Issue using JsonConvert.SerializeObject with Unity IL2CPP scripting backend - json

I'm having issues using the JsonConver.SerializeObject function to serialize a string when using Unity IL2CPP scripting backend. My understanding is that since JsonConvert uses reflection IL2CPP cannot use this function because it is pre-compiled. I'm also using the Holotoolkit which uses the Newtonsoft.dll so I don't believe using the JSON .NET for Unity package is feasible as it will conflict with the Newtonsoft.dll
Anyone run into this or have any suggestions on how to resolve?

I got this to work by deleting the Newtonsoft.dll in the Holotoolkit directory structure as well as the GLTFSerialization.dll that references the Newtonsoft.dll. Then, since I'm coding for the Hololens I was able to comment out all code that referenced the GLTFSerialization.dll. Then I installed JSON for .NET Unity asset from the Unity asset store and all in life is good again.
I believe all of the code that references the GLTFSerialization.dll is used only for Mixed Reality device development so if you are developing for MR this solution may not work and you may want to look into using the extern aliasing method.

Related

How to enforce module boundaries in Java <= 8

I want to modularize a monolithic application by using Java modules (introduced by Project Jigsaw).
Unfortunately I'm currently stuck to use Java 8. I would like to build those modules (jar files) anyway, but without the feature of using a module-info.java file for declaring the dependencies and the exported API.
Some weeks ago I stumbled upon an API/framework which allows to define nearly the same things that you can do in a module-info.java file. It could be used in JUnit tests in order to enforce module's not to use the internal's of another module and that module's only can access modules they explicitly depend on.
Of course you do not have any assistence from the compiler or the IDE, but you can enforce the access by JUnit. Unfortunately I do not find the project which provides the API any more.
Can anyone help?
Btw. if there is another good approach beside a unit test, please let me know, too!
https://www.archunit.org/ is what I have been looking for.

Xml serialization/deserialization in WinRT (Store application)

I need to make a Windows Store application that exchanges xml serialized data over a TCP connection with a server. Since I need to use Direct3D rendering in the application I went for the c++/cx store application template however I ran into issues with xml serialization/deserialization.
My usual approach in C# would be to use the XmlSerializer and classes with DataContractAttribute annotations. However as soon as I try to import System.Xml.Serialization assembly I get the C1114 error - WinRT does not support #using of a managed assembly. However there are lots of examples that mention using this approach in a Windows Phone app from C#.
So the question is - is only c++/cx limited in support for .NET in Windows Store applications and C# can use all the standard components on phone as well or is switching to C# in this case also not a solution and I need to use the WinRT classes for xml serialization/deserialization?
Your confusion is understandable, what with the variety of frameworks Microsoft has put out there.
C++/Cx is a native binding to the Windows Runtime (WinRT). It does not use any managed code or the .NET framework in any way, which is why you're getting the C1114 error.
C# provides a managed binding to WinRT. It does leverage the .NET framework, so in a C# Windows Store application, you can make use of some of the base-class library. This subset is referred to as the .NET Profile. This article talks about this more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2012/04/17/net-for-metro-style-apps.aspx
In your specific case, you are using a C++/Cx application because you want access to Direct3D. This makes sense, although it means that you will not have access to System.Xml.Serialization. Instead, as you surmised, you will need to use APIs that are available to C++/Cx to read XML, specifically Windows.Data.Xml.Dom: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.data.xml.dom.aspx

Creating hash value according to the HMAC-SHA512 method using PCL/MvvmCross

I'm trying to create a cross platform application using MVVMCross and portable class libraries, which interacts with an api and displays some data asynchronously.
Currently I am trying to generate a SHA512 hash value for a sign key that will be sent along to the api.
I am not exactly sure how I can implement the cryptology portion. I have tried using the SHA512 class, however it appears to be unavailable. I tried manually adding a reference to System.Security.Cryptology which didn't help.
I also tried additional packages on nuget such as SharpCrypt to see if they would help generate a hash value, however I see the error "the type or namespace name 'CryptSharp' could not be found" after adding the package from nuget.
I am targeting:
.Net Framework 4.5+
Windows Store apps
Silver light 5
Windows Phone 8
I'm quite a beginner so maybe I am missing something extremely obvious, any help or examples would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
I believe some of the crypto classes may also be available portably using the PCLContrib project - http://pclcontrib.codeplex.com - but I don't think this is yet available beyond Windows.
Where functionality isn't available portably, you can inject implementations into portable class libraries via an interface from each UI platform:
there's an example of this in the first part of N=31 in http://mvvmcross.blogspot.co.uk
there's a full introduction to MvvmCross dependency injection in https://github.com/MvvmCross/MvvmCross/wiki/Service-Location-and-Inversion-of-Control

Box-API: How can I add a strong name to a 3rd party assembly written for the .NET Portable Subset

