Have you ever wondered that why the contents of the
assembly folder are shown in a different manner than the rest of other folders.
How does the OS know that this folder contains is the global assembly
cache.
A dll called Shfusion.dll is located
in the Microsoft.NET\Framework\<version> folder,where <version> is
the highest build number of the .NET Framework installed on your machine. It is
this dll which causes the contents of the assembly folder to appear differently
than the contents of normal Windows folders. The names of the assemblies
installed in the global assembly cache are displayed.
Assembly Cache Viewer or
Shfusion.dll is an Windows shell extension which
allows you to view and manipulate GAC contents. In addition the tool displays
details about each assembly's type, version, culture, and public key token.
You can also define the cache settings for this
folder go to Tools --> Cache Settings. This dialog will show
you the File System type i.e. NTFS in case of WinNT, Used space, Cache
space,Free space and the total capacity. One can also set the storage limits for
the assembly folder (check out the download limit select box on the
dailog).
To register the assemblies in GAC, the assemblies
should be strong named. You can register them using gacutil.exe or just drag and
drop the assembly in the folder.
If you guys
would like me to cover any particular .NET FrameWork tool please let me
know.
