Visual Studio Hacks

Examine the IL Generated by Your Code #63

Chapter 7, Help and Research

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HACK

You can also use the add-in to contribute new signatures to the wiki. This

can be done by selecting the “Contribute PInvoke signatures and types” item

in the right-click menu. You will then see the dialog shown in Figure 7-19.

Using this dialog, you can enter signatures and types, and they will be

uploaded to PInvoke.NET. To add notes or code samples, you will need to

visit the site in your browser.

PInvoke.NET and its companion add-in were developed by Adam Nathan

whose blog can be found at http://blogs.msdn.com/adam_nathan. Both the

wiki and add-in are extremely useful tools for working with one of the most

error-prone and frustrating parts of .NET development.

HACK

#63

Examine the IL Generated by Your Code Hack #63

Use ILDASM to unearth insight into what your code is doing under the hood.

Microsoft’s .NET platform is in large part built upon the common interme-

diate language (CIL, MSIL, or IL for short).

Hold on. Three abbreviations? What’s the deal with that?

CIL stands for Common Intermediate Language and is the

standard created by Microsoft and certified by numerous

parties. MSIL stands for Microsoft Intermediate Language

and is Microsoft’s implementation of the CIL standard. IL

stands for Intermediate Language and is used by many as a

catchall term for whatever form of Intermediate Language

you happen to be discussing ...