unblocking Ribbon WPF assembly for use in VS2010

Question

I'm trying to open the sample Solution for the Microsoft Ribbon for WPF, but I get this error about being unable to load metadata. The solution on that site, and the one linked in the error, is How to: Use an Assembly from the Web in Visual Studio. However, I don't see any 'Unblock' option when I check the Properties dialog for RibbonControlsLibrary.dll in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Ribbon for WPF\v3.5.40729.1. This may be because when I downloaded the Ribbon stuff, it wasn't the library directly, but rather an installer for the library. How can I get rid of this error so I can actually see the design view of the sample XAML files for the Ribbon WPF?

Here is the full error message:

Unable to load the metadata for assembly 'RibbonWindowSample'. This assembly may have been downloaded from the web. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=179545. The following error was encountered during load: Could not load file or assembly 'RibbonWindowSample' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Answer 1

Did you download a zip file? You need to unblock the zip before unzipping it. Once it's unzipped you won't be able to unblock the individual files that were in it.

Here's what to look for at the bottom of the properties dialog.

Answer 2

I was seeing the metadata error before building the Solution--it shows up when I first load the Solution. I tried building it just now and it built fine, plus the design view shows the XAML window. I don't know why I see the metadata error when it first loads but it goes away upon building.

Answer 3

According to the error message, it's not RibbonControlsLibrary.dll that's at fault, it's RibbonWindowSample. Have you unbolocked the solution file and files that form the project? If RibbonWindowSample came pre-compiled, you may need to re-build the solution to generate compiled assemblies that don't have the "web mark" on them.