Question

Hi i want to compile a class at runtime using CodeDom and generate in memory. How do i go about running the compiled code from memory?

My TextFile Resource:

using System.IO;
using System;

namespace Exe_From_Memory
{
    static class MemoryExe
    {
        static void Main()
        {
            string strText = "[TEXT]";
            Console.WriteLine(strText);
            Console.Read();
        }
    }
}

My actual application which compiles the textfile

private void exeButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    string text = textBox1.Text;
    string source;

    source = Properties.Resources.MemoryExe;
    source = source.Replace("[TEXT]", text);

    CompilerParameters _CompilerParameters = new CompilerParameters();

    _CompilerParameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.dll");
    _CompilerParameters.GenerateExecutable = true;
    _CompilerParameters.GenerateInMemory = true;

    _CompilerParameters.IncludeDebugInformation = false ;

    CSharpCodeProvider _CSharpCodeProvider = new CSharpCodeProvider();
    CompilerResults _CompilerResults = _CSharpCodeProvider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(_CompilerParameters, source);

    Assembly _Assembly = _CompilerResults.CompiledAssembly;
    MethodInfo mi = _Assembly.EntryPoint;
    object o = _Assembly.CreateInstance(mi.Name);
    mi.Invoke( o, null);

    foreach (CompilerError _CompilerError in _CompilerResults.Errors)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(_CompilerError.ToString());
    }
}

The debugger simply says:
‘Exe From Memory.vshost.exe’ (Managed): Loaded ‘r8ztr3t0’
Since its loaded why doesnt the console window show?

Answer 1

All Invoke() does is that it calls the method, it doesn’t create new application. And since you’re running a windows application that doesn’t have a console, the text isn’t written anywhere.

If you want to show the console window from your application, you can use the Win32 AllocConsole() function.