Loading Razor Class Libraries as plugins

Question

When using Razor Class Libraries with ASP.net core 2.1, if I add reference to the class library, it loads controllers, and views as expected. But the question is, how can I load this modules dynamically at runtime? I want to put modules at directory, which are not referenced at design time, and load them at the start up of the app. I tried to use Application Parts. But that way, controllers are loaded, but views are not discovered.

Answer 1

I had completely forgot about CompiledRazorAssemblyPart.

What we need to do is:

services.AddMvc()
.SetCompatibilityVersion(CompatibilityVersion.Version_2_1)
.ConfigureApplicationPartManager(ConfigureApplicationParts);

and configure the parts like this

    private void ConfigureApplicationParts(ApplicationPartManager apm)
    {
        var rootPath = HostingEnvironment.ContentRootPath;
        var pluginsPath = Path.Combine(rootPath, "Plugins");

        var assemblyFiles = Directory.GetFiles(pluginsPath, "*.dll", SearchOption.AllDirectories);
        foreach (var assemblyFile in assemblyFiles)
        {
            try
            {
                var assembly = Assembly.LoadFile(assemblyFile);
                if (assemblyFile.EndsWith(".Views.dll"))
                    apm.ApplicationParts.Add(new CompiledRazorAssemblyPart(assembly));
                else
                    apm.ApplicationParts.Add(new AssemblyPart(assembly));
            }
            catch (Exception e) { }
        }
    }