Chapter 18 - Assemblies

FolderBasedALC

void Main()
{
  FolderBasedALC alc = new FolderBasedALC (@"C:\YourAssemblyFolder");
  alc.LoadFromAssemblyName (new AssemblyName ("YourAssembly"));

  foreach (Assembly a in alc.Assemblies)
    Console.WriteLine (a.FullName);
}

class FolderBasedALC : AssemblyLoadContext
{
  readonly string _folder;
  public FolderBasedALC (string folder) => _folder = folder;

  protected override Assembly Load (AssemblyName assemblyName)
  {
    // Attempt to find the assembly:
    string targetPath = Path.Combine (_folder, assemblyName.Name + ".dll");

    if (File.Exists (targetPath))
      return LoadFromAssemblyPath (targetPath);   // Load the assembly

    return null;    // We can’t find it – it could be a framework assembly
  }
}

AssemblyDependencyResolver

var resolver = new AssemblyDependencyResolver (@"c:\PathToSomeAssemblyWithDepsDotJson.dll");
string path = resolver.ResolveAssemblyToPath (new AssemblyName ("someDependentAssembly"));

Writing a Plug-in System - Plugin.Common

namespace Plugin.Common
{
  public interface ITextPlugin
  {
    string TransformText (string input);
  }
}

Writing a Plug-in System - Capitalizer

public class CapitalizerPlugin : Plugin.Common.ITextPlugin
{
  public string TransformText (string input) => input.ToUpper();
}

Writing a Plug-in System - Host

class PluginLoadContext : AssemblyLoadContext
{
  AssemblyDependencyResolver _resolver;

  public PluginLoadContext (string pluginPath, bool collectible)
    // Give it a friendly name to help with debugging:
    : base (name: Path.GetFileName (pluginPath), collectible)
  {
    // Create a resolver to help us find dependencies.
    _resolver = new AssemblyDependencyResolver (pluginPath);
  }

  protected override Assembly Load (AssemblyName assemblyName)
  {
    // See below
    if (assemblyName.Name == typeof (ITextPlugin).Assembly.GetName().Name)
      return null;

    string target = _resolver.ResolveAssemblyToPath (assemblyName);

    if (target != null)
      return LoadFromAssemblyPath (target);

    // Could be a framework assembly. Allow the default context to resolve.
    return null;
  }

  protected override IntPtr LoadUnmanagedDll (string unmanagedDllName)
  {
    string path = _resolver.ResolveUnmanagedDllToPath (unmanagedDllName);

    return path == null
      ? IntPtr.Zero
      : LoadUnmanagedDllFromPath (path);
  }
}

class Program
{
  const bool UseCollectibleContexts = true;

  static void Main()
  {
    const string captializer = @"C:\source\PluginDemo\"
      + @"Capitalizer\bin\Debug\netcoreapp3.0\Capitalizer.dll";

    Console.WriteLine (TransformText ("big apple", captializer));
  }

  static string TransformText (string text, string pluginPath)
  {
    var alc = new PluginLoadContext (pluginPath, UseCollectibleContexts);
    try
    {
      Assembly assem = alc.LoadFromAssemblyPath (pluginPath);

      // Locate the type in the assembly that implements ITextPlugin:
      Type pluginType = assem.ExportedTypes.Single (t =>
                        typeof (ITextPlugin).IsAssignableFrom (t));

      // Instantiate the ITextPlugin implementation:
      var plugin = (ITextPlugin)Activator.CreateInstance (pluginType);

      // Call the TransformText method
      return plugin.TransformText (text);
    }
    finally
    {
      if (UseCollectibleContexts) alc.Unload();    // unload the ALC
    }
  }
}