pythonclrhost

CLR Hosting in raw python

pythonclrhost enables CLR hosting of a dotnet runtime in python. It is currently only meant to wrap a custom implementation of clr-loader's netfx binary. In the future I do plan on expanding this to support dynamic calls

Basic Usage

Host ClrLoader.dll in dotnet runtime and Get a function pointer from Python.Runtime.dll (pythonnet)

from pythonclrhost import clrhost
clr = clrhost()
# Get ClrLoader.dll bytes (can be from a web request, etc.)
dll = open(r'c:\Path\To\ClrLoader.dll', 'rb').read()
# Start the runtime and load in our dll
clr.load(dll, "v4.0.30319")
# Initialize ClrLoader
clr.pyclr_initialize()
# Get Python.Runtime.dll bytes (from pythonnet, can also be from any source that returns bytes)
asm = open(r'c:\Path\To\Python.Runtime.dll', 'rb').read()
# Get a valid intpointer for the Initialize function from Python.Runtime.Loader
intPtr = clr.get_function(asm)

Close all domain in ClrLoader

from pythonclrhost import clrhost
clr = clrhost()
# Get ClrLoader.dll bytes (can be from a web request, etc.)
dll = open(r'c:\Path\To\ClrLoader.dll', 'rb').read()
# Start the runtime and load in our dll
clr.load(dll, "v4.0.30319")
# Initialize ClrLoader
clr.pyclr_initialize()
# Get Python.Runtime.dll bytes (from pythonnet, can also be from any source that returns bytes)
asm = open(r'c:\Path\To\Python.Runtime.dll', 'rb').read()
# Get a valid intpointer for the Initialize function from Python.Runtime.Loader
intPtr = clr.get_function(asm)
# Close all appdomains in ClrLoader (do not do this unless you are done interacting with this instance)
clr.pyclr_finalize()
# Remove the clr instance just to be safe
del clr

Create an app domain in ClrLoader

from pythonclrhost import clrhost
clr = clrhost()
# Get ClrLoader.dll bytes (can be from a web request, etc.)
dll = open(r'c:\Path\To\ClrLoader.dll', 'rb').read()
# Start the runtime and load in our dll
clr.load(dll, "v4.0.30319")
# Initialize ClrLoader
clr.pyclr_initialize()
# Create AppDomain and return ClrLoader index reference (This can be passed into Get function later if you load an assembly into it)
domain = clr.create_appdomain("FooBarBaz")

Closing an app domain in ClrLoader

from pythonclrhost import clrhost
clr = clrhost()
# Get ClrLoader.dll bytes (can be from a web request, etc.)
dll = open(r'c:\Path\To\ClrLoader.dll', 'rb').read()
# Start the runtime and load in our dll
clr.load(dll, "v4.0.30319")
# Initialize ClrLoader
clr.pyclr_initialize()
# Create AppDomain and return ClrLoader index reference (This can be passed into Get function later if you load an assembly into it)
domain = clr.create_appdomain("FooBarBaz")
# Close the created AppDomain
clr.close_appdomain(domain)

Gotchas

This is still a work in progress, as such there is still development being done for making autoresolution of valid runtimes work via EnumerateInstalledRuntimes. There is also still work being done to allow for dynamic function arguments. This requires a decent amount of work because all arguments have to be put into a SafeArray, which has to be explicitly defined before execution.