Binding failure was detected 'Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation'

Question

The building of this project is working on my friend's computer, but not on mine.

On this return line:

protected static Database Connection2
{
    get
    {
        try
        {
            return DatabaseFactory.CreateDatabase("HermesDB");
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            //Corpnet.Elmah.Error.Add(e);
            return null;
        }
    }
}

I am getting the following error:

The assembly with display name 'Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation' failed to load in the 'Load' binding context of the AppDomain with ID 1. The cause of the failure was: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. File name: 'Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation'

=== Pre-bind state information === LOG: User = MLABS\agordon LOG: DisplayName = Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation (Partial) LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/Documents and Settings/agordon/My Documents/Projects/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/bin/Debug/ LOG: Initial PrivatePath = NULL Calling assembly : Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Common, Version=5.0.414.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null. === LOG: This bind starts in default load context. LOG: Using application configuration file: C:\Documents and Settings\agordon\My Documents\Projects\BulkUploadToLOMDatabase\BulkUploadToLOMDatabase\bin\Debug\BulkUploadToLOMDatabase.vshost.exe.config LOG: Using machine configuration file from c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\config\machine.config. LOG: Policy not being applied to reference at this time (private, custom, partial, or location-based assembly bind). LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Documents and Settings/agordon/My Documents/Projects/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/bin/Debug/Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation.DLL. LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Documents and Settings/agordon/My Documents/Projects/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/bin/Debug/Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation/Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation.DLL. LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Documents and Settings/agordon/My Documents/Projects/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/bin/Debug/Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation.EXE. LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Documents and Settings/agordon/My Documents/Projects/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/BulkUploadToLOMDatabase/bin/Debug/Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation/Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Validation.EXE.

Here are all the references I have:

I did download the latest enterprise library and installed it, and I replaced all the DLLS in the above picture with all of their updated versions.

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Alright I've found a solution. I never could accept turning off exceptions as an answer. Just seems somehow wrong....

What seems to be happening is that in previous assemblies, or previous versions of your current assembly, certain references were used externally. Even though your code may have long since abandoned those references, the names are still, some mysterious somewhere, being searched for in the assembly.

Go to your AssemblyInfo.cs files and find ThemeInfo:

[assembly: ThemeInfo(
ResourceDictionaryLocation.ExternalAssembly, //where theme specific resource dictionaries are located
//(used if a resource is not found in the page, 
// or application resource dictionaries)
ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly //where the generic resource dictionary is located
//(used if a resource is not found in the page, 
// app, or any theme specific resource dictionaries))]

Change the first location to 'None':

[assembly: ThemeInfo(
ResourceDictionaryLocation.None, //where theme specific resource dictionaries are located
//(used if a resource is not found in the page, 
// or application resource dictionaries)
ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly //where the generic resource dictionary is located
//(used if a resource is not found in the page, 
// app, or any theme specific resource dictionaries))]

And keep your exceptions turned on! I will be posting this answer to various questions of this similar nature.