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.
Related
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.
Attempting to submit a Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 app to the store. Solution has several projects, including a Models, Contracts and a Shared DLL. These 3 projects/dlls are failing the Windows App Certification Kit tests with:
File XXX.Shared.dll has failed the NXCheck check
File XXX.Contracts.dll has failed the NXCheck check
File XXX.Models.dll has failed the NXCheck check
Microsoft say the problem is a Security threat issue, because these dlls are running code that is stored in a data segment.
The suggested resolution from Microsoft is to add the /NXCOMPAT switch to the Linker options, however, I do not have a Linker page in the properties in any of the 3 offending projects. I've tried adding this to the compilation symbols, but no change.
These DLLs are low payload - they contain not much more than POCO data objects, interfaces and a few static methods. I've built a new default blank Windows Phone app and added these projects to the Solution. If I reference any one of these projects in the main phone app project, the certification fails with the same result.
So the problem is definitely isolated to these 3 projects. There are other projects of the same type included in the solution, but these do not exhibit the same problem.
Does anyone have any ideas as to what these DLLs could contain which causes this Binary Analyzer failure?
I've compared compiler / build options and checked the project properties etc, but can't see any obvious differences.
This was due to a post-compile Build Event referencing an obfuscation library in each of these projects. Solution was to remove it as the library was third party.
I'm having trouble understanding why the Newtonsoft JSON parser has to be device specific under Xamarin. I cannot seem to find any way to have the parser exist in a common, shared library. I'm using the Tasky Pro sample app. I can get the JSON.Net DLLs from the Xamarin store to work in the Android and iOS projects, however that makes no architecural sense. E.g., the SQLite stuff is all in a shared lib, as you'd expect - as one set of c# source files.
Ideally I'd like to just add some kind of reference to "Tasky.Core" and be able to serialize/deserialize JSON.
Is there any way to get JSON.Net to work in a shared library (across droid/ios/wp8)? The source is pretty huge to try to manage as linked files, if that's even possible...
If not, is there some alternative way of managing JSON that will work in this way?
You should be able to use the JSon.NET NuGet Package for this. The implementation is actually platform-specific [1], but NuGet will transparently take care of that for you and pick the correct one for you.
Note that you need Mono 3.2.6 and Xamarin.iOS 7.0.6 for this, which just hit the alpha channel this week, I have just fixed some critical bugs in this area. You should also upgrade the NuGet Add-In in Xamarin Studio to the latest version (0.8), which contains several PCL-related bug fixes.
Simply add the NuGet Add-In to Xamarin Studio if you have not done so already, then search for "JSon.NET", the add-in will automatically install the package and add the required library references for you.
[1] The NuGet package contains different .dll's for different target frameworks and then picks and references the best one for your project - so your application will only contain a single implementation, but an iOS app may use a different one than a desktop application.
Update 01/14/14:
NuGet packages usually contain different implementations - unfortunately, not all of them will work with Xamarin.iOS due to APIs such as Reflection.Emit or Full DLR that are not available on iOS.
If you look into the packages/Newtonsoft.Json.5.0.8/lib/ directory, you'll see different sub-directories - each of these contain a different implementation and NuGet will use the one that best fits the current target framework. Unfortunately, NuGet does not always pick the right one :-(
For Newtonsoft.Json.5.0.8, the "portable-net45+wp80+win8" implementation uses DLR features that are not available on iOS, the "portable-net40+sl4+wp7+win8" one is ok. So if you add the NuGet package to a PCL that's targeting for instance Profile136, you'll get the correct implementation.
There is no GUI to choose another implementation, but you can edit the .csproj file. Replace
<Reference Include="Newtonsoft.Json">
<HintPath>..\packages\Newtonsoft.Json.5.0.8\lib\portable-net45+wp80+win8\Newtonsoft.Json.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
with
<Reference Include="Newtonsoft.Json">
<HintPath>..\packages\Newtonsoft.Json.5.0.8\lib\portable-net40+sl4+wp7+win8\Newtonsoft.Json.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
and it should work.
In general, when you're getting an error message about missing types after adding a new NuGet package, go to the corresponding package directory and grep -r for that symbol - chances are that there's a different implementation which does not use this type.
Hopefully, a more elegant solution will be available in the future, but that needs coordination with the NuGet team and package authors, so it'll take some time.
Just add it to Shared Library via NuGet. Actually, all your request/response tasks should be done in library. You should use JSON.Net to parse response.
I have created a simple XNA Windows Class Library with XNA 4.0 called "NivekGameEngine". I have created a simple game for the Windows platform, and I can access all contents of my dll just fine.
The problem comes when I try to make a copy of this project for the Xbox 360. I get this as the error:
The primary reference "NivekGameEngine01" could not be resolved because it has an
indirect dependency on the framework assembly "mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" which could not be resolved in the
currently targeted framework. ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Profile=Client". To resolve
this problem, either remove the reference "NivekGameEngine01" or retarget your
application to a framework version which contains "mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089".
I look back at my project that created my dll file, and the target is set to "4.0 Client"
Is there a way of fixing this? I will upload code if necessary.
I believe the issue is that you either need to target the .Net Compact Framework or Silverlight (not 100% sure which) for XBox 360 development. The full .Net framework, including the Client Profile version, doesn't appear to be supported.
So you will either need to rebuild your DLL for one of these environments or, if it is used in other applications, create a second project for the appropriate platform and add references to the files in the original project. You may find that you will need to add conditional compile statements to the source code if you are using features or method overloads that are not supported on the platform.
This is all very doable: we have one set of source code that services the full framework, Compact Framework, Silverlight, and Mono.
I'm using the Crystal Reports Viewer 11 ActiveX control in an Access form (version 2007, 2003 format). Everything works well on my development machine, where I have CRXI installed. I copied the referenced DLL to the client's machine, but when I try to register it, it says "Can't find module" (I double- and triple-checked my spelling) and when I try to open the form it tells me "ActiveX component can't create object" when the code tries to create a new instance of the report object. I suspect there are more dependency files required by the DLL, but I'm a little at a loss as to what ones and how I go about finding out. Although I'm using the CR control, I assume this would apply to any ActiveX control throwing this error. Thanks.
There should be a runtime distribution document in your Crystal Help files - from past experience (Crystal 8.5) there are multiple files that you have to distribute and register.
I'm answering my own question in case someone finds this via a search in the future. I don't have the Access Package & Deploy wizard David mentioned above (okay, I probably have it but couldn't find it readily) but I image it would probably do what I needed, so I recommend anyone try that first. Instead, I was able to create a setup to install tghe needed files using the Visual Studio Installer and the Crystal merge modules; note that while it wasn't difficult, nor was it pleasant.
I downloaded and installed Visual Studio Installer 1.1 from MSDN. This creates a new project type in Visual Studio 6.0 (in particular, I used InterDev 6.0) that creates a Windows Installer (*.msi) setup file. Because one of the Crystal merge modules requires the Crystal license key and VSI doesn't support merge module parameters, I also had to use Orca, a merge module editor, available from the Microsoft Windows SDK (also available on the Microsoft download site). I recommend reading through the SDK and Orca pages on MSDN for more info. Using Orca, I was able to put my key code and recompile the merge module, so I don't have to deploy my key to my users, and my users don't have to enter one.
Again, the Package & Deployment Wizard is probably a better option, but when faced with using merge modules, as with Crystal, this method will get the job done.