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Persisted dynamic assemblies in .NET

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This article provides supplementary remarks to the reference documentation for this API.

The AssemblyBuilder.Save API wasn't originally ported to .NET (Core) because the implementation depended heavily on Windows-specific native code that also wasn't ported. New in .NET 9, the PersistedAssemblyBuilder class adds a fully managed Reflection.Emit implementation that supports saving. This implementation has no dependency on the pre-existing, runtime-specific Reflection.Emit implementation. That is, now there are two different implementations in .NET, runnable and persisted. To run the persisted assembly, first save it into a memory stream or a file, then load it back.

Before PersistedAssemblyBuilder, you could only run a generated assembly and not save it. Since the assembly was in-memory only, it was difficult to debug. Advantages of saving a dynamic assembly to a file are:

  • You can verify the generated assembly with tools such as ILVerify, or decompile and manually examine it with tools such as ILSpy.
  • The saved assembly can be loaded directly, no need to compile again, which can decrease application startup time.

To create a PersistedAssemblyBuilder instance, use the PersistedAssemblyBuilder(AssemblyName, Assembly, IEnumerable<CustomAttributeBuilder>) constructor. The coreAssembly parameter is used to resolve base runtime types and can be used for resolving reference assembly versioning:

  • If Reflection.Emit is used to generate an assembly that will only be executed on the same runtime version as the runtime version that the compiler is running on (typically in-proc), the core assembly can be simply typeof(object).Assembly. The following example demonstrates how to create and save an assembly to a stream and run it with the current runtime assembly:

    public static void CreateSaveAndRunAssembly()
{
    PersistedAssemblyBuilder ab = new PersistedAssemblyBuilder(new AssemblyName("MyAssembly"), typeof(object).Assembly);
    ModuleBuilder mob = ab.DefineDynamicModule("MyModule");
    TypeBuilder tb = mob.DefineType("MyType", TypeAttributes.Public | TypeAttributes.Class);
    MethodBuilder meb = tb.DefineMethod("SumMethod", MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Static,
                                                         typeof(int), new Type[] { typeof(int), typeof(int) });
    ILGenerator il = meb.GetILGenerator();
    il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_0);
    il.Emit(OpCodes.Ldarg_1);
    il.Emit(OpCodes.Add);
    il.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

    tb.CreateType();

    using var stream = new MemoryStream();
    ab.Save(stream);  // or pass filename to save into a file
    stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
    Assembly assembly = AssemblyLoadContext.Default.LoadFromStream(stream);
    MethodInfo method = assembly.GetType("MyType").GetMethod("SumMethod");
    Console.WriteLine(method.Invoke(null, new object[] { 5, 10 }));
}

  • If Reflection.Emit is used to generate an assembly that targets a specific TFM, open the reference assemblies for the given TFM using MetadataLoadContext and use the value of the MetadataLoadContext.CoreAssembly property for coreAssembly. This value allows the generator to run on one .NET runtime version and target a different .NET runtime version. You should use types returned by the MetadataLoadContext instance when referencing core types. For example, instead of typeof(int), find the System.Int32 type in MetadataLoadContext.CoreAssembly by name:

    public static void CreatePersistedAssemblyBuilderCoreAssemblyWithMetadataLoadContext(string refAssembliesPath)
{
    PathAssemblyResolver resolver = new PathAssemblyResolver(Directory.GetFiles(refAssembliesPath, "*.dll"));
    using MetadataLoadContext context = new MetadataLoadContext(resolver);
    Assembly coreAssembly = context.CoreAssembly;
    PersistedAssemblyBuilder ab = new PersistedAssemblyBuilder(new AssemblyName("MyDynamicAssembly"), coreAssembly);
    TypeBuilder typeBuilder = ab.DefineDynamicModule("MyModule").DefineType("Test", TypeAttributes.Public);
    MethodBuilder methodBuilder = typeBuilder.DefineMethod("Method", MethodAttributes.Public, coreAssembly.GetType(typeof(int).FullName), Type.EmptyTypes);
    // .. add members and save the assembly
}

Set entry point for an executable

To set the entry point for an executable or to set other options for the assembly file, you can call the public MetadataBuilder GenerateMetadata(out BlobBuilder ilStream, out BlobBuilder mappedFieldData) method and use the populated metadata to generate the assembly with desired options, for example:

public static void SetEntryPoint()
{
    PersistedAssemblyBuilder ab = new(new AssemblyName("MyAssembly"), typeof(object).Assembly);
    TypeBuilder tb = ab.DefineDynamicModule("MyModule").DefineType("MyType", TypeAttributes.Public | TypeAttributes.Class);
    // ...
    MethodBuilder entryPoint = tb.DefineMethod("Main", MethodAttributes.HideBySig | MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Static);
    ILGenerator il2 = entryPoint.GetILGenerator();
    // ...
    il2.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);
    tb.CreateType();

    MetadataBuilder metadataBuilder = ab.GenerateMetadata(out BlobBuilder ilStream, out BlobBuilder fieldData);

