Simulate build provider in ASP.NET Web Application (.Net 2.0)

Question

I am working with .Net 2.0 ASP.NET Web Application.

I am programmaticaly creating an assembly containing namespace and classes specified within xml file in the web application. I have created a separate library that does that, I get the assembly and that's fine.

But I don't want to reference this as a precompiled component.

I want to create it on the fly, so when I run the build of the web application, the assembly is built, the reference to the assembly added and then the web application code can use it further. Plus, I can have the intellisense.

Now this is exactly the scenario for the build providers, but the problem is that the build providers don't work with this type of application.

I have managed to run the assembly generation tool like so:

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  <Exec Command="CreateAssembly.exe config.xml"/>
</Target>

But no luck with dinamically referencing the generated assembly.

I'm stuck, any ideas? Thanks.

Answer 1

The class you are looking for is the Assembly class within the System.Reflection namespace.

Example

Assembly.Load(AssemblyPath)

or

Assembly.LoadFrom(AssemblyPath)

These methods can be used to load a non-referenced assembly into your app-domain.

There are various conditions and restrictions so I would read up on them both.

Links

Assembly.Load (MSDN)

Assembly.LoadFrom (MSDN)

Useful MS KB Article

Have fun!

Answer 2

I've been toying around with using Rake for automating builds recently so you might want to give that a try. Here's a couple of links that you might find useful:

• http://www.tobinharris.com/2008/11/4/getting-started-with-rake-on-net
• http://www.tobinharris.com/2008/12/13/automate-boring-tasks-with-rake-in-dotnet