Can't reference an assembly in a T4 template
So when I put
<## assembly name="$(ProjectDir)$(OutDir)$(TargetFileName)" #> in the T4 template, it says
The assembly $(ProjectDir)$(OutDir)$(TargetFileName) could not be loaded. There was an exception during load: A dependency could not be found!
As I understand it T4 has been updated to not lock assemblies so referencing the current project should be safe, but seems in a project with dependencies it gets to be horrendous to do.
how do I find out what the assembly that failed to load is?
Related
I'm a little confused about compatibilities between netstandard, netframework, netX and how mono fits into the picture...
I understand that Rider's T4 engine runs on mono, but does that mean I can't use net5.0 assemblies in my T4 templates?
Currently, I have a net5.0 project, referencing net5.0 nuget assemblies.
In my T4 templates, I'm referencing the assembly DLLs in bin/Debug/net5.0 with `<# assembly name="...">
When I run the T4 templates in-proc in a net5.0 Console Application via Mono.TextTemplating.TemplateGenerator.TemplateGenerator, then the templates work.
However, if I right-click a template in the Solution explorer and select 'Run Template', I get a list of errors that core System.* libs are missing, e.g.
Generate.tt(21, 25): [CS0012] The type 'Object' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'System.Runtime, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a'.
Is this a bug in Rider?
Due to implementation details, Rider compiles T4 files targeting a version of .NET Framework, that's why it has problems with files referencing net5.0 assemblies. As far as I understand what I see in Mono.TextTemplating, they target the runtime they are launched in instead. To solve your problem I'd suggest trying Mono.TextTemplating as a command-line tool - it might be able to compile files with net5.0 references. To integrate that external tool into Rider, you can go to File > Settings > Tools > Custom Tools, disable Bundled T4 Template Executor and add a custom tool for Mono.TextTemplating CLT.
To answer your question: yes, it probably can be called a bug
I am using prism and I get an exception that: The type 'Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Bootstrapper' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Composition, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
the problem is that I already have an assembly reference to Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Composition in my project
any help? thanks
It seems Microsoft.Practices.Prism.UnityExtensions need a reference to Microsoft.Practices.Prism.Composition assembly.
Just download Prism 5.0 for WPF, compile the source code of ModularityWithUnity.Desktop.sln at \Source\Quickstarts\Modularity\Desktop\ModularityWithUnity and copy all Prism assemblies from bin\Debug directory and paste it in your app's location.
This fixed my same problem.
I'm trying to use types from my own project in a T4 template, and so I want to use the VolatileAssembly directive so I don't have to keep restarting Visual Studio:
<## VolatileAssembly processor="T4Toolbox.VolatileAssemblyProcessor" name="C:\Josh\Archimetrics\Archimetrics.Consulting\Suntex\SuntexFirstInMathTools\bin\Debug\SuntexFirstInMathTools.exe" #>
But I keep getting the following error:
A processor named 'T4Toolbox.VolatileAssemblyProcessor' could not be found for the directive named 'VolatileAssembly'. The transformation will not be run.
The following Exception was thrown:
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Failed to resolve type for directive processor
T4Toolbox.VolatileAssemblyProcessor.
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.TextTemplating.VSHost.TextTemplatingService.ResolveDirectiveProcessor(String processorName)
at Microsoft.VisualStudio.TextTemplating.Engine.ProcessCustomDirectives(ITextTemplatingEngineHost host, TemplateProcessingSession session, IEnumerable`1 directivesToBeProcessed)
I've installed the T4 toolbox and restarted, but for some reason it will not recognize the VolatileAssemblyProcessor.
How can I fix this?
They are also harder to use than templates because code they generate
is invisible to you by default. In addition, the VolatileAssembly is
no longer necessary because in Visual Studio 2012 the assembly
directive shadow-copies the assembly files before loading them
- the developers page -
So I think you do not need this directive anymore. Only use <## assembly name="YourPathOrName" #> will fix your problem.
