Assembly.LoadFile Method (String) (System.Reflection)

.NET Framework Class Library

Assembly..::.LoadFile Method (String)

Loads the contents of an assembly file on the specified path.

Namespace: System.Reflection
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Shared Function LoadFile ( _
    path As String _
) As Assembly

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim path As String
Dim returnValue As [Assembly]

returnValue = Assembly.LoadFile(path)

public static Assembly LoadFile(
    string path
)

Visual C++

public:
static Assembly^ LoadFile(
    String^ path
)

JScript

public static function LoadFile(
    path : String
) : Assembly

Parameters

path: Type: System..::.String
The path of the file to load.

Return Value

Type: System.Reflection..::.Assembly
The loaded assembly.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
ArgumentNullException	The path parameter is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).
FileLoadException	A file that was found could not be loaded.
FileNotFoundException	The path parameter is an empty string ("") or does not exist.
BadImageFormatException	path is not a valid assembly. -or- Version 2.0 or later of the common language runtime is currently loaded and path was compiled with a later version.

Remarks

Use the LoadFile method to load and examine assemblies that have the same identity, but are located in different paths. LoadFile does not load files into the LoadFrom context, and does not resolve dependencies using the load path, as the LoadFrom method does. LoadFile is useful in this limited scenario because LoadFrom cannot be used to load assemblies that have the same identities but different paths; it will load only the first such assembly.

.NET Framework Security

FileIOPermission
for access to read from a file or directory, and for access to the information in the path itself. Associated enumerations: FileIOPermissionAccess..::.Read, FileIOPermissionAccess..::.PathDiscovery.
SecurityPermission
to load an assembly with evidence. Associated enumeration: SecurityPermissionFlag..::.ControlEvidence.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1

Reference

Assembly Class

Assembly Members

LoadFile Overload

System.Reflection Namespace