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Asked: 2026-06-03T16:04:23+00:00

Many .NET assemblies are accompanied with an XML file. For example, System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll comes together

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Many .NET assemblies are accompanied with an XML file. For example, System.Web.WebPages.Razor.dll comes together with System.Web.WebPages.Razor.xml that contains the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
<doc>
   <assembly>
       <name>System.Web.WebPages.Razor</name> 
   </assembly>
   <members>
       <member name="T:System.Web.WebPages.Razor.PreApplicationStartCode" /> 
       <member name="M:System.Web.WebPages.Razor.PreApplicationStartCode.Start" /> 
       <member name="T:System.Web.WebPages.Razor.RazorBuildProvider" /> 
       <member name="M:System.Web.WebPages.Razor.RazorBuildProvider.#ctor" />
        Much more elements follow...
   </members>
</doc>

What’s this XML for? Do I need it in runtime?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    It is the code comments / IntelliSense file, and is used by the IDE (i.e. Visual Studio), not the runtime – it is where all the extended method / parameter / type descriptions etc come from.

    You do not need to deploy it with your binary, but it does no harm either. It is also entirely optional in the IDE – just: IntelliSense will be less informative to you without it (it will just display the names and types, etc – not the more verbose method descriptions).

    In your own library, use the /// syntax to write your own code comments, and enable the XML file generation in project-properties.

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