VB.Net plugin using Matlab COM Automation Server...Error: 'Could not load Interop.MLApp'

Question

My Problem: I am using Matlab COM Automation Server to call and execute matlab .m files from a VB.Net plugin for a CAD program called Rhino 3D. The code works flawlessly when set up as a simple Windows Application in Visual Studio, but when I insert it (and make the requisite reference) into my .Net plugin and test it in the CAD program I get the following error:

"Could not load file or assembly 'Interop.MLApp, Version 1.0.0.0, culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. the system cannot find the file specified."

What I've Tried: I am baffled as to why this occurs, but I was able to contact the CAD program's technical support staff and they suggested that it has something to do with their DotNet SDK having trouble with references that are located far outside the CAD program directory. They didn't have any solutions so I tried playing around with copylocal and this made no difference. I tried using other COM libraries and the Open Office automation server works fine, although uses url's instead of requiring a reference. I also tested Excel, which does require a reference, and it returned the error: "retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {...} failed due to the following error: 80040154." This may or may not be related to the issue with the Matlab COM reference, but I thought was worthwhile to share. Perhaps is there another way to reference Interop.MLApp?

I would appreciate any suggestions or thoughts on how I might make the Matlab Interop.MLApp reference work.

Best regards, Ben

Answer 1

Try moving the assembly file(s) for MLApp into the bin directory. Based on everything I've read, this seems to be a glitch of some sort during the generation of the assembly binding where all the assemblies are merged together and their locations are assumed. I've included some links where I gleaned a bit of information about it.

http://blogs.msdn.com/isha/archive/2009/04/04/issues-with-wcf-service-when-the-asp-net-website-is-deployed-using-the-web-deployment-project-and-as-non-updatable-project.aspx

ttp://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/netfxremoting/thread/30df57a8-2a57-4f9f-a120-30c24bc11681

ttp://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/netfxremoting/thread/30df57a8-2a57-4f9f-a120-30c24bc11681

ttp://www.sitefinity.com/support/forums/sitefinity-3-x/bugs-issues/cannot-load-file-or-assembly-error.aspx

ttp://forums.asp.net/t/986130.aspx?PageIndex=8

ttp://stackoverflow.com/questions/408002/could-not-load-file-or-assembly-xxxx-or-one-of-its-dependencies-the-system-can