This tool will very quickly scan an entire directory tree for all managed assemblies that reference interesting things, including:
- A particular simple assembly name of interest.
- Multiple references to the same assembly, but different versions, within the same assembly. For example if A.dll references B.dll v1.0.0.0 and B.dll v2.0.0.0, A.dll would be found.
- A particular type (useful when making a breaking change).
Install or update the CLI tool with:
dotnet tool update -g AssemblyRefScanner
Then refer to the tool by its CLI name: refscanner:
PS> refscanner -h
Description:
AssemblyRefScanner v1.0.60-beta+a3320d6221
Usage:
refscanner [command] [options]
Options:
--version Show version information
-?, -h, --help Show help and usage information
Commands:
assembly <simpleAssemblyName> Searches for references to the assembly with the specified simple name.
multiversions All assemblies that reference multiple versions of *any* assembly will be printed.
embeddedTypes <embeddableAssemblies> Searches for assemblies that have embedded types.
api <docID> Searches for references to a given type or member.
type <typeName> Searches for references to a given type.
targetFramework Groups all assemblies by TargetFramework.
resolveReferences <assemblyPath> Lists paths to assemblies referenced by a given assembly.
You can then get usage help for a particular command:
PS> refscanner assembly -h
assembly:
Searches for references to the assembly with the specified simple name.
Usage:
AssemblyRefScanner assembly [options] <simpleAssemblyName>
Arguments:
<simpleAssemblyName> The simple assembly name (e.g. "StreamJsonRpc") to search for in referenced assembly lists.
Options:
--path <path> The path of the directory to search. This should be a full install of VS (i.e. all workloads) to produce complete results. If not specified, the current directory will be searched. [default:
C:\git\Helix]
-?, -h, --help Show help and usage information
Tip: Enjoy completion of commands and switches at the command line by using PowerShell and taking these steps.
PS> refscanner assembly streamjsonrpc --path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\master\Common7\IDE\"
1.2.0.0
Extensions\Microsoft\LiveShare\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServer.Client.LiveShare.dll
1.3.0.0
CommonExtensions\Microsoft\ModelBuilder\Microsoft.ML.ModelBuilder.dll
Extensions\Microsoft\LiveShare\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.LanguageExtension.15.8.dll
Extensions\Microsoft\LiveShare\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.LanguageExtension.16.0.dll
Extensions\Microsoft\LiveShare\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.LanguageExtension.dll
Extensions\Microsoft\LiveShare\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LiveShare.Core.dll
Extensions\Microsoft\LiveShare\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LiveShare.Rpc.Json.dll
CommonExtensions\Microsoft\ModelBuilder\AutoMLService\Microsoft.ML.ModelBuilder.AutoMLService.dll
CommonExtensions\Microsoft\ModelBuilder\AzCopyService\Microsoft.ML.ModelBuilder.AzCopyService.dll
Above we see all the assemblies listed that reference StreamJsonRpc.dll, grouped by the version of StreamJsonRpc.dll that they reference.
PS> refscanner multiversions --path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\master\Common7\IDE\"
CommonExtensions\Microsoft\LanguageServer\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServer.Client.dll
StreamJsonRpc, Version=1.5.0.0, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
StreamJsonRpc, Version=2.4.0.0, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
CommonExtensions\Microsoft\LanguageServer\Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServer.Client.Implementation.dll
StreamJsonRpc, Version=2.4.0.0, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
StreamJsonRpc, Version=1.5.0.0, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a
Above we see that two assemblies each reference two versions of StreamJsonRpc simultaneously.