Why is it not possible to catch MissingMethodException?

Question

I have a dependency on .NET 2.0 SP2 in my ClickOnce deployed application (the ApplicationDeployment.CurrentDeployment.CheckForDetailedUpdate(false) method is SP

Answer 1

I suspect it's happening at JIT time, before the method is even properly entered - i.e. before your catch block is hit. It's possible that if you catch MissingMethodException in the calling method, that will sort it out... particularly if you decorate CheckDotNet2SP with MethodImpl[MethodImplOptions.NoInlining]. It still sounds like it would be pretty dicey though.

You could always check for the presence of the method with reflection rather than by trying to call it though.