.NET Reflection on unloadable types

Question

I have a library which contains unloadable type (whenever I try to access them I get a TypeLoadException). Therefore, I can't use the System.Reflection namespace to inspect those types. Is there some other way to reflect on those types. Of course, I don't expect to be able to use any methods, I just want to see basic info such as method names and perhaps the argument types.

Edit: I know and accept that the type is unloadable, it is because it defines its own System.Object and it does not have a reference to mscorlib. Reflector and ildasm work, but I want to do the reflection on the fly.

Answer 1

Check out this blog post: Debugging a MissingMethodException, MissingFieldException, TypeLoadException.

Answer 2

Try using Reflector - it should be able to show you some of the metadata about those types. If that doesn't work, try using ILDASM to disassemble the assembly to see the type's metadata.

Answer 3

Use Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoad to load the assembly.

see msdn

Answer 4

You could use Mono.Cecil to reflect the assembly. Unfortunately you'd have to change your reflection code as the interfaces are not compatible.