Hosting Changes in the .NET Framework 4

.NET Framework 4

[This documentation is for preview only, and is subject to change in later releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

The .NET Framework version 4 Beta 1 introduces the following enhancements to common language runtime (CLR) hosting:

Unmanaged runtime hosts can load and activate multiple versions of the common language runtime, side-by-side, in the same process.
All the .NET Framework 2.0 hosting global static functions have been deprecated. Their functionality has been superseded by the .NET Framework 4 hosting interfaces.
The CreateInterface global static function serves as an entry point for the .NET Framework 4 Beta 1 ICLRMetaHost and ICLRMetaHostPolicy hosting interfaces, and the ICLRDebugging debugging interface. ICLRMetaHost is a new function that is exported in MSCorEE.dll.

In This Section

>In-Process Side-by-Side Runtime Host Activation: Describes how an application can load and activate multiple versions of the CLR in the same process, and discusses how this feature extends and supersedes the .NET Framework 2.0 hosting API.
Hosting API CompatibilityTable: Provides a comparison of the hosting interfaces in the .NET Framework versions 4, 2.0, and 1.
Deprecated Function List: Provides a list of deprecated .NET Framework 2.0 hosting global static functions and behavioral changes.
Hosting Policies: Presents a set of rules that control how applications bind to CLR versions.
Extensions to the Configuration File: Describes the extensions to the .NET Framework configuration file schema that determine which version of the CLR is used to load and run a managed application.
>Managed Access to In-Process Side-by-Side Runtime Host Activation: Describes the managed wrapper around the unmanaged hosting API that enables managed in-process side-by-side host activation.