Can a C# .dll assembly contain an entry point?

Question

My goal is to create an executable that will start a shadow copied application. The trick is, I want this starter program to have no external dependencies and not have to conta

Answer 1

I found the advice not so easy to follow. After some experimenting this is how I came to success:

I created a console application with a simple main and included the rest of the code from my original DLL. Below is a simplified program which includes a DLL:

namespace FIT.DLLTest
{
  public class DLLTest
  {
    [STAThread]
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      int a = 1;
    }

    public DLLTest()
    {
      int b = 17;
    }

    public int Add(int int1, int int2)
    {
      return int1 + int2;
    }
  }
}

After compilation I renamed the generated .exe to a .DLL.

In the mother program, which uses the DLL I first added the DLLTest.dll as a Reference, then I added the code to execute the DLL.

namespace TestDLLTest
{
  class TestDLLTest
  {
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
      AppDomain domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain( "DLLTest" );
      domain.ExecuteAssembly( "DllTest.dll" );

      DLLTest dt = new DLLTest();
      int res2 = dt.Add(6, 8);
      int a = 1;
    }
  }
}

Violà I could execute and add a breakpoint in the DLLTest.Main method and see that I could invoke the Main of DLLTest. Thanks for the discussion folks!