Calling Assembly to get Application Name

Question

I have a console application (MyProgram.EXE) that references a Utilities assembly.

In my Utilities assembly, I have code that does:

Dim asm As Assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
Dim location As String = asm.Location
Dim appName As String = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(location)
Conole.WriteLine("AppName is: {0}", appName)

When I call it from MyProgram.EXE, I receive "AppName is: Utilities.dll"

What I want is "AppName is: MyProgram.EXE"

What am I doing wrong?

Wow where did all those br's come from in my edit. – Kev Jan 22 '09 at 18:29 — Kev, Jan 22 '09 at 18:29

Mehrdad Afshari · Answer 1 · 2009-01-22T17:27:35.197

14

Use GetEntryAssembly() instead to get the assembly containing the entry point.

The better way to do it is using System.Environment.CommandLine property instead.

Specifically:

Dim location As String = System.Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()(0)
Dim appName As String = System.IO.Path.GetFileName(location)
Conole.WriteLine("AppName is: {0}", appName)

By the way, you want to use GetFileName instead of GetDirectoryName

edited Jan 22 '09 at 17:27

answered Jan 22 '09 at 17:19

Mehrdad Afshari

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Why is `System.Environment.CommandLine` better than `GetEntryAssembly()`? – Billy Jo Mar 16 '11 at 20:33
Because GetEntryAssembly() can return null. See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.reflection.assembly.getentryassembly.aspx – Torben Koch Pløen Oct 02 '12 at 05:56
2

also (per http://stackoverflow.com/questions/980202/how-do-i-find-the-current-executable-filename): "The GetEntryAssembly method also returns null if you are running a WCF service application in debug mode, under IIS. This is, admittedly, a rare situation that only a developer would encounter. – Gravitas Nov 10 '10 at 10:39" – Abacus Apr 29 '13 at 16:09

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 19 '11 at 14:47

12

Since it is VB.NET you were asking about, you can extract this information easily from the 'My' namespace as shown below:

My.Application.Info.AssemblyName

answered Jul 19 '11 at 14:47

atconway

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This will also get the assembly of the referenced DLL, not the calling (parent) module. – Abacus Apr 29 '13 at 15:56

Stefano Hac · Answer 3 · 2020-02-28T10:10:36.203

3

I use:

CallingAppName = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly.GetName().Name

edited Feb 28 '20 at 10:10

answered Feb 28 '20 at 09:57

Stefano Hac

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 26 '22 at 10:55

1

This is supported all over C#/VB environment.

System.IO.Path.GetFileName(Application.ExecutablePath)

answered Apr 26 '22 at 10:55

niek tuytel

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 03 '18 at 21:26

0

In my case, I didn't have access to My.Application, probably because I was in a global class, so I used:

AppName = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name

answered Dec 03 '18 at 21:26

Justin Tolchin

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Calling Assembly to get Application Name

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