What is the easiest way to determine the dependencies of a .NET assembly.

Question

Considering a large system with hundreds of assemblies, what is the easiest way to determine which other projects in the large system depend on a specific assembly when there isn't any way to create a single visual studio solution that contains all the projects?

Answer 1

Configure the operating system to index your source code and search the content for the angle brackets that indicate a reference. Problem is that the path in the reference might be different depending on where the refering projects reside in relation to the one you are looking for so some regular expression might be in order.

Answer 2

You could use a tool such as ndepend. It will analyze the compiled assemblies and generate a nice graph with arrows pointing to and from your assemblies. I've seen a similar feature in VS2010.

Answer 3

I would say that NDepend is the easiest way to determine the dependencies of a .Net Assembly, regardless of complexity:

NDepend is a tool that simplifies managing a complex .NET code base. Architects and developers can analyze code structure, specify design rules, plan massive refactoring, do effective code reviews and master evolution by comparing different versions of the code.

Answer 4

I'll third the NDepend suggestion, it works extremely well for this problem. You don't have to change anything about your Visual Studio solutions or projects to use it.

JB