Can application policy bind to latest version of assembly?

[Terence Shek]

Is there a way to set the application binding policy so
that it always binds to the latest version of an
assembly? I'm hoping there is a way to avoid updating the
application's binding configuration every time there is
an update to a shared assembly.

 

[SR]

Use the BindingRedirect Element in the config file. MSDN
Link : http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?
url=/library/en-us/cpgenref/html/gngrfbindingredirect.asp

<msdn_snip>

..NET Framework General Reference

<bindingRedirect> Element
Redirects one assembly version to another.

<configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding>
<dependentAssembly>
<bindingRedirect>

<bindingRedirect
oldVersion="old assembly version"
newVersion="new assembly version"/>
Required Attributes
Attribute Description
oldVersion Specifies the version of the assembly that was
originally requested. The format of an assembly version
number is major.minor.build.revision. Valid values for
each part of this version number are 0 to 65535.
You can also specify a range of versions in the following
format:

n.n.n.n - n.n.n.n

newVersion Specifies the version of the assembly to use
instead of the originally requested version in the format:
n.n.n.n

Remarks
When you build a .NET Framework application against a
strong-named assembly, the application uses that version
of the assembly at run time by default, even if a new
version is available. However, you can configure the
application to run against a newer version of the
assembly. For details on how the runtime uses these files
to determine which assembly version to use, see How the
Runtime Locates Assemblies.

You can redirect more than one assembly version by
including multiple <bindingRedirect> elements in a
<dependentAssembly> element.

Explicit assembly binding redirection in an application
configuration file requires a security permission. This
applies to redirection of .NET Framework assemblies and
assemblies from third parties. The permission is granted
by setting the <bindingRedirect> Element flag on the
SecurityPermission Class. For more information, see
Assembly Binding Redirection Security Permission.

Example
The following example shows how to redirect one assembly
version to another.

<configuration>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-
com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="myAssembly"

publicKeyToken="32ab4ba45e0a69a1"
culture="neutral" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0"
newVersion="2.0.0.0"/>
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
</configuration>
Configuration File
This element can be used in the application configuration
file, machine configuration file (machine.config), and the
publisher policy file.

See Also
Runtime Settings Schema | Configuration File Schema |
Redirecting Assembly Versions

</msdn_snip>

Hope this helps

regards,

sr

 

[Suzanne Cook [MS]]

Right. But, this doesn't give you the latest available version - you have
to specify the newVersion, with no wildcards. This is by design, and for
good reason - always using the latest version causes dll hell (see
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/suzcook/PermaLink.aspx/87646756-a94d-4c3a-a313-56c29a59b22d )
..

But, if the problem is that you're changing your assembly version for every
build, you may want to consider keeping them the same, and then only
changing them after each shipping build. See
http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/suzcook/PermaLink.aspx/cc6428d6-69fb-4f05-8f18-65f3eac85274
for details.


Suzanne Cook
My .NET CLR Loader blog: http://blogs.gotdotnet.com/suzcook/