Issue
My MEF code is not appropriately updating assemblies during runtime, from a folder associated to a DirectoryCatalog. The plugins load at run-time succesffully, but when i update the dll and call Refresh on the DirectoryCatalog, the assemblies are not getting updated.Background
I am building a dll that has an MEF container, and uses a DirectoryCatalog to find a local plugin folder. I call this dll currently from a simple WinForm, that is setup to with a seperate project to use ShadowCopy so i can overwrite the dlls in my plugin folder. Instead of using a FileWatcher to update this folder, I am exposing a public method that calls refresh on the DirectoryCatalog, so i can update the assemblies at will instead of automatically.Code
base class instantiates the MEF catalogs and container, and saves them as class variables for referential access later
public class FieldProcessor
{
private CompositionContainer _container;
private DirectoryCatalog dirCatalog;
public FieldProcessor()
{
var catalog = new AggregateCatalog();
//Adds all the parts found in the same assembly as the TestPlugin class
catalog.Catalogs.Add(new AssemblyCatalog(typeof(TestPlugin).Assembly));
dirCatalog = new DirectoryCatalog(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "Plugin\\");
catalog.Catalogs.Add(dirCatalog);
//Create the CompositionContainer with the parts in the catalog
_container = new CompositionContainer(catalog);
}
public void refreshCatalog()
{
dirCatalog.Refresh();
}
} ...
here's the plugin i'm trying to overwrite. My test of updating, is that the stings returned are output to a text box, I change the Strings the plugin is returning, rebuild, and copy it in to the plugin folder. But it does not update for the running app, until i close and restart the app.
[Export(typeof(IPlugin))]
[ExportMetadata("PluginName", "TestPlugin2")]
public class TestPlugin2 : IPlugin
{
public IEnumerable<IField> GetFields(ContextObject contextObject, params string[] parameters)
{
List<IField> retList = new List<IField>();
//Do Work Return Wrok Results
retList.Add(new Field("plugin.TestPlugin2", "TestPluginReturnValue2"));
return retList;
}
}
Edit
Import Statement [ImportMany(AllowRecomposition=true)]
IEnumerable<Lazy<IPlugin, IPluginData>> plugins;