I am trying to strongly name a 3rd party API that I have the code for but it's using a 3rd party DLL/NuGet Package that is also not strongly named and I'm having a lot of trouble.
I'm using the Box Windows SDK and the API was written in the .NET portable subset and supports .NET for Windows Store Apps, .NET Framework 4 and higher, SL4 and higher, and Windows Phone 7 and higher. Granted, I do not need all of these but I do need the .NET 4 and Silverlight versions. The API already works wonderfully and runs fine on its own. It would with my application also, if all my projects were unsigned but they aren't. We use strongly named assemblies for our Silverlight application in order to make use of application library caching.
Anyway, I have the source code for the API so I simply added my PFX file to the project to sign it. I then get an error that a dependency that this API is using called NitoAsnycEx.dll is not signed. I do not have the code for Nito.AsyncEx.dll but normally this isn't such a problem, more of an annoyance. So now I have an age-old problem of needing to take a 3rd party DLL of which I don't have code for and sign it with my PFX or another SNK file.
I can do either and normally I use one of the processes so wonderfully explained in this post by Ian Picknell: http://ianpicknell.blogspot.com/2009/12/adding-strong-name-to-third-party.html. So I have followed that process and the IL signing tools seem to sign the DLL just fine.
To make a long story shorter, let's use the simplest version of the signing process where I already have a simple SNK file ready to go. Basically, I do this:
I can run ILDASM to get the .il file for this 3rd party EXE:
ILDASM Nito.AsyncEx.dll /out:Nito.AsyncEx.il
I can then run ILASM to get the signed DLL:
ILASM Nito.AsyncEx.il /dll /resource=Nito.AsyncEx.res /key=NPSAssemblyKeyNoPassword.snk
It works great and I get this result:
Method Implementations (total): 118
Resolving local member refs: 0 -> 0 defs, 0 refs, 0 unresolved
Writing PE file
Signing file with strong name
Operation completed successfully
So now I have a signed DLL. I go back to my 3rd Party API code and remove the old reference to NitoAsyncEx.dll and put a new one to this. I try to compile and then I get an error like this:
Error 44 The base class or interface 'System.Object' in assembly 'System.Runtime, Version=1.5.11.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' referenced by type 'Nito.AsyncEx.AsyncLock' could not be resolved r:\Data\GM\Source\GrantManagement\GrantManagement\3rd Party\Nito\Nito.AsyncEx.dll
I figure there is some problems using the portable .net library here but I'm not sure what it is. This same process normally works for me for Silverlight 4+ and Full .NET 4.5 framework libraries. Is there another ILASM or ILDASM set somewhere that will disassemble and reassemble the portable code correctly? Is this even possible?
I also tried to go and get the source code for the NitoAsyncEx.dll, which is open source btw, and compile it but that source code will not compile as it's missing some files. So currently I'm stuck with my integration of this API into my project and need a little assistance from any experts in the community.
Is there a way to sign this DLL correctly so we're not missing references to basic classes such as System.Object?
Is there a way to get around needing to sign this DLL at all and having it referenced from my projects?
UPDATED
The Box SDK has been updated and is now strong-named on nuget. This is thanks to the recent update to AsyncEx which strong-named the assembly.
As you mentioned, it's unfortunately out of our control that the NitoAsyncEx library is not strongly named. This library provides the ability to properly lock resources during an async/await call, and I do not believe there is a better alternative at the moment.
This being said, I may have a (hopefully temporary) workaround for you. I've downloaded the source from https://nitoasyncex.codeplex.com/ and was able to get it to compile. These are the steps I performed:
Removed the reference to MSBuild in the csproj
Copied the missing Dequeue.cs file from the packages folder
Resolved missing nuget references
Regenerated the AssemblyInfo.cs
Excluded the .tt template files from the project
Unloaded all other projects the SDK does not use
Here's the resulting solution:
https://cloud.box.com/s/7ikurtyajqmhq9p8q52x
I've successfully ran the resulting dll through the SDK's tests so hopefully this should cover what you need. I cannot guarantee the stability of this method, but having a working source should allow you to do any signing you need. From there, you should be able to drop the signed assembly into the SDK source and sign that assembly as well.

How to use library of other languages in Action Script 3?

Is there any way to use the library of other language in Action Script 3 ?
For C/C++
I learned that we can use Alchemy: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/alchemy/
But for other languages (here I mean Ruby or Java), can I use their libs via AS3 ?
Alchemy is a cross-compiler from LLVM to ABC, if the language you are interested in can compile to LLVM, then, in theory, you can compile to ABC. So, Alchemy supports (with some tweaks) also C# or Java (but you will have to spend some time getting them to work together, there's no out of the box solution).
AIR (which is a desktop variant of Flash) can use something called "NativeProcess" which means that granted the operating system can execute the code in the library, then you can do so by creating a new process that calls the function from the library you need.
In AIR, again, there's a new feature called ANE (AIR Native Extensions) - this allows you to bind AIR more tightly to the native code. But, it doesn't need to be native as in object files only, it should be something the underlying system can execute. But I have to confess, I never tried creating any such extension, so my knowledge of it is theoretical.
No you can not use Ruby or Java code/libraries in Flash. Alchemy only allows you to use C and C++ libraries. The only way is to port those libraries to ActionScript, or maybe the library you want to use has already been ported to AS3.
It is also possible that there is something similar in AS3. You could ask another question here or on an Flash forum if anyone knows if the library you need has an equivalent in flash.