<assemblyIdentity> Element for <runtime>

Article
05/25/2022

Contains identifying information about the assembly.

<configuration>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity>

Syntax

   <assemblyIdentity
name="assembly name"  
publicKeyToken="public key token"  
culture="assembly culture"/>

Attributes and Elements

The following sections describe attributes, child elements, and parent elements.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
`name`	Required attribute. The name of the assembly
`culture`	Optional attribute. A string that specifies the language and country/region of the assembly.
`publicKeyToken`	Optional attribute. A hexadecimal value that specifies the strong name of the assembly.
`processorArchitecture`	Optional attribute. One of the values "x86", "amd64", "msil", or "ia64", specifying the processor architecture for an assembly that contains processor-specific code. The values are not case-sensitive. If the attribute is assigned any other value, the entire `<assemblyIdentity>` element is ignored. See ProcessorArchitecture.

processorArchitecture Attribute

Value	Description
`amd64`	AMD x86-64 architecture only.
`ia64`	Intel Itanium architecture only.
`msil`	Neutral with respect to processor and bits-per-word.
`x86`	A 32-bit x86 processor, either native or in the Windows on Windows (WOW) environment on a 64-bit platform.

Child Elements

None.

Parent Elements

Element	Description
`assemblyBinding`	Contains information about assembly version redirection and the locations of assemblies.
`configuration`	The root element in every configuration file used by the common language runtime and .NET Framework applications.
`dependentAssembly`	Encapsulates binding policy and assembly location for each assembly. Use one `<dependentAssembly>` element for each assembly.
`runtime`	Contains information about assembly binding and garbage collection.

Remarks

Every <dependentAssembly> element must have one <assemblyIdentity> child element.

If the processorArchitecture attribute is present, the <assemblyIdentity> element applies only to the assembly with the corresponding processor architecture. If the processorArchitecture attribute is not present, the <assemblyIdentity> element can apply to an assembly with any processor architecture.

The following example shows a configuration file for two assemblies with the same name that target two different processor architectures, and whose versions have not been maintained in synch. When the application executes on the x86 platform, the first <assemblyIdentity> element applies and the other is ignored. If the application executes on a platform other than x86 or ia64, both are ignored.

<configuration>  
   <runtime>  
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">  
         <dependentAssembly>  
            <assemblyIdentity name="MyAssembly"  
                  publicKeyToken="14a739be0244c389"  
                  culture="neutral"  
                  processorArchitecture="x86" />  
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion= "1.0.0.0"
                  newVersion="1.1.0.0" />  
         </dependentAssembly>  
         <dependentAssembly>  
            <assemblyIdentity name="MyAssembly"  
                  publicKeyToken="14a739be0244c389"  
                  culture="neutral"
                  processorArchitecture="ia64" />  
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0"
                  newVersion="2.0.0.0" />  
         </dependentAssembly>  
      </assemblyBinding>  
   </runtime>  
</configuration>

If a configuration file contains an <assemblyIdentity> element with no processorArchitecture attribute, and does not contain an element that matches the platform, the element without the processorArchitecture attribute is used.

Example

The following example shows how to provide information about an assembly.

<configuration>  
   <runtime>  
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">  
         <dependentAssembly>  
            <assemblyIdentity name="myAssembly"  
                              publicKeyToken="32ab4ba45e0a69a1"  
                              culture="neutral" />  
            <!--Redirection and codeBase policy for myAssembly.-->  
         </dependentAssembly>  
      </assemblyBinding>  
   </runtime>  
</configuration>