how to load all assemblies from within your /bin directory

Question

In a web application, I want to load all assemblies in the /bin directory.

Since this can be installed anywhere in the file system, I can't gaurantee a specific path where it is stored.

I want a List<> of Assembly assembly objects.

Answer 1

Well, you can hack this together yourself with the following methods, initially use something like:

string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location); 

to get the path to your current assembly. Next, iterate over all DLL's in the path using the Directory.GetFiles method with a suitable filter. Your final code should look like:

List<Assembly> allAssemblies = new List<Assembly>(); string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location);  foreach (string dll in Directory.GetFiles(path, "*.dll"))     allAssemblies.Add(Assembly.LoadFile(dll)); 

Please note that I haven't tested this so you may need to check that dll actually contains the full path (and concatenate path if it doesn't)

Answer 2

To get the bin directory, string path = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location; does NOT always work (especially when the executing assembly has been placed in an ASP.NET temporary directory).

Instead, you should use string binPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "bin");

Further, you should probably take the FileLoadException and BadImageFormatException into consideration.

Here is my working function:

public static void LoadAllBinDirectoryAssemblies() {     string binPath = System.IO.Path.Combine(System.AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "bin"); // note: don't use CurrentEntryAssembly or anything like that.      foreach (string dll in Directory.GetFiles(binPath, "*.dll", SearchOption.AllDirectories))     {     try     {                             Assembly loadedAssembly = Assembly.LoadFile(dll);     }     catch (FileLoadException loadEx)     { } // The Assembly has already been loaded.     catch (BadImageFormatException imgEx)     { } // If a BadImageFormatException exception is thrown, the file is not an assembly.      } // foreach dll }