What when assembly.GetReferencedAssemblies returns ".exe" dependency ?

Question

Hi all,

there is a lot of examples how to load all dependencies from some assembly like:

var assembly = Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(assemblyPath);
foreach (var assemblyName in assembly.GetReferencedAssemblies()) {
  try {
    Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoad(assemblyName.FullName);
  } catch {
    Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(assemblyPath), assemblyName.Name + ".dll"));
  }
}

but what if one of dependencies is not ".dll" but ".exe" ? Do I need for that ".exe" assembly again to call recursivly GetReferencedAssemblies() in foreach loop ? Is there a danger of getting circular dependancy ?

br, Milan

Answer 1

An assembly that is a dll can just as well as an exe have references to other assemblies; there is no difference between them from that perspective.

Answer 2

You should be able to use the exe just like any other dll. It just has this extra bonus that it can be executed standalone.

Answer 3

GetReferencedAssemblies() does not return the entire dependency tree (dll or exe doesn't make a difference), so you will need a solution that traverses the tree. See this article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163641.aspx.