Powershell: Creating assemblies with add-type and then using them

aClass.cs

aClass.cs is the C# source file we want to create an assembly from. It defines a class (aptly named aClass) within the namespace TQ84. The class' constructor takes two values, an int and a string and prints these values to the console when printValues is invoked on the object created by the constructor:

using System;

namespace TQ84 {

   public class aClass {

      private int    num_;
      private string txt_;

      public aClass(int num, string txt) {
         num_ = num;
         txt_ = txt;
      }

      public void printValues() {
         Console.WriteLine(String.Format("num = {0}, txt = {1}", num_, txt_));
      }
   }
}

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/type/add/create-assembly/aClass.cs

Load the source code into the variable $sourceCode and then create the assembly:

$sourceCode   = get-content -raw aClass.cs
$assemblyPath = "$pwd/anAssembly.dll"

if (test-path  $assemblyPath) {
   remove-item $assemblyPath
}

add-type                          `
   -typeDefinition  $sourceCode   `
   -outputAssembly  $assemblyPath `
   -outputType      library

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/type/add/create-assembly/create-assembly.ps1

Use assembly in PowerShell

After creating the assembly, it can be used in the same or another PowerShell session like so:

$null = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile("$pwd/anAssembly.dll")

$obj_1 = new-object TQ84.aClass 42, 'Hello world'
$obj_2 = new-object TQ84.aClass 99, 'Ninety-nine'

$obj_1.printValues()
$obj_2.printValues()

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/type/add/create-assembly/use-assembly.ps1

C-Sharp class that uses assembly

Here's another C# class. This class relies on the one that can be referenced in the created assembly:

using TQ84;

namespace XYZ {

   public class useAssembly {

      static public void run() {

         aClass obj_1 = new TQ84.aClass(42, "Hello world");
         aClass obj_2 = new TQ84.aClass(99, "ninety-nine");

         obj_1.printValues();
         obj_2.printValues();

      }
   }
}

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/type/add/create-assembly/useAssembly.cs

Here, add-type is used to create a new type (to be used in the current PowerShell session) and to reference the required assembly (anAssembly.dll, that is):

$null = [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFile("$pwd/anAssembly.dll")

add-type  `
   -typeDefinition (get-content -raw useAssembly.cs) `
   -referencedAssemblies   "$pwd/anAssembly.dll"

[XYZ.useAssembly]::run()

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/type/add/create-assembly/compile-useAssembly.ps1

The following approach (without explicitly usind LoadFile) did not work, it caused the error Exception calling "run" with "0" argument(s): "Could not load file or assembly:

add-type   `
   -typeDefinition (get-content -raw useAssembly.cs) `
   -referencedAssemblies `
      "$pwd/anAssembly.dll"

[XYZ.useAssembly]::run()

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/type/add/create-assembly/did-not-work.ps1