Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,594 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C++/CLI

How to sign C++/CLI assemblies with a strong name

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
5.00/5 (11 votes)
20 Apr 2009CPOL 66.8K   8   5
Learn how to sign C++/CLI assemblies with a strong name.

Introduction

If your application is signed with a strong name, Visual Studio will require you to sign every assembly you reference. Now, even if you are a .NET only developer, it happens sometimes that you have to deal with some kind of interop with C++/CLI DLLs. If both situations happen, you will find yourself in the need to sign a C++ assembly with a strong name.

To do so, you have to specify the key file you will use, at: Project-> Properties-> Configuration Properties-> Linker-> Advanced-> Key File. Something like this:

image

Don't try to sign the assembly with a .Pfx file. It won't work. To do so, you need a .SNK file (Strong Name Key). You can generate one with the SN.EXE tool, using:

sn.exe –k [directory]\[filename].snk

Where to find SN.EXE?

In the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK (usually c:\program files\microsoft .net\sdk\bin, or something similar). You can download the SDK from here.

Note: In order to install the SDK, you will also need the .NET Framework 1.1 installed. As it's a bit old, many people don't have it in their machines.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer (Senior)
Spain Spain
Inaki Ayucar is a Microsoft MVP in DirectX/XNA, and a software engineer involved in development since his first Spectrum 48k, in the year 1987. He is the founder and chief developer of The Simax Project (www.simaxvirt.com) and is very interested in DirectX/XNA, physics, game development, simulation, C++ and C#.

His blog is: http://graphicdna.blogspot.com

To contact Inaki: iayucar@simax.es

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Alessandro Ungaro3-Mar-13 12:41
Alessandro Ungaro3-Mar-13 12:41 
Shart and clear text and works very well

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.