Generating DLL assembly dynamically at run time

Question

Currently I have some code that is being generated dynamically. In other words, a C# .cs file is created dynamically by the program, and the intention is to include this C# file in another project.

The challenge is that I would like to generate a .DLL file instead of generating a C# .cs file so that it could be referenced by any kind of .NET application (not only C#) and therefore be more useful.

score 41 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 02 '09 at 23:34

41

using System.CodeDom.Compiler;
using System.Diagnostics;
using Microsoft.CSharp;

CSharpCodeProvider codeProvider = new CSharpCodeProvider();
ICodeCompiler icc = codeProvider.CreateCompiler();
System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters parameters = new CompilerParameters();
parameters.GenerateExecutable = false;
parameters.OutputAssembly = "AutoGen.dll";
CompilerResults results = icc.CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, yourCodeAsString);

Adapted from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/304655

answered Mar 02 '09 at 23:34

Rex M

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Note: older versions of this code have an extra line of code which create a compiler from the provider using CSharpCodeProvider.CreateCompiler(). This is deprecated, you should call compile on the provider directly. – Andrew Hill Dec 28 '17 at 22:21

score 35 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 04 '13 at 20:41

The non-deprecated way of doing it (using .NET 4.0 as previous posters mentioned):

using System.CodeDom.Compiler;
using System.Reflection;
using System;
public class J
{
    public static void Main()
    {       
        System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters parameters = new CompilerParameters();
        parameters.GenerateExecutable = false;
        parameters.OutputAssembly = "AutoGen.dll";

        CompilerResults r = CodeDomProvider.CreateProvider("CSharp").CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, "public class B {public static int k=7;}");

        //verify generation
        Console.WriteLine(Assembly.LoadFrom("AutoGen.dll").GetType("B").GetField("k").GetValue(null));
    }
}

If you use `parameters.GenerateInMemory = true;` you can get the in-memory assembly with `r.CompiledAssembly` — George Helyar, Feb 28 '17 at 11:15

score 5 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 02 '09 at 23:35

5

Right now, your best bet is CSharpCodeProvider; the plans for 4.0 include "compiler as a service", which will make this fully managed.

answered Mar 02 '09 at 23:35

Marc Gravell

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title of topic is "generating-dll-assembly-dynamically-at-run-time" NOT "generating-EXE-assembly-dynamically-at-run-time" your link description abut create exe at runtime. – Amin Ghaderi Apr 01 '15 at 08:30
1

@AminGhaderi and who said anything about exe? If you mean "but the code sample on MSDN creates an exe" - it will happily create dlls too; ultimately, the file package is *not* the interesting part of an assembly – Marc Gravell Apr 01 '15 at 08:31

Generating DLL assembly dynamically at run time

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