Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

David Levine — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 14:46:00 GMT

Thanks for the wrappers. I've been playing around with them and have a couple of questions.

1. Is there a list of HRESULT error codes that the GAC APIs might return? It would be helpful for displaying meaningful error displays.

2. Is there an interface for enumerating the trace references? I think this might be useful for utilities trying to detect corrupted systems (references that are no longer valid).

3. How is the AssemblyCommitFlags flag used when installing assemblies and the value is set to Force?

4. When uninstalling an assembly what happens when a simple or partial name is used instead of the full name? For example, if the name used is "foobar" without specifying a version, culture, etc., will it attempt to uninstall all versions of foobar? Can it uninstall sets of assemblies (e.g. all instances of a particular culture for a given assembly?)

5. Can you provide a definition of the assembly Flags in the AssemblyInfo struct, and perhaps for the AssemblyCacheFlags and CreateAssemblyNameObjectFlags?

I know this is a lot - any additional you can provide is appreciated. Thanks.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Junfeng Zhang — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 19:19:00 GMT

1. Alan described the error codes here
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/alanshi/commentview.aspx/18d8429f-ac4f-421b-9e5c-d0fdad0d6b9f

2. There are interfaces for enumerating trace references. I don't think many people are interested in it, so I did not include it.

3. The force behavior is discussed here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/junfeng/archive/2004/02/14/72666.aspx

4. Uninstall takes a fully specified name. The behavior for partial name uninstall is undefined.

5. Those flags are not really useful. I never see people use them. So I exclude them for more clarify.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

JLops — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:39:00 GMT

Thanks for the wrapper and the examples, they helped alot!
I tried this code in a ClickOnce deployed app with "Full Trust" and it worked fine. I always thought ClickOnce deployed apps couldn't touch the GAC? Is this some way around that? If so, is it a bug?

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Junfeng Zhang — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 17:40:00 GMT

ClickOnce app is all driven by permission. If you are admin on the machine, and ClickOnce app has full trust, it should do can install/uninstall assembly like normal applications.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Junfeng Zhang — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 17:44:00 GMT

I just realize there is an absolute need to enumerate trace reference as well, for migration purpose. I'll update the wrapper later to include that.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

David Levine — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 19:55:00 GMT

I followed the link to the KB article and I added support for the trace reference to the wrapper code. Thanks for the info - it helped a lot. I can forward the modified file if you like.

...I had a couple of remaining questions...

The AssemblyCommitEnum defines two enumerated fields, Default = 0, and Force = 1. The KB article calls out ASSEMBLYCACHE_INSTALL_FLAG_REFRESH = 1 and xxx_FORCE_REFRESH = 2. To force the install should a value of 1 or 2 be used?

When enumerating the ZAP cache the AssemblyName object obtained from GetNextAssembly appears to support building the display string differently then the GAC cache objects. It appears to always omit the processor architecture portion of the display name.

This creates problems later when I try to pass that string to AssemblyCache::QueryAssemblyInfo - it fails it if it does not contain the processor. Also, if I leave off the version info as well as the processor info then it starts working again. Any idea of what I might be doing wrong here?

Everything else works as expected. Thanks

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Junfeng Zhang — Thu, 16 Sep 2004 20:04:00 GMT

David,

Please forward it to me, via the contact link. Saves some time for me:)

I have to look at the FORCE install with care. It is likely there is a bug in my managed wrapper.

The managed wrapper is intended for GAC only. It does not work with ZAP cache.

AssemblyCache::QueryAssemblyInfo does not work with ZAP at all.

I will explain the PA problem later.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

David Levine — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 16:54:00 GMT

Thanks for clarifying some issues; one about the PA part of the name, and the other about the proper value for FORCE versus REFRESH. Everything else was pretty much what I expected.

I noticed you added a value for an OsInstallGuid guid...I assume this is a means of identifying an assembly installed into the GAC by the OS.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Junfeng Zhang — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 18:23:00 GMT

I added it for display purpose. Yes, this one can only used by OS during OS setup. Today only Windows Server 2003 setup uses it.

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Flier Lu — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 03:03:00 GMT

Here is a sample program, maby more complete

http://flier.5i4k.net/GacUtilW.rar

and some articles in Chinese

http://www.blogcn.com/User8/flier_lu/index.html?id=3765092

http://www.blogcn.com/User8/flier_lu/index.html?id=4046367

I wish these maybe useful. :D

Thanks Zhang :P

re: Sample Managed GAC API Wrappers

Junfeng Zhang — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 04:48:00 GMT

Flier,

Your sample is based on v1.1's fusion, and it lacks of ProcessorArchitecture. Fusion.h is already in v2.0 beta1. But the documentation is behind.

Also we already have an AssemblyName class in System.Reflection namespace. You probably don't want to introduce a new one.

Enumerating the assemblies in the GAC.

Yves Dolce — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:47:10 GMT

&nbsp;
This is a version that fulfill my needs but if you need filtering, the information required is...

Enumerating the assemblies in the GAC.

Yves Dolce — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:54:33 GMT

&nbsp;
This is a version that fulfills my needs but if you need filtering, the information required...

Enumerating the assemblies in the GAC.

Yves Dolce — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:55:37 GMT

&nbsp;
This is a version that fulfills my needs but if you need filtering, the information required...

ProcessorArchitecture and Assembly.FullName

Junfeng Zhang's .Net Framework Notes — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 04:21:19 GMT

If you haven’t noticed, assemblies in .Net framework 2.0 have a new name attribute ProcessorArchitecture....

Enumerating the assemblies in the GAC.

Yves Dolce — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 06:53:19 GMT

&nbsp;
This is a version that fulfills my needs but if you need filtering, the information required...

ProcessorArchitecture and Assembly.FullName

Junfeng Zhang's .Net Framework Notes — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:45:07 GMT

If you haven’t noticed, assemblies in .Net framework 2.0 have a new name attribute ProcessorArchitecture....

GacUtil

PSfD: Team Blog — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:47:03 GMT

Recently a number of people have been asking about deploying assemblies into the GAC (Global Assembly...