Why the GAC?

[Guest]

If I install an assembly into the GAC, shouldn't I be able to reference it from new C# projects? How do I use an assembly that's been installed in the GAC? If I try to add a reference to it, it's not listed. If I navigate to the dll that I compiled and then installed in the GAC, then I'm not using the version that's in the GAC, right?

Obviously I'm confused about something... Can anyone shed some light? Thanks.

Jerry

 

[Dave Sexton]

Hi Jerry,

The GAC is really for registration, not storage. You'll have to reference the
assembly directly, but Visual Studio does supply a few means to show custom
assemblies in the ".NET" tab of the "Add Reference" dialog.

Add Reference Dialog of VS 2005 on MSDN:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ftcwa60a.aspx

--
Dave Sexton

If I install an assembly into the GAC, shouldn't I be able to reference it
from new C# projects? How do I use an assembly that's been installed in the
GAC? If I try to add a reference to it, it's not listed. If I navigate to
the dll that I compiled and then installed in the GAC, then I'm not using the
version that's in the GAC, right?

Obviously I'm confused about something... Can anyone shed some light?
Thanks.

Jerry

 

[Dustin Campbell]

If I install an assembly into the GAC, shouldn't I be able to

reference it from new C# projects? How do I use an assembly that's
been installed in the GAC? If I try to add a reference to it, it's
not listed. If I navigate to the dll that I compiled and then
installed in the GAC, then I'm not using the version that's in the
GAC, right?

Obviously I'm confused about something... Can anyone shed some light?
Thanks.

You can't compile against assemblies in the GAC. GAC'd assemblies are used
at runtime.

Best Regards,
Dustin Campbell
Developer Express Inc

 

[Dave Sexton]

Hi Jerry,

Sorry, I should have added, "during development" to "The GAC is really for
registration, not storage".

 

[Scott M.]

The assemblies you see in the Add Reference dialog are not necessarially all the assemblies registered in the GAC. Special steps have to be taken to see your assembly listed here. But, that doesn't mean you can't reference the assembly by browsing to it.
If I install an assembly into the GAC, shouldn't I be able to reference it from new C# projects? How do I use an assembly that's been installed in the GAC? If I try to add a reference to it, it's not listed. If I navigate to the dll that I compiled and then installed in the GAC, then I'm not using the version that's in the GAC, right?

Obviously I'm confused about something... Can anyone shed some light? Thanks.

Jerry

 

[Kevin Yu [MSFT]]

Hi Jerry,

As Dave suggested, you can use the following methods to make your assembly
displayed in the Add Reference dialog box.

1. Move or copy the assembly to the current project directory (you can find
these assemblies using the Browse tab), other project directories within
the same solution (you can find these assemblies using the Projects tab),
or the Public Assemblies folder at Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio
.NET\Common7\IDE\Public Assemblies; (you can find these assemblies on the
.NET tab).

2. Set a reference path to the directory containing the assembly using the
Reference Paths Dialog Box (Visual Basic) or the Reference Paths Page,
Project Designer (C#, J#).

3. Set a registry key that specifies the location of assemblies to display.

In my opinion, if your assembly is a strong named assembly, you needn't put
it to GAC at development phase. You can put it to GAC when running. Because
at runtime, if your assembly is referencing a strong named assembly, it
will search in GAC first. If it is not found in GAC, it will look into the
local folder.

If anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know.

Kevin Yu
Microsoft Online Community Support

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