Reflecting a WinRT executable from a .Net 4.x App

Question

In a console application; If I execute:

Assembly.LoadFrom(@"c:\...\MyWinRTApp.exe")

I get:

System.BadImageFormatException occurred
HResult=-2147024885
Message=Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\_...\MyWinRTApp.exe' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.
Source=mscorlib

Is there any way around this?

EDIT 1

In relation to "Vyacheslav Volkov"'s answer below, I now get a step further, thank you. However I now get a different issue.

"assembly.GetExportedTypes()"
now throws
"Cannot resolve dependency to Windows Runtime type 'Windows.UI.Xaml.Application'. When using the ReflectionOnly APIs, dependent Windows Runtime assemblies must be resolved on demand through the ReflectionOnlyNamespaceResolve event."

If I try to ReflectionOnlyLoad the referenced assemblies, then I get the error:

"Could not load file or assembly 'Windows, Version=255.255.255.255, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null, ContentType=WindowsRuntime' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515)".

This is related to loading winmd references, and explained in the post here: Could not load file or assembly 'Windows, Version=255.255.255.255, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null, ContentType=WindowsRuntime'.

The full code I'm trying is this:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices.WindowsRuntime;

var assembly = Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(assemblyPath);

/*WindowsRuntimeMetadata.ReflectionOnlyNamespaceResolve += (x, y) =>
    {
        y.NamespaceName ???
        y.ResolvedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(???));
        return;
    };*/

foreach (var references in assembly.GetReferencedAssemblies())
{
    try
    {
        Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoad(references.FullName);
    }
    catch (FileNotFoundException)
    {
        var fi = new FileInfo(assemblyPath);
        var fi2Name = String.Format("{0}\\{1}.dll", fi.DirectoryName, references.Name);
        var fi2 = new FileInfo(fi2Name);

        if (fi2.Exists)
        {
            Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(fi2.FullName);
        }
    }
    catch (FileLoadException)
    {
        // When a winmd assembly is attempted.
    }
}

return assembly;

Any more ideas?

Thanks, Jon

Edit 2

The latest idea successfully resolves "{Windows.UI.Xaml, Version=255.255.255.255, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null, ContentType=WindowsRuntime}".

However, when ".GetExportedTypes()" is called on the "Client.exe" assembly, the 'ReflectionOnlyNamespaceResolve' event is only fired once for namespace "Windows.UI.Xaml", which resolves to "C:\windows\system32\WinMetadata\Windows.UI.Xaml.winmd".

An exception is then thrown within ".GetExportedTypes()", which is "Cannot resolve dependency to assembly 'System.Runtime, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' because it has not been preloaded. When using the ReflectionOnly APIs, dependent assemblies must be pre-loaded or loaded on demand through the ReflectionOnlyAssemblyResolve event.".

Reflect over it to discover the containing types for display purposes only. I don't need to create a run-time instance of any of the types. — Jon Rea
Still getting: "Could not load file or assembly 'System, Version=2.0.5.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=7cec85d7bea7798e, Retargetable=Yes' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified." — Jon Rea
If you are interested, this is for the open source project 'Docu' (github.com/jagregory/docu), allowing it to read Windows Store assemblies. I could ping you the code I'm modifying, and then I could update this question if we make any progress. Thanks, Jon — Jon Rea
Did you ever solve this? I had a similar issue and found that having the .NET 4.5 application pre-load System.Runtime (added a reference include for System.Runtime in the build process for the .NET 4.5 build) allowed 'GetExtractedTypes' to proceed successfully. — Dave Doknjas

Vyacheslav Volkov Vyacheslav Volkov · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-07T13:19:42

If you want only to discover the containing types you should use the Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoad method.

Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(@"c:\...\MyWinRTApp.exe")

UPDATE

Here's the code that works for me:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.ReflectionOnlyAssemblyResolve += (sender, eventArgs) => Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoad(eventArgs.Name);
WindowsRuntimeMetadata.ReflectionOnlyNamespaceResolve += (sender, eventArgs) =>
{
    string path =
        WindowsRuntimeMetadata.ResolveNamespace(eventArgs.NamespaceName, Enumerable.Empty<string>())
            .FirstOrDefault();
    if (path == null) return;

    eventArgs.ResolvedAssemblies.Add(Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(path));
};

Assembly loadFrom = Assembly.ReflectionOnlyLoadFrom(@"C:\....\WinRTApp.exe");
Type[] types = loadFrom.GetExportedTypes();
foreach (Type type in types)
{
    Console.WriteLine(type);
}

Reflecting a WinRT executable from a .Net 4.x App

EDIT 1

Edit 2

1 Answers