GAC and the .NET IDE

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

Phil
Thu May 06 20:03:00 CDT 2004

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.
--
Phil Wilson [MVP Windows Installer]
----
"Sean" <delphiconsultingguy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c9b4f122.0405061204.406b319c@posting.google.com...
> 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

delphiconsultingguy
Fri May 07 08:35:00 CDT 2004

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

Mattias
Fri May 07 14:00:18 CDT 2004

Sean,

>abusing the function of the GAC.

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

--
Mattias Sjögren [MVP] mattias @ mvps.org
http://www.msjogren.net/dotnet/ | http://www.dotnetinterop.com
Please reply only to the newsgroup.

delphiconsultingguy
Sat May 08 09:42:23 CDT 2004

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

RBisch
Wed May 12 13:03:05 CDT 2004

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

"Sean" <delphiconsultingguy@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:c9b4f122.0405080642.55dab41e@posting.google.com...
> 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

delphiconsultingguy
Wed May 12 20:24:02 CDT 2004

"RBisch" <ryanbischoff@PLZyahooNO_SPAM.com> wrote in message news:<ebvdktEOEHA.3420@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl>...
> 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



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