    ManagedPEBuilder peBuilder = new(
                    header: PEHeaderBuilder.CreateExecutableHeader(),
                    metadataRootBuilder: new MetadataRootBuilder(metadataBuilder),
                    ilStream: ilStream,
                    mappedFieldData: fieldData,
                    entryPoint: MetadataTokens.MethodDefinitionHandle(entryPoint.MetadataToken));

    BlobBuilder peBlob = new();
    peBuilder.Serialize(peBlob);

    // Create the executable:
    using FileStream fileStream = new("MyAssembly.exe", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
    peBlob.WriteContentTo(fileStream);
}

Emit symbols and generate PDB

The symbols metadata is populated into the pdbBuilder out parameter when you call the GenerateMetadata(BlobBuilder, BlobBuilder) method on a PersistedAssemblyBuilder instance. To create an assembly with a portable PDB:

  1. Create ISymbolDocumentWriter instances with the ModuleBuilder.DefineDocument(String, Guid, Guid, Guid) method. While emitting the method's IL, also emit the corresponding symbol info.
  2. Create a PortablePdbBuilder instance using the pdbBuilder instance produced by the GenerateMetadata(BlobBuilder, BlobBuilder) method.
  3. Serialize the PortablePdbBuilder into a Blob, and write the Blob into a PDB file stream (only if you're generating a standalone PDB).
  4. Create a DebugDirectoryBuilder instance and add a DebugDirectoryBuilder.AddCodeViewEntry (standalone PDB) or DebugDirectoryBuilder.AddEmbeddedPortablePdbEntry.
  5. Set the optional debugDirectoryBuilder argument when creating the PEBuilder instance.

The following example shows how to emit symbol info and generate a PDB file.

static void GenerateAssemblyWithPdb()
{
    PersistedAssemblyBuilder ab = new PersistedAssemblyBuilder(new AssemblyName("MyAssembly"), typeof(object).Assembly);
    ModuleBuilder mb = ab.DefineDynamicModule("MyModule");
    TypeBuilder tb = mb.DefineType("MyType", TypeAttributes.Public | TypeAttributes.Class);
    MethodBuilder mb1 = tb.DefineMethod("SumMethod", MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Static, typeof(int), [typeof(int), typeof(int)]);
    ISymbolDocumentWriter srcDoc = mb.DefineDocument("MySourceFile.cs", SymLanguageType.CSharp);
    ILGenerator il = mb1.GetILGenerator();
    LocalBuilder local = il.DeclareLocal(typeof(int));
    local.SetLocalSymInfo("myLocal");
    il.MarkSequencePoint(srcDoc, 7, 0, 7, 11);
    ...
    il.Emit(OpCodes.Ret);

    MethodBuilder entryPoint = tb.DefineMethod("Main", MethodAttributes.HideBySig | MethodAttributes.Public | MethodAttributes.Static);
    ILGenerator il2 = entryPoint.GetILGenerator();
    il2.BeginScope();
    ...
    il2.EndScope();
    ...
    tb.CreateType();

    MetadataBuilder metadataBuilder = ab.GenerateMetadata(out BlobBuilder ilStream, out _, out MetadataBuilder pdbBuilder);
    MethodDefinitionHandle entryPointHandle = MetadataTokens.MethodDefinitionHandle(entryPoint.MetadataToken);
    DebugDirectoryBuilder debugDirectoryBuilder = GeneratePdb(pdbBuilder, metadataBuilder.GetRowCounts(), entryPointHandle);

    ManagedPEBuilder peBuilder = new ManagedPEBuilder(
                    header: new PEHeaderBuilder(imageCharacteristics: Characteristics.ExecutableImage, subsystem: Subsystem.WindowsCui),
                    metadataRootBuilder: new MetadataRootBuilder(metadataBuilder),
                    ilStream: ilStream,
                    debugDirectoryBuilder: debugDirectoryBuilder,
                    entryPoint: entryPointHandle);

    BlobBuilder peBlob = new BlobBuilder();
    peBuilder.Serialize(peBlob);

    using var fileStream = new FileStream("MyAssembly.exe", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
    peBlob.WriteContentTo(fileStream);
}

static DebugDirectoryBuilder GeneratePdb(MetadataBuilder pdbBuilder, ImmutableArray<int> rowCounts, MethodDefinitionHandle entryPointHandle)
{
    BlobBuilder portablePdbBlob = new BlobBuilder();
    PortablePdbBuilder portablePdbBuilder = new PortablePdbBuilder(pdbBuilder, rowCounts, entryPointHandle);
    BlobContentId pdbContentId = portablePdbBuilder.Serialize(portablePdbBlob);
    // In case saving PDB to a file
    using FileStream fileStream = new FileStream("MyAssemblyEmbeddedSource.pdb", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
    portablePdbBlob.WriteContentTo(fileStream);

