How can I merge referenced assembly into single .dll for Dynamics CRM plugin?

Question

I've followed every guide I could find related to ILMerge in order to merge a third party .dll into a custom Dynamics CRM plugin (.dll) so that I may use the functionality.

I am writing a Dynamics CRM plugin that will take a .docx document, populate some information, and add an annotation (Note) to an associated entity. Retrieving the document template and creating an annotation work fine. so, I know my plugin is sound (registers and runs okay).

However, once I attempt to use DocumentFormat.OpenXml to manipulate my document template, I get an error that Dynamics CRM:

Could not load file or assembly 'DocumentFormat.OpenXml, Version=2.5.5631.0......."

After doing some research, I found that I needed to "merge" the DocumentFormat.OpenXml.dll into my plugin .dll.

I installed MSBuild.ILMerge.Task (and ILMerge) in VS2015. During the build process, I now get two messages "Transitive merge" and "Merged assemblies: pathname\my.dll; pathname\DocumentFormat.OpenXml.dll". It seemed to do what I needed. However, when I update the plugin with the new .dll, I get the same "Could not load file or assembly" error message.

I am unable to find any documentation that could further help in ensuring that my referenced DocumentFormat.OpenXml.dll actually gets merged into my target .dll.

Instead of updating the existing plugin in PRT, unregister the existing & register the new assembly with merged dll — Arun Vinoth - MVP
You can use any decompiler to see the content of merged dll & verify — Arun Vinoth - MVP
@ArunVinoth, I deleted my .dll and rebuilt it. I used dotPeek to check the .dll to make sure it included the DocumentFormat.OpenXml assembly. I then unregistered and re-registered the .dll in Plugin Registration Tool and it all worked! If you want to post an Answer for unregistering and to re-register the .dll, I'll mark it. Thanks! — Rob

Arun Vinoth - MVP Arun Vinoth - MVP · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-12T05:53:25

I am unable to find any documentation that could further help in ensuring that my referenced DocumentFormat.OpenXml.dll actually gets merged into my target .dll.

You can use any decompiler (ex: dotPeek) to see the content of merged dll & verify.

when I update the plugin with the new .dll, I get the same "Could not load file or assembly" error message.

Instead of updating the existing plugin in PRT, unregister the existing & register the new assembly with merged dll.

How can I merge referenced assembly into single .dll for Dynamics CRM plugin?

1 Answers