Isolation for WPF Add-Ins

Posted by Jonathan Allen on Aug 13, 2007

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Development

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.NET ,

Rich Client / Desktop

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WPF ,

CLR Add-In Model

For many applications, the ability to extend the application with third party features is essential. Microsoft's CLR Add-In team has been working on a formal model and API to make this task easier. Features include a standard way to handle discovery, loading and unloading, isolation, and communication with the host application.

On of the key features in the Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2 version of the Add-In model is the ability to isolate GUI elements. Add-Ins can now create their own GUI elements in a separate AppDomain that are displayed amongst the main content. So while the application sees the add-in as separate, the user gets a seamless experience.

The ability to use AppDomains is essential when working with code that is not fully trusted. By segregating the code, it can be run with a restricted set of permissions than the rest of the application. Not only does this help when dealing with potentially malicious code, it is helpful when the add-in code has reliability issues that would otherwise affect the rest of the application.

Jesse Kaplan goes into the technical details of how AppDomain Isolated WPF Add-Ins work in the CLR Add-In Team Blog.

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   JackG on Add-Ins

   by James Vastbinder

   I just posted a video interview I did of JackG where he walks through the Add-In Model.
   
   -james

   Reply

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   Re: JackG on Add-Ins

   by James Vastbinder

   Woops -
   
   The video is here: blogs.msdn.com/jvast

   Reply

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