Question

I have a framework which contains several assemblies. Multiple assemblies was created due to logical separation of code. This framework is supposed to be distributed to developer as well as end user. Developer are supposed to use few of framework assemblies to develop their modules. But all other assemblies are required to run the modules. Out of several assemblies, I want only few assemblies could be added to project reference and restrict other from being added to developer project references. In other words, I want developer should not be able to use types contained in assemblies which are not meant for plugin development. What is the best way to do that? I want to avoid passing some object to constructor of each type in those assemblies and verify them.

Can I take advantage of AppDomain or anything similar to that, which identifies type is being created by main app or module. If it is not main app, then throw exception or don’t initialize. Any change in architecture is suggested.

Answer 1

One option would be to make the types within the “restricted” assemblies internal instead of public, then add InternalsVisibleToAttribute within those restricted assemblies to allow access to them from the other “framework” assemblies.

That way the end developer can still add a reference to the “restricted” assemblies (and probably should do so, in order to make sure they’re copied for deployment) but won’t be able to use any of the types within those assemblies.

EDIT: Another alternative might be to use ILMerge to build one assembly at the end – so it’s a real unit of deployment, even though you originally split it out for separation reasons.

Yet another alternative would be to merge everything into one project and rely on code review, namespaces and common sense to pick up separation violations.