Dll properties

[rbulph]

How do I get hold of the properties of an dll? I want to know its name, the date it was created, and the Company information, all as shown in the Properties dialogue which you get by right-clicking on it in Explorer. Its a plug-in, so Im finding it with code like below, which means that my starting point is an Assembly object.

<vb> Dim strDLLs() As String, intIndex As Integer
Dim objDLL As Assembly

Go through all DLLs in the applications directory.
strDLLs = Directory.GetFileSystemEntries(Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Windows.Forms.Application.ExecutablePath), "*.dll")

For intIndex = 0 To strDLLs.Length - 1
Try
objDLL = Assembly.LoadFrom(strDLLs(intIndex))...</vb>

 

[mskeel]

Heres a helper class for you

This is in C# but it shouldnt be too hard to translate to VB. Feel free to modify it however you need. It should help you with some of the info youre looking for. Things like the date you can get from the one of the IO classes (either File, Path, or I think theres a FileProperties class, Id have to look it up). If you have any questions, just let me know.

Whew..I havent looked at this code in a while and it could use a little polish, but the functionality is all there.

namespace BKTech.Utilities
{
    using System;
    using System.Reflection;

    ///<summary>Helper class for AssemblyInfo classes.</summary>
    ///<remarks>This class has been adapted from a class originally from the Microsoft XML comment maker.</remarks>
    public class AssemblyInfoHelper
    {
        //Used by Helper Functions to access information from Assembly Attributes
        private Type _type;

        ///<summary>Creates a new assmebly information helper</summary>
        ///<param name=applicationType>The type of the application this assembly info helper class is built into.</param>
        ///<remarks>In most cases the paramater will be filled in using the GetType(Object as Type) function where Object is the assembly
        /// this helper class will be helping.</remarks>
        public AssemblyInfoHelper(Type applicationType)
        {
            _type = applicationType;
        }
        
        ///<summary>Gets the name of the assembly.</summary>
        public string AsmName
        {
            get { return _type.Assembly.GetName().Name.ToString(); }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets the full name of the assembly.</summary>
        public string AsmFQName
        {
            get { return _type.Assembly.GetName().FullName.ToString(); }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets the code base of the assembly.</summary>
        public string CodeBase
        {
            get { return _type.Assembly.CodeBase; }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets the copyright string of the assembly.</summary>
        public string Copyright
        {
            get
            {
                Type at = typeof(AssemblyCopyrightAttribute);
                Object[] r = _type.Assembly.GetCustomAttributes(at, false);
                AssemblyCopyrightAttribute ct = (AssemblyCopyrightAttribute)r[0];
                return ct.Copyright;
            }
        }

        /// <summary>Gets the company to whom this assembly belongs.</summary>
        public string Company
        {
            get
            {
                Type at = typeof(AssemblyCompanyAttribute);
                Object[] r = _type.Assembly.GetCustomAttributes(at, false);
                AssemblyCompanyAttribute ct = (AssemblyCompanyAttribute)r[0];
                return ct.Company;
            }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets a breif description of this assembly.</summary>
        public string Description
        {
            get
            {
                Type at = typeof(AssemblyDescriptionAttribute);
                Object[] r = _type.Assembly.GetCustomAttributes(at, false);
                AssemblyDescriptionAttribute da = (AssemblyDescriptionAttribute)r[0];
                return da.Description;
            }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets the product of which this assembly is a part.</summary>
        public string Product
        {
            get
            {
                Type at = typeof(AssemblyProductAttribute);
                Object[] r = _type.Assembly.GetCustomAttributes(at, false);
                AssemblyProductAttribute pt = (AssemblyProductAttribute)r[0];
                return pt.Product;
            }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets the official title of this assembly.</summary>
        public string Title
        {
            get
            {
                Type at = typeof(AssemblyTitleAttribute);
                Object[] r  = _type.Assembly.GetCustomAttributes(at, false);
                AssemblyTitleAttribute ta = (AssemblyTitleAttribute)r[0];
                return ta.Title;
            }
        }

        ///<summary>Gets the version number of this assembly.</summary>
        public string Version
        {
            get
            {
                return _type.Assembly.GetName().Version.ToString();
            }
        }

        /// <summary>Gets the trademark information of this assembly.</summary>
        public string Trademark
        {
            get
            {
                Type at = typeof(AssemblyTrademarkAttribute);
                Object[] r = _type.Assembly.GetCustomAttributes(at, false);
                AssemblyTrademarkAttribute ta = (AssemblyTrademarkAttribute)r[0];
                return ta.Trademark;
            }
        }
    } //end class
} //end namespace

 

[rbulph]

Thanks. The following shows how to get the info I need in VB:

        Dim sName As String = My.Computer.FileSystem.GetName(strDLLs(0))
        Dim sCompanyName As String
        Dim aca() As System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute = objDLL.GetCustomAttributes(GetType(AssemblyCompanyAttribute), True)
        If Not aca Is Nothing Then sCompanyName = aca(0).Company
        Dim sDate As String = FileSystem.FileDateTime(strDLLs(0)).Date