Registration-Free COM from ASP.NET?

Windows allows use of a COM object without having to register the COM dll.

The mechanism is to include a "dependent assembly" in the application's manifest:

MyProgram.exe.manifest

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
  <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="myapp.exe" version="1.2.3.4" />
  <dependency>
    <dependentAssembly>
      <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Contoso.Frobber" version="5.1.81.4" />
    </dependentAssembly>
  </dependency>
</assembly>

And then your folder contains:

• MyProgram.exe
• MyProgram.exe.manifest (if you're using an external manifest; could also be embedded at RT_MANIFEST resource)
• Contoso.Frobber.manifest (the COM DLL manifest)
• confrob.dll (the dll containing the COM classes we want to use)

with the COM dll's assembly manifest containing:

Contoso.Frobber.manifest

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">

   <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Contoso.Frobber" version="1.0.0.0" />

   <file name = "confrob.dll">

      <comClass
            progid="Frobber.Gizmo"
            clsid="{00028C00-0000-0000-0000-000000000046}"
            description="Gizmo Frobber by Contoso"
            threadingModel = "Apartment" />

      <typelib 
            tlbid="{00028C01-0000-0000-0000-000000000046}"
            version="1.0" 
            helpdir=""/>
   </file>
</assembly>

Excellent. i can now use a COM object from a (native or .NET) executable without having to register the COM object.

Now i want to use a COM object from an ASP.NET web-site, without registering the COM object.

Possible?

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Bonus Chatter

Windows also allows an exe to call a .NET library, without having to install the .NET assembly into the Global Assembly Cache.

Recently we were handling a similar case that we needed to enable Side by Side COM(reg-free COM) in IIS hosted ASP.NET core application, and we made it like:

1. embed the manifest to an assembly(.dll)
2. use CreateActCtx() to activate the manifest.

This approach works fine and it's recommended by MS .NET Runtime Interop Team.