Provide the ability to "hot swap" / change assemblies at runtime without re-starting a process.

Question

ASP.Net allows you to copy new assemblies into the bin directory of an application without needing to re-start any services or processes.

I have an application that loads user defined plugins and extensions (some of them are COM based) - I'd like to provide similar functionality (i.e. the ability to change / update an assembly without needing to re-start the process). Currently the assembly is locked until the process is stopped.

How does ASP.Net manage this?

Answer 1

Application domain would be your answer

http://www.devsource.com/c/a/Using-VS/Dynamic-Plugins-Using-the-codeAppDomaincode-Class-to-Load-and-Unload-Code/