Can a reference to a netmodule be added in Visual Studio?

Question

I am trying to use code written by someone else in my own project. Their code was shipped as a .netmodule file. It seems that I have to build my project from the command line using the /addmodule option.

Is there any way to do this in the Visual Studio IDE?

Answer 1

In my understanding, a netmodule is not meant to be deployed alone. It has to be linked into an assembly and I don't think there is way to do it from within the IDE. You can't just set a reference, because it is incomplete on its own (it isn't a deployable unit of code).

Linking can be done by using compiler’s /addmodule switch, al.exe, or in .NET framework 2.0, you can use link.exe. After it has been linked, the netmodule can then be deployed with the assembly. If you are using .NET 2.0, link.exe can produce a single file assembly. I think the other approaches all create assemblies with multiple files.

I hope that helps.