I have the following code in a tester class in my main assembly, PocoGenerator. This assembly is supposed to use a T4 template to generate POCO's based on L2S entities in a referenced assembly (a project reference), DataObjects.
var assemblyName = "DataObjects";
var dataObjects = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.Load(new AssemblyName(assemblyName));
Try as I may, I cannot get T4 to find the DataObjects assembly. I have tried various forms of assembly directives, like:
<## assembly name="DataObjects" #>
<## assembly name="DataObjects, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null" #>
to no avail. The code above works in the tester class, but not in the template. What am I doing wrong?
ADDED:
I have resolved this issue by using the absolute path to the assembly in bot places I reference it, the directive as well as the class feature block, i.e.
<## assembly name="C:\Development\PocoGenerator\DataObjects\bin\Debug\DataObjects.dll" #>
and
var sourceAssembly = Assembly.LoadFile(#"C:\Development\PocoGenerator\DataObjects\bin\Debug\DataObjects.dll");
But I really don't like this, as I would like to use this template in various projects, and I just plain hate duplication, especially of magic strings.
<## assembly name="$(ProjectDir)bin\Debug\ProofOfConcept.dll" #>
Happy Coding!
To reference assembly in T4 template in VS2010 you have some options:
GAC your assemblies and use Namespace Reference or Fully Qualified Type Name
Use a hard-coded Fully Qualified UNC path
Copy assembly to Visual Studio "Public Assemblies Folder" and use Namespace Reference or Fully Qualified Type Name.
Use or Define a Windows Environment Variable to build a Fully Qualified UNC path.
Use a Visual Studio Macro to build a Fully Qualified UNC path.
I would suggest that you put a referenced assembly in your Public Assemblies Folder, another, maybe even better solution would be to hard code the path of your referenced assemblies.
Very nice post on this topic: T4 Template error - Assembly Directive cannot locate referenced assembly in Visual Studio 2010 project.
Basically MS decided to the the braking change, that the project referenced assemblies are not referenced by T4 engine, too.
T4's assembly set is completely separated from the containing project's assembly set to avoid picking up the wrong assemblies when a project targets previous framework versions. Project assemblies are no longer used to resolve template assembly directives.
More on that: What's new in T4 in Visual Studio 2010
I had a similar problem when I tried to include Less Css for .NET in my Web project.
I've ended up with copying the assembly in the root folder of my project and including it as a reference in the project itself. Then, I've added the following lines in the .tt file:
<## assembly name="dotless.Core.dll" #>
<## import namespace="dotless.Core" #>
<## import namespace="dotless.Core.configuration" #>
I'm sure that something similar should work with your assembly as well...
I've found there are a number of cases in creating and using the gax toolkit and packages where the build is perfectly happy with the way references are structured but the runtime gets all bothered because it can't find what it's looking for - this usually occurs when the main assembly references an assembly that uses gax elements and then that assembly in turn references another assembly that the main does not.
try directly including the assembly in question in your main assembly - and consider that you may need to write post build instructions to move it to an 'expected' location - while a nusiance, it should beat having to hardwire the path.
YMMV
It's been a while since I last used T4 and this is probably a silly question...
Is it possible to reference an arbitrary assembly from a template?
Example:
I have a class that I'd like to use in Project X
Project X.Test references X and contains the .tt file
I assume the following should work
<## assembly name="X" #>
But I get the following error on save:
Compiling transformation: Metadata
file 'X' could not be found
What am I doing wrong?
(In case anyone's interested: I'm trying to automatically generate a particular type of tests based on some metadata that I get from X)
Update: it looks like VS2010 has broken the assembly resolution behavior that I was expecting. From Link:
T4's assembly set is completely
separated from the containing
project's assembly set to avoid
picking up the wrong assemblies when a
project targets previous framework
versions. Project assemblies are no
longer used to resolve template
assembly directives.
Are there any workarounds, besides using absolute paths?
You can use VS macro variables such as $(SolutionDir) in your reference as of VS2010
e.g.
<## assembly name="$(SolutionDir)\Project1\bin\debug\Foo.dll" #>
You can also check here on SO: Can't reference an assembly in a T4 template
#GarethJ gives a good answer but for all the methods of referencing an assembly from a T4 template try this: T4 Template error - Assembly Directive cannot locate referenced assembly in Visual Studio 2010 project.
And if you like the VS Macro solution then you can find 'em all here: Macros for Build Commands and Properties