Best way to create a plugin environment in .NET

Question

I read this aricle How to load plugins in .NET?, and I really don't see the brilliance of Microsoft's System.Addin namespace. Why can't I just have a plugins folder in my bin directory that users can put an assembly into that implements an interface I design? I could then just use reflection to create an instance of the plugin class and reference it with my interface.

Why is the System.Addin way apparently so much better? Especially since it seems like three times the work and a less intuitive design.

Try to look at http://mef.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=Overview&referringTitle=Home — Andrej Slivko, Jun 08 '11 at 19:57
:) you better listen what ppl saying if they say it synchronously — Andrej Slivko, Jun 08 '11 at 20:00
@qrow: Again, how do you say something and NOT say it synchronously? (Did you mean concurrently?) — Reed Copsey, Jun 08 '11 at 20:06
@Reed Copsey http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/07/non-english-question-policy/ second bullet point — Andrej Slivko, Jun 08 '11 at 20:12
@qrow: Ahh, was thinking it was a joke relating to programming terminology. Not trying to correct grammer, but help educate for programming related issues only ;) I apologize if it came across incorrectly. — Reed Copsey, Jun 08 '11 at 20:18
@Reed Copsey it's good that my bad english sounds like jokes :) — Andrej Slivko, Jun 08 '11 at 20:22
@qrow @reed I am glad that my question could contribute to quality nerd humor for generations to come. :) — Jonathan Henson, Jun 08 '11 at 20:29

score 10 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:57

10

I would recommend looking at the Managed Extensibility Framework (which was added to the core framework in .NET 4). It allows you to do exactly what you're describing, and is very simple and flexible to use in extensibility scenarios.

answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:57

Reed Copsey

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Thanks for this by the way, I'll be using MEF. – Jonathan Henson Jun 08 '11 at 22:15

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 08 '11 at 20:00

6

"so much better" always depends on your point of view and requirements. If your approach fits your needs, go for it. But plugins can become very fast much more complicated. What about dependencies between plugins? Security? Different schemata how to find plugins? ...? Those kind of features are already solved for you. If you don't need them, a library might be overkill. If you need them, it would be a bad idea to reinvent the wheel. ;-)

answered Jun 08 '11 at 20:00

Achim

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+1 for answering the crux of the question; MEF is a wonderful tool, but it's definitely not a full 'plug-in' framework, with AppDomain isolation, security, and versioning/dependency management. These additional features are usually over-kill for a simple application, but they are important considerations if you're building a large, mission-critical application. – Dan Bryant Jun 08 '11 at 20:12

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:57

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You should use MEF, that question is from 2008

answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:57

Antonio Bakula

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I can't believe there actually are THREE duplicate answers and they're all upvoted lol – Javid Sep 08 '20 at 20:58
They all were posted at the same time – nZeus Nov 12 '20 at 23:01

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:57

2

Look at Microsoft's Managed Extensibilty Framework; the code is open sourced so you could use it a basis to write your own, or you could just use MEF directly.

answered Jun 08 '11 at 19:57

Esteban Araya

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Best way to create a plugin environment in .NET

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