    DebugDirectoryBuilder debugDirectoryBuilder = new DebugDirectoryBuilder();
    debugDirectoryBuilder.AddCodeViewEntry("MyAssemblyEmbeddedSource.pdb", pdbContentId, portablePdbBuilder.FormatVersion);
    // In case embedded in PE:
    // debugDirectoryBuilder.AddEmbeddedPortablePdbEntry(portablePdbBlob, portablePdbBuilder.FormatVersion);
    return debugDirectoryBuilder;
}

Further, you can add CustomDebugInformation by calling the MetadataBuilder.AddCustomDebugInformation(EntityHandle, GuidHandle, BlobHandle) method from the pdbBuilder instance to add source embedding and source indexing advanced PDB information.

private static void EmbedSource(MetadataBuilder pdbBuilder)
{
    byte[] sourceBytes = File.ReadAllBytes("MySourceFile2.cs");
    BlobBuilder sourceBlob = new BlobBuilder();
    sourceBlob.WriteBytes(sourceBytes);
    pdbBuilder.AddCustomDebugInformation(MetadataTokens.DocumentHandle(1),
        pdbBuilder.GetOrAddGuid(new Guid("0E8A571B-6926-466E-B4AD-8AB04611F5FE")), pdbBuilder.GetOrAddBlob(sourceBlob));
}

Add resources with PersistedAssemblyBuilder

You can call MetadataBuilder.AddManifestResource(ManifestResourceAttributes, StringHandle, EntityHandle, UInt32) to add as many resources as needed. Streams must be concatenated into one BlobBuilder that you pass into the ManagedPEBuilder argument. The following example shows how to create resources and attach it to the assembly that's created.

public static void SetResource()
{
    PersistedAssemblyBuilder ab = new(new AssemblyName("MyAssembly"), typeof(object).Assembly);
    ab.DefineDynamicModule("MyModule");
    MetadataBuilder metadata = ab.GenerateMetadata(out BlobBuilder ilStream, out _);

    using MemoryStream stream = new();
    ResourceWriter myResourceWriter = new(stream);
    myResourceWriter.AddResource("AddResource 1", "First added resource");
    myResourceWriter.AddResource("AddResource 2", "Second added resource");
    myResourceWriter.AddResource("AddResource 3", "Third added resource");
    myResourceWriter.Close();

    byte[] data = stream.ToArray();
    BlobBuilder resourceBlob = new();
    resourceBlob.WriteInt32(data.Length);
    resourceBlob.WriteBytes(data);

    metadata.AddManifestResource(
        ManifestResourceAttributes.Public,
        metadata.GetOrAddString("MyResource.resources"),
        implementation: default,
        offset: 0);        

    ManagedPEBuilder peBuilder = new(
                    header: PEHeaderBuilder.CreateLibraryHeader(),
                    metadataRootBuilder: new MetadataRootBuilder(metadata),
                    ilStream: ilStream,
                    managedResources: resourceBlob);

    BlobBuilder blob = new();
    peBuilder.Serialize(blob);

    // Create the assembly:
    using FileStream fileStream = new("MyAssemblyWithResource.dll", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write);
    blob.WriteContentTo(fileStream);
}

The following example shows how to read resources from the created assembly.

public static void ReadResource()
{
    Assembly readAssembly = Assembly.LoadFile(Path.Combine(
        Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location),
        "MyAssemblyWithResource.dll"));

    // Use ResourceManager.GetString() to read the resources.
    ResourceManager rm = new("MyResource", readAssembly);
    Console.WriteLine("Using ResourceManager.GetString():");
    Console.WriteLine($"{rm.GetString("AddResource 1", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)}");
    Console.WriteLine($"{rm.GetString("AddResource 2", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)}");
    Console.WriteLine($"{rm.GetString("AddResource 3", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)}");

    // Use ResourceSet to enumerate the resources.
    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("Using ResourceSet:");
    ResourceSet resourceSet = rm.GetResourceSet(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, createIfNotExists: true, tryParents: false);
    foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in resourceSet)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Key: {entry.Key}, Value: {entry.Value}");
    }

    // Use ResourceReader to enumerate the resources.
    Console.WriteLine();
    Console.WriteLine("Using ResourceReader:");
    using Stream stream = readAssembly.GetManifestResourceStream("MyResource.resources")!;
    using ResourceReader reader = new(stream);
    foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in reader)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Key: {entry.Key}, Value: {entry.Value}");
    }
}

Note

The metadata tokens for all members are populated on the Save operation. Don't use the tokens of a generated type and its members before saving, as they'll have default values or throw exceptions. It's safe to use tokens for types that are referenced, not generated.

Some APIs that aren't important for emitting an assembly aren't implemented; for example, GetCustomAttributes() is not implemented. With the runtime implementation, you were able to use those APIs after creating the type. For the persisted AssemblyBuilder, they throw NotSupportedException or NotImplementedException. If you have a scenario that requires those APIs, file an issue in the dotnet/runtime repo.

For an alternative way to generate assembly files, see MetadataBuilder.