Assembly.GetCallingAssembly Method

Definition

Returns the Assembly of the method that invoked the currently executing method.

C#
public static System.Reflection.Assembly GetCallingAssembly ();

Returns

The Assembly object of the method that invoked the currently executing method.

Examples

The following example gets the calling assembly of the current method.

C#
// Assembly FirstAssembly
using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

namespace FirstAssembly
{
    public class InFirstAssembly
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            FirstMethod();
            SecondAssembly.InSecondAssembly.OtherMethod();
        }

        [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)]
        public static void FirstMethod()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("FirstMethod called from: " + Assembly.GetCallingAssembly().FullName);
        }
    }
}

// Assembly SecondAssembly
namespace SecondAssembly
{
    class InSecondAssembly
    {
        [MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining)]
        public static void OtherMethod()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("OtherMethod executing assembly: " + Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName);
            Console.WriteLine("OtherMethod called from: " + Assembly.GetCallingAssembly().FullName);
        }
    }
}
// The example produces output like the following:
// "FirstMethod called from: FirstAssembly, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"
// "OtherMethod executing assembly: SecondAssembly, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"
// "OtherMethod called from: FirstAssembly, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"

Remarks

If the method that calls the GetCallingAssembly method is expanded inline by the just-in-time (JIT) compiler, or if its caller is expanded inline, the assembly that is returned by GetCallingAssembly may differ unexpectedly. For example, consider the following methods and assemblies:

  • Method M1 in assembly A1 calls GetCallingAssembly.

  • Method M2 in assembly A2 calls M1.

  • Method M3 in assembly A3 calls M2.

When M1 is not inlined, GetCallingAssembly returns A2. When M1 is inlined, GetCallingAssembly returns A3. Similarly, when M2 is not inlined, GetCallingAssembly returns A2. When M2 is inlined, GetCallingAssembly returns A3.

This effect also occurs when M1 executes as a tail call from M2, or when M2 executes as a tail call from M3. You can prevent the JIT compiler from inlining the method that calls GetCallingAssembly, by applying the MethodImplAttribute attribute with the MethodImplOptions.NoInlining flag, but there is no similar mechanism for preventing tail calls.

Applies to

Product Versions
.NET Core 2.0, Core 2.1, Core 2.2, Core 3.0, Core 3.1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
.NET Framework 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1, 4.5.2, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.7.1, 4.7.2, 4.8, 4.8.1
.NET Standard 2.0, 2.1