"Nadav" <Nadav@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F45C2D66-D046-4DEC-8026-82ECB18C3090@microsoft.com...
> Hi All,
>
> - I am working on a tool that manipulate managed assemblies, some of the
> functionality provided by the tool require manipulating the metadata
sections
> of the managed assembly in a way it could still be loaded by the consuming
> application ( concerning the manipulated assembly is a DLL ), The tool
uses
> the unmanaged profiling API to monitor the application being executed (
and
> actively effect it ), for each assembly being loaded an
AssemblyLoadStarted &
> AssemblyLoadFinished are being called. for the manipulated assembly none
of
> these events is called, an 'Object reference is set to null' exception is
> being thrown when trying to instantiate one of the classes defined in the
> manipulated assembly... I wonder what parameters are extracted from a
managed
> assembly by the .NET framework during the loading process ( and NOT
through
> class instantiation and method calls of that assembly ), In other words:
what
> is the process that take place from the point where the assembly file is
> being opened ( e.g. CreateFileW ) to the point where the profiler
> AssemblyLoadFinished callback is being called? what parts of metadata of
the
> assembly being loaded is being used by the .NET Framework? What metadata
> properties are required so the assembly would load successfully ( e.g.
> NameSpace, PublicKey, version, . )? My guess is that I am manipulating
some
> variables that prevent the assembly from being loaded, the metadata
> manipulation involve merging large chunks of metadata from other
assemblies
> so it is hard to pinpoint what exactly causes this phenomenon.
> - SOooo, any pointers samples or explanations of the metadata properties
> required during managed assembly load ( the process that take place from
> assembly file creation until AssemblyLoadFinished execution ) would be
> appreciated.
>
> --
> Nadav
> http://www.ddevel.com

"Nadav" <Nadav@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DCABFDBF-41C9-4375-871A-DFD67453C692@microsoft.com...
> Lets say that I am replacing the metadata of the DLL with some other
> meaningful metadata, on runtime ( through AssemblyLoadFinished ) I
> reconstruct the original metadata, apparently, some of the metadata is
> required before AssemblyLoadFinished & AssemblyLoadStarted are called, my
> question is what exactly is this metadata ( namespace, publickey, ... ) ?
>
>
> "Kaushik Srenevasan" wrote:
>
> > Can you tell us what you are trying to manipulate on the managed PE?
> >
> > --
> > Kaushik Srenevasan
> > Microsoft Student Ambassador,
> > Manager, Madurai .NET student user group
> > http://groups.msn.com/MaduraiDotNet
> >
> > "Nadav" <Nadav@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> > news:F45C2D66-D046-4DEC-8026-82ECB18C3090@microsoft.com...
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > - I am working on a tool that manipulate managed assemblies, some of
the
> > > functionality provided by the tool require manipulating the metadata
> > sections
> > > of the managed assembly in a way it could still be loaded by the
consuming
> > > application ( concerning the manipulated assembly is a DLL ), The tool
> > uses
> > > the unmanaged profiling API to monitor the application being executed
(
> > and
> > > actively effect it ), for each assembly being loaded an
> > AssemblyLoadStarted &
> > > AssemblyLoadFinished are being called. for the manipulated assembly
none
> > of
> > > these events is called, an 'Object reference is set to null' exception
is
> > > being thrown when trying to instantiate one of the classes defined in
the
> > > manipulated assembly... I wonder what parameters are extracted from a
> > managed
> > > assembly by the .NET framework during the loading process ( and NOT
> > through
> > > class instantiation and method calls of that assembly ), In other
words:
> > what
> > > is the process that take place from the point where the assembly file
is
> > > being opened ( e.g. CreateFileW ) to the point where the profiler
> > > AssemblyLoadFinished callback is being called? what parts of metadata
of
> > the
> > > assembly being loaded is being used by the .NET Framework? What
metadata
> > > properties are required so the assembly would load successfully ( e.g.
> > > NameSpace, PublicKey, version, . )? My guess is that I am manipulating
> > some
> > > variables that prevent the assembly from being loaded, the metadata
> > > manipulation involve merging large chunks of metadata from other
> > assemblies
> > > so it is hard to pinpoint what exactly causes this phenomenon.
> > > - SOooo, any pointers samples or explanations of the metadata
properties
> > > required during managed assembly load ( the process that take place
from
> > > assembly file creation until AssemblyLoadFinished execution ) would be
> > > appreciated.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Nadav
> > > http://www.ddevel.com
> >
> >
> >