What's the best way to embed IronPython inside my C# App?

Question

I have an application used by pretty tech-savey people and they want small island of programmability so I've used embedded Iron Python.

However, since IronPython 2.0 Eval() doesn't work any more. Specifically I can't both load modules and inject local variables.

There is a work around where I can still call Execute(), print out my answer and listen to StandardOut, but then it comes out as a string and I've lost the type.

Not a disaster for a long, but a huge pain for more complex objects.

Does anyone know how to get Eval() working again in 2.0 like it did in 1.x?

Cheers, Jan

Answer 1

Could you be a little more specific about the problem, and maybe provide a code example? The "eval"-style functionality is definitely still present, though as you've noticed, the hosting interface has changed considerably since 1.0.

This works in beta 5:

ScriptEngine engine = Python.CreateEngine();
ScriptSource source = engine.CreateScriptSourceFromString("2 + 5", SourceCodeKind.Expression);
int result = source.Execute<int>();

By the way, using the right SourceCodeKind is critical here.

Answer 2

This example may help you: http://www.voidspace.org.uk/ironpython/dlr_hosting.shtml