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<bindingRedirect> Element

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Redirects one assembly version to another.

<configuration>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <bindingRedirect>

Syntax

   <bindingRedirect
oldVersion="existing assembly version"  
newVersion="new assembly version"/>

Attributes and Elements

The following sections describe attributes, child elements, and parent elements.

Attributes

Attribute Description
oldVersion Required attribute.

Specifies the version of the assembly that was originally requested. The format of an assembly version number is major.minor.build.revision. Valid values for each part of this version number are 0 to 65535.

You can also specify a range of versions in the following format:

n.n.n.n - n.n.n.n
newVersion Required attribute.

Specifies the version of the assembly to use instead of the originally requested version in the format: n.n.n.n

This value can specify an earlier version than oldVersion.

Child Elements

Element Description
None

Parent Elements

Element Description
assemblyBinding Contains information about assembly version redirection and the locations of assemblies.
configuration The root element in every configuration file used by the common language runtime and .NET Framework applications.
dependentAssembly Encapsulates binding policy and assembly location for each assembly. Use one dependentAssembly element for each assembly.
runtime Contains information about assembly binding and garbage collection.

Remarks

When you build a .NET Framework application against a strong-named assembly, the application uses that version of the assembly at run time by default, even if a new version is available. However, you can configure the application to run against a newer version of the assembly. For details on how the runtime uses these files to determine which assembly version to use, see How the Runtime Locates Assemblies.

You can redirect more than one assembly version by including multiple bindingRedirect elements in a dependentAssembly element. You can also redirect from a newer version to an older version of the assembly.

Explicit assembly binding redirection in an application configuration file requires a security permission. This applies to redirection of .NET Framework assemblies and assemblies from third parties. The permission is granted by setting the SecurityPermissionFlag flag on the SecurityPermission. For more information, see Assembly Binding Redirection Security Permission.

Example

The following example shows how to redirect one assembly version to another.

<configuration>  
   <runtime>  
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">  
         <dependentAssembly>  
            <assemblyIdentity name="myAssembly"  
                              publicKeyToken="32ab4ba45e0a69a1"  
                              culture="neutral" />  
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0"  
                             newVersion="2.0.0.0"/>  
         </dependentAssembly>  
      </assemblyBinding>  
   </runtime>  
</configuration>

See also