assembly not loading for asp.net web application

Question

I have a web application which references an external .dll (lets call this productA.dll)

I have updated my GAC, my web.config, and my references, checked the versions and everything looks consistent.

However, when I run my application, methods that I use from productA.dll cannot be called, and I get a "the specified module cannot be found" error.

I tried creating a windows application and I can use productA.dll perfectly fine.

Observing the Output window during run-time for the web application, I noticed that productA.dll symbols are not loaded, so I'm guess that is why the module cannot be found. The question is, why are the symbols not being loaded?

Any tips on the solution or diagnostics techniques would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It's not a requirement that the assembly be in the GAC. I'd say to check the following:

1. Your assembly is in the website's bin folder.
2. Your assembly is referenced in the assemblies section of the web.config.
3. The assembly reference in the web.config has the correct version number.

By the way, symbols will only be loaded if you have the debug file (.pdb) along side the assembly.