PostSharp Explorer Sample

The PostSharp.Samples.Explorer project is a WinForms application that allows to browse a .NET assembly. The concept is very similar to ildasm, Lutz Roeder's Reflector or Visual Studio Object Browser, but it is based on the PostSharp Class Library and does not have the ambition to compete with the mentioned tools.

This project demonstrates the techniques of opening an assembly and browsing its content. When an element is selected, its properties are displayed in a Property Grid. Alternatively, the MSIL code can be visualized.

Screenshot of PostSharp Explorer

Concepts

The design of this application is very simple. The module is very classically represented as a tree. The tree uses a distributed design, i.e. the behaviors (like select, expand, click, double click, ...) are delegated to the nodes. Nodes should derive from the AutonomousTreeNode class (automous because they should implement their own behavior). Every declaration in the module is associated to a tree node.

The AssemblyResolver class handles the AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve event and allows to look in the directory containing already loaded assemblies when looking for a new assembly. It enables also version-tolerant links, which is useful when a precise version of assembly an assembly is required, but has been lost.

All assemblies are loaded in a single Domain stored as a field instance in MainForm.

Loading an assembly in the module and then in the tree looks like this:

Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom(path);
ModuleDeclaration module = domain.LoadAssembly(assembly, true).ManifestModule;
this.treeView.Nodes.Add(new ModuleTreeNode(module, path));