MetadataReader Class
Definition
Important
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Reads metadata as defined by the ECMA 335 CLI specification.
public ref class MetadataReader sealedpublic sealed class MetadataReadertype MetadataReader = classPublic NotInheritable Class MetadataReader- Inheritance
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MetadataReader
Examples
This example shows how to create MetadataReader for an assembly and read all type definitions from it:
using var fs = new FileStream("Example.dll", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite);
using var peReader = new PEReader(fs);
MetadataReader mr = peReader.GetMetadataReader();
foreach (TypeDefinitionHandle tdefh in mr.TypeDefinitions)
{
TypeDefinition tdef = mr.GetTypeDefinition(tdefh);
string ns = mr.GetString(tdef.Namespace);
string name = mr.GetString(tdef.Name);
Console.WriteLine($"{ns}.{name}");
}
Remarks
MetadataReader reads the contents of tables and heaps from the specified CLI metadata. It operates low-level constructs such as type and method definitions. For a higher level API to inspect the contents of assemblies using reflection constructs, see MetadataLoadContext.
You can use constructors, such as MetadataReader(Byte*, Int32), to create an instance of MetadataReader for a given memory location. To read metadata from the Portable Executable assembly file, create PEReader and use the GetMetadataReader(PEReader) extension method.
The format of CLI metadata is defined by the ECMA-335 specification. For more information, see Standard ECMA-335 - Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) on the Ecma International Web site.
Constructors
| MetadataReader(Byte*, Int32) |
Initializes a new instance of the MetadataReader class from the metadata stored at the given memory location. |
| MetadataReader(Byte*, Int32, MetadataReaderOptions) |
Initializes a new instance of the MetadataReader class from the metadata stored at the given memory location. |
| MetadataReader(Byte*, Int32, MetadataReaderOptions, MetadataStringDecoder) |
Initializes a new instance of the MetadataReader class from the metadata stored at the given memory location. |
Properties
| AssemblyFiles | |
| AssemblyReferences | |
| CustomAttributes | |
| CustomDebugInformation | |
| DebugMetadataHeader |
Gets the information decoded from #Pdb stream, or |
| DeclarativeSecurityAttributes | |
| Documents | |
| EventDefinitions | |
| ExportedTypes | |
| FieldDefinitions | |
| ImportScopes | |
| IsAssembly |
Gets a value that indicates whether the metadata represents an assembly. |
| LocalConstants | |
| LocalScopes | |
| LocalVariables | |
| ManifestResources | |
| MemberReferences | |
| MetadataKind |
Gets the metadata kind. |
| MetadataLength |
Gets the length of the underlying data. |
| MetadataPointer |
Gets the pointer to the underlying data. |
| MetadataVersion |
Gets the version string read from metadata header. |
| MethodDebugInformation | |
| MethodDefinitions | |
| Options |
Gets the MetadataReaderOptions passed to the constructor. |
| PropertyDefinitions | |
| StringComparer |
Gets the comparer used to compare strings stored in metadata. |
| TypeDefinitions | |
| TypeReferences | |
| UTF8Decoder |
Gets the decoder used by the reader to produce string instances from UTF8-encoded byte sequences. |
Methods
Extension Methods
| GetEditAndContinueLogEntries(MetadataReader) |
Enumerates entries of EnC log. |
| GetEditAndContinueMapEntries(MetadataReader) |
Enumerates entries of EnC map. |
| GetHeapMetadataOffset(MetadataReader, HeapIndex) |
Returns the offset from the start of metadata to the specified heap. |
| GetHeapSize(MetadataReader, HeapIndex) |
Returns the size of the specified heap. |
| GetNextHandle(MetadataReader, BlobHandle) |
Returns the handle to the Blob that follows the given one in the Blob heap or a nil handle if it is the last one. |
| GetNextHandle(MetadataReader, StringHandle) |
Returns the a handle to the string that follows the given one in the string heap, or a nil handle if it is the last one. |
| GetNextHandle(MetadataReader, UserStringHandle) |
Returns the a handle to the UserString that follows the given one in the UserString heap or a nil handle if it is the last one. |
| GetTableMetadataOffset(MetadataReader, TableIndex) |
Returns the offset from the start of metadata to the specified table. |
| GetTableRowCount(MetadataReader, TableIndex) |
Returns the number of rows in the specified table. |
| GetTableRowSize(MetadataReader, TableIndex) |
Returns the size of a row in the specified table. |
| GetTypesWithEvents(MetadataReader) |
Enumerate types that define one or more events. |
| GetTypesWithProperties(MetadataReader) |
Enumerate types that define one or more properties. |
| ResolveSignatureTypeKind(MetadataReader, EntityHandle, Byte) |
Given a type handle and a raw type kind found in a signature blob determines whether the target type is a value type or a reference type. |
| GetHeapOffset(MetadataReader, Handle) |
Gets the offset of metadata heap data that corresponds to the specified |
| GetRowNumber(MetadataReader, EntityHandle) |
Gets the row number of a metadata table entry that corresponds to the specified |
| GetToken(MetadataReader, EntityHandle) |
Gets the metadata token of the specified |
| GetToken(MetadataReader, Handle) |
Gets the metadata token of the specified |