Shine Draw

Loading external libraries is a very effective method to minimize the application file size. Through it’s useful, I found that it’s seldom discussed in the Internet.

I learned this a few days ago and I think that it’s important to share it immediately to al of you.

In the sample below, I have implemented a host application where it will download the assembly made from my sample “Simple Game System“. Once the assembly is downloaded, the application can initialize a a specific class from the assembly.

Comparison

Flash implementation: 30 minutes
Silverlight implementation: 20 minutes (Implemented First)
What’s the difference?

• LoaderContext [AS3] vs AssemblyPart [C#]

Source codes

•   Loading Assembly [Flash 9, AS3] (20.7 KiB, 702 hits)
•   Loading Assembly [Silverlight 2, C#] (40 KiB, 1,339 hits)

Silverlight

LoaderContext [AS3] vs AssemblyPart [C#]

In Flash, there is no dll file. However, once a SWF file is complied, you can actually utilize the resources inside the swf file. Here is a simple demonstration.

// AS3
var _assembly:Loader = new Loader();
var _loaderContext:LoaderContext = new LoaderContext();

// download the swf file
function download():void{
	var request : URLRequest = new URLRequest( SWF_PATH);
	_assembly.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, on_download_completed);
	_assembly.load(request, _loaderContext);
}

// create an instance from the resources
function on_download_completed(e:Event):void{
	var className : Class = _loaderContext.applicationDomain.getDefinition(CLASS_NAME) as Class;
	var displayObject : DisplayObject = new className();
	addChild(displayObject);
}

The approach in Silverlight is different. We are not going to download xap file as the assembly. Instead, will need to use the dll file generated form a project as the assembly resources.

// C#
WebClient downloader = new WebClient();
downloader.OpenReadCompleted += new OpenReadCompletedEventHandler(onDownloadCompleted);
downloader.OpenReadAsync(new Uri(DLL_PATH, UriKind.Absolute));

// Once the assembly is downloaded
private void onDownloadCompleted(object o, OpenReadCompletedEventArgs args)
{
    try
    {
        AssemblyPart ap = new AssemblyPart();
        Assembly assembly = ap.Load(args.Result);
	UserControl control = (UserControl) _assembly.CreateInstance(CLASS_NAME);
	LayoutRoot.Children.Add(control);
    }
    catch (Exception e){}
}

Shares and Enjoy~

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