jason Newell" <no****@nospam. com> wrote in message
news:uf**** ************@TK 2MSFTNGP12.phx. gbl...
>Charles,
>I have a C# application that does something similar (I think) to what
>you're wanting. I'll paste the specific code below. The code is in C#
>but should be easily converted to VB.NET. HTH
>
>Jason Newell, MCAD
>Software Engineer
>
>
>########## ############### ############### ############### ############### #########
>private static bool PreloadAssembli es()
>{
>Assembly assembly = System.Reflecti on.Assembly.Get ExecutingAssemb ly();
>
>AssemblyNa me[] assemblies = assembly.GetRef erencedAssembli es();
>
>foreach (AssemblyName assemblyName in assemblies)
>{
>try
>{
>Assembly.L oad(assemblyNam e);
>}
>catch (System.IO.File NotFoundExcepti on)
>{
>MessageBox .Show(
>"Assembl y " + assemblyName.Na me + " was not found.",
>"File Not Found",
>MessageBox Buttons.OK,
>MessageBox Icon.Error);
>return false;
>}
>catch (System.BadImag eFormatExceptio n)
>{
>MessageBox .Show(
>"Assembl y " + assemblyName.Na me + " is an invalid file image.",
>"Bad Image Format",
>MessageBox Buttons.OK,
>MessageBox Icon.Error);
>return false;
>}
>catch (System.Securit y.SecurityExcep tion)
>{
>MessageBox .Show(
>"You do not have rights to assembly " + assemblyName.Na me + ".",
>"Securit y Error",
>MessageBox Buttons.OK,
>MessageBox Icon.Error);
>return false;
>}
>catch (System.Excepti on)
>{
>MessageBox .Show(
>"Assembl y " + assemblyName.Na me + " cannot be loaded.",
>"Assembl y Load Error",
>MessageBox Buttons.OK,
>MessageBox Icon.Error);
>return false;
>}
>}
>return true;
>}
>########## ############### ############### ############### ############### #########
>
>
>
>Charles Law wrote:
>
>
>>I'm sorry to keep harping on about this one, but it is really quite
>>importa nt for me to be able to list _all_ required assemblies in my
>>Help About box. Herfried kindly posted some code before that lists
>>_loaded _ assemblies and their version, but I have one assembly that is
>>not loaded until the user has done something quite specific in the
>>program , and I need to list this one too. Other applications seem to
>>manage it, so I wonder how it can be done in .NET.
>>
>>Furthermo re, the code I have at present does not locate the assembly.
>>I also need to be able to do this so that I can be certain that all
>>assemblie s are being loaded from the right place.
>>
>>Can anyone help?
>>
>>TIA
>>
>>Charles
>>

[Chris Dunaway]

One possible problem with your approach is that you are loading the
assemblies into memory and there is no way to unload them.

You might wish to create an AppDomain and enumerate your assemblies
with that then you can call it's UnloadDomain method to unload any
assemblies that you loaded.

Chris

[Charles Law]

Hi Chris

That's a good point. Thanks for the tip.

Charles
"Chris Dunaway" <du******@gmail .com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************@g 14g2000cwa.goog legroups.com...

One possible problem with your approach is that you are loading the
assemblies into memory and there is no way to unload them.

You might wish to create an AppDomain and enumerate your assemblies
with that then you can call it's UnloadDomain method to unload any
assemblies that you loaded.

Chris