Junfeng Zhang's Windows Programming Notes

Setting Host Policy in appdomain

Due to popular demand, I am posting an example how to set host policy in appdomain.

(If you don't know what host policy is, please refer to the following two blogs:

Aspnet.Config
http://blogs.msdn.com/junfeng/archive/2004/10/07/239317.aspx

Assembly Binding Policy
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/alanshi/commentview.aspx/d4edb084-c625-4b6e-8e5c-7c2580cfcee9)

The only way to set host policy is through CLR hosting API.

There are four CLR hosting APIs defined in mscoree.idl in .Net framework SDK.

#pragma midl_echo("STDAPI CorBindToRuntimeHost(LPCWSTR pwszVersion, LPCWSTR pwszBuildFlavor, LPCWSTR pwszHostConfigFile, VOID* pReserved, DWORD startupFlags, REFCLSID rclsid, REFIID riid, LPVOID FAR *ppv);")
#pragma midl_echo("STDAPI CorBindToRuntimeEx(LPCWSTR pwszVersion, LPCWSTR pwszBuildFlavor, DWORD startupFlags, REFCLSID rclsid, REFIID riid, LPVOID FAR *ppv);")
#pragma midl_echo("STDAPI CorBindToRuntimeByCfg(IStream* pCfgStream, DWORD reserved, DWORD startupFlags, REFCLSID rclsid,REFIID riid, LPVOID FAR* ppv);")
#pragma midl_echo("STDAPI CorBindToRuntime(LPCWSTR pwszVersion, LPCWSTR pwszBuildFlavor, REFCLSID rclsid, REFIID riid, LPVOID FAR *ppv);")

The only one can set host policy is CorBindToRuntimeHost. The host policy is set automatically in every appdomain.

Documentation for CLR hosting interface can be found at http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/clr/HostingInterfaces.aspx.

The example below hosts CLR, then executes a managed application in default appdomain. The managed application simply loads an assembly to demostrate that host policy is applied.

E:\demo>more hostdemo.cpp
#include "windows.h"
#include "stdio.h"
#include "mscoree.h"

#import  <mscorlib.tlb> raw_interfaces_only high_property_prefixes("_get","_put","_putref")

using namespace mscorlib;

int wmain(int argc, WCHAR **argv)
{
    if (argc != 3) {
        printf("Usage: HostDemo HostConfigFile AppToExecute\n");
        return 1;
    }

    ICorRuntimeHost *pHost = NULL;
    IUnknown *pAppDomainThunk = NULL;
        _AppDomain *pAppDomain = NULL;

    // let's host CLR
    HRESULT hr = CorBindToRuntimeHost(  L"v1.1.4322",   // pwzVersion
                                L"wks",   // pwzBuildFlavor
                                argv[1],  // host config file
                                NULL,   // reversed
                                0,      // startup flag,
                                CLSID_CorRuntimeHost,
                                IID_ICorRuntimeHost,
                                (VOID**)&pHost);

    if (FAILED(hr)) {
        printf("CorBindToRuntimeHost failed with hr=0x%x.\n", hr);
        return 2;
    }

    // Start the runtime
    hr = pHost->Start();
    if (FAILED(hr)) {
        printf("ICorRuntimeHost->Start failed with hr=0x%x.\n", hr);
        return 3;
    }

    // Get the default appdomain.
    hr = pHost->GetDefaultDomain(&pAppDomainThunk);
    if (FAILED(hr)) {
        printf("ICorRuntimeHost->GetDefaultDomain failed with hr=0x%x.\n", hr);
        return 4;
    }

    // Get System::_AppDomain interface
    hr = pAppDomainThunk->QueryInterface(__uuidof(_AppDomain),
                                        (void**) &pAppDomain);
    if (FAILED(hr)) {
        printf("Can't get System::_AppDomain interface\n");
        return 5;
    }

    long lRet= 0;
    // call System::_AppDomain::ExecuteAssembly(String)
    hr = pAppDomain->ExecuteAssembly_2(_bstr_t(argv[2]), &lRet);
    if (FAILED(hr)) {
        printf("_AppDomain::ExecuteAssembly_2 failed with hr=0x%x.\n", hr);
        return 6;
    }

    return 0;
}

E:\demo>more hello.cs
using System;
using System.Reflection;

public class test
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        Console.WriteLine(Assembly.Load("test, version=1.0.0.0, culture=neutral, publickeytoken=ba6def5dd8a8ddac").Location);
    }
}

E:\demo>more test.cs
using System;
using System.Reflection;

[assembly:AssemblyKeyFile("1.snk")]
public class test
{
    public String WhoAmI()
    {
        return "Test.dll";
    }
}

E:\demo>more build.bat
cl hostdemo.cpp mscoree.lib
csc hello.cs
csc /t:library test.cs
move test.dll c:\temp\test.dll

E:\demo>more example.config
<configuration>
   <runtime>
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
         <dependentAssembly>
            <assemblyIdentity name="test"
                              publicKeyToken="ba6def5dd8a8ddac"
                              culture="neutral" />
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0" newVersion="0.0.0.0"/>
            <codeBase version="0.0.0.0" href="c:\temp\test.dll"/>
         </dependentAssembly>
      </assemblyBinding>
   </runtime>
</configuration>

E:\demo>build.bat

E:\demo>cl hostdemo.cpp mscoree.lib
Microsoft (R) 32-bit C/C++ Optimizing Compiler Version 13.10.3077 for 80x86
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1984-2002. All rights reserved.

hostdemo.cpp
Microsoft (R) Incremental Linker Version 7.10.3077
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

/out:hostdemo.exe
hostdemo.obj
mscoree.lib

E:\demo>csc hello.cs
Microsoft (R) Visual C# .NET Compiler version 7.10.6001.4
for Microsoft (R) .NET Framework version 1.1.4322
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2001-2002. All rights reserved.
E:\demo>csc /t:library test.cs
Microsoft (R) Visual C# .NET Compiler version 7.10.6001.4
for Microsoft (R) .NET Framework version 1.1.4322
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2001-2002. All rights reserved.

E:\demo>move test.dll c:\temp\test.dll
        1 file(s) moved.

E:\demo>hostdemo example.config hello.exe
c:\temp\test.dll

Due to the restriction of codebase in host policy, I have to use a bogus redirect in example.config to make sure the codebase is picked up correctly.

The example is compiled with VS.Net 2003, and run under .Net framework 1.1.