GAC and the .NET IDE

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sean
  • Start date Start date
S

Sean

I have done a lot of poking around on the newsgroups trying to find a
good explanation as to why I have to take the extra step of making a
registry entry in order for the .NET IDE to show my registered GAC
assemblies. I understand technically why they don't show up but why
wouldn't we want them to? Can anybody give me an acceptable reason
why I might 'not' want to see the entire list of GAC assemblies in my
'Add Reference...' dialog? Why isn't the 'Add Reference...' function
smart enough to pull the entire GAC?

thanks,
Sean
 
The default references aren't to the GAC anyway. They're to the
Windows\Microsoft .NET\Framework.... folder. If it was purely to the GAC
you'd see 1.0, 1.1 etc assemblies, but VS .NET is developed with 1.0, VS
2003 with 1.1 etc.
 
I 'understand' the technical reasons why my assemblies do not
automatically appear in the 'Add Reference..' dialog, BUT, what I do
not understand is why the dialog was not designed to pull all the
registered assemblies from the GAC. It's almost as if they
intentionally added this registry step to confuse and prevent the more
novice users from abusing the function of the GAC. Can someone please
answer this for me?

thanks,
Sean
 
Sean,
abusing the function of the GAC.
Click to expand...

So what is the function of the GAC according to you? To me, it's
primarily a deployment feature, and as such there's rarely any reason
to use it during development. Why is your assembly in the GAC?



Mattias
 
Hi again. It seems to be very difficult to get a straight answer to
my question for some reason so I'm going to try to make it as clear as
possible, here goes:

WHY didn't Microsoft DECIDE to have all GAC-registered assemblies
AUTOMATICALLY populate in the 'Add Reference...' dialog?

If someone can please answer this question, I would be most grateful.

thank you
Sean
 
Sean,
I believe that *if* an assembly is GAC registered, it displays in the 'Add
reference...' dialog. At least from my experience.

====================
RBisch - C# enthusiast
ryanbischoff@PLZyahooNO_SPAM.com
 
RBisch said:
Sean,
I believe that *if* an assembly is GAC registered, it displays in the 'Add
reference...' dialog. At least from my experience.

====================
RBisch - C# enthusiast
ryanbischoff@PLZyahooNO_SPAM.com
Click to expand...



Hi, Ryan?? Your 'belief' is incorrect, for the reason that, despite
the fact an assembly may be registered in the GAC, it is further
necessary to manually add a specific registry entry in order for it to
appear in the .NET IDE.

To all other people out there, I implore you, please, IF, and only IF,
you can answer the following question, then please do so:

WHY didn't Microsoft DECIDE to have all GAC-registered assemblies
AUTOMATICALLY populate in the 'Add Reference...' dialog, without the
need for a manual registry entry?

Thanks once again,
Sean
 
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