Best way to create a plugin environment in .NET

Question

I read this aricle How to load plugins in .NET?, and I really don\'t see the brilliance of Microsoft\'s System.Addin namespace. Why can\'t I just have a plugins folder in my

Answer 1

You should use MEF, that question is from 2008

Answer 2

Look at Microsoft's Managed Extensibilty Framework; the code is open sourced so you could use it a basis to write your own, or you could just use MEF directly.

Answer 3

"so much better" always depends on your point of view and requirements. If your approach fits your needs, go for it. But plugins can become very fast much more complicated. What about dependencies between plugins? Security? Different schemata how to find plugins? ...? Those kind of features are already solved for you. If you don't need them, a library might be overkill. If you need them, it would be a bad idea to reinvent the wheel. ;-)

Answer 4

I would recommend looking at the Managed Extensibility Framework (which was added to the core framework in .NET 4). It allows you to do exactly what you're describing, and is very simple and flexible to use in extensibility scenarios.