I want to get a reference to assembly of a project in which T4 template is. I know I can get path to the project with, for example Host.ResolveAssemblyReference("$(ProjectDir)")
and I could maybe add bin\\debug\\{projectName}.dll
because my assembly names are named by project name, but that is not always the case and I'm creating reusable template, so I need path to dll or most preferably Assembly
instance.
I have also found how to get reference to the Project
as explained here in method GetProjectContainingT4File
, but then what?
Is there a way to get it?
BTW, I need that reference to access specific types and generate some code from them.
Following simple code worked for me (VS 2013):
var path = this.Host.ResolveAssemblyReference("$(TargetPath)");
var asm = Assembly.LoadFrom(path);
Also you can find $(...)
properties in project psot build steps editor.
Ok, I managed to get the needed reference to assembly @FuleSnabel gave me a hint, although I did't use his suggestion.
Here's a part of my T4 template:
<#@ template debug="true" hostSpecific="true" #>
<#@ output extension=".output" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="System.Core.dll" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="System.Windows.Forms.dll" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="System.Xml.Linq.dll" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.8.0" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="EnvDTE" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="EnvDTE80" #>
<#@ Assembly Name="VSLangProj" #>
<#@ import namespace="System" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.IO" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Diagnostics" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Linq" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Xml.Linq" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Collections" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Reflection" #>
<#@ import namespace="System.Collections.Generic" #>
<#@ import namespace="Microsoft.VisualStudio.TextTemplating" #>
<#@ import namespace="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop" #>
<#@ import namespace="EnvDTE" #>
<#@ import namespace="EnvDTE80" #>
<#@ include file="T4Toolbox.tt" #>
<#
Project prj = GetProject();
string fileName = "$(ProjectDir)bin\\debug\\" + prj.Properties.Item("OutputFileName").Value;
string path = Host.ResolveAssemblyReference(fileName);
Assembly asm = Assembly.LoadFrom(path);
// ....
#>
// generated code goes here
<#+
Project GetProject()
{
var serviceProvider = Host as IServiceProvider;
if (serviceProvider == null)
{
throw new Exception("Visual Studio host not found!");
}
DTE dte = serviceProvider.GetService(typeof(SDTE)) as DTE;
if (dte == null)
{
throw new Exception("Visual Studio host not found!");
}
ProjectItem projectItem = dte.Solution.FindProjectItem(Host.TemplateFile);
if (projectItem.Document == null) {
projectItem.Open(Constants.vsViewKindCode);
}
return projectItem.ContainingProject;
}
#>
So, to find right path to assembly I had to get reference to the project in GetProject()
method and then use project's property OutputFileName
with prj.Properties.Item("OutputFileName").Value
. Since I couldn't find anywhere what properties project has, I used enumeration and a loop to inspect Properties
collection and then found what I need. Here's a loop code:
<#
// ....
foreach(Property prop in prj.Properties)
{
#>
<#= prop.Name #>
<#
}
// ....
#>
I hope this will help someone.