<div>
So here's something I wrote for automatically registering classes with AutoFac: 
 

<pre><code class="code-10 nolinks" id="code-20-42805633-1">public static class AutoFacRegistrationExtensions
{
 public static void RegisterComponents(this ContainerBuilder builder, Assembly rootAssembly)
 {
 HashSet&lt;string&gt; visitedAssemblies = new HashSet&lt;string&gt;();
 Uri codeBaseUri = new Uri(rootAssembly.CodeBase);
 string applicationDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(codeBaseUri.LocalPath);
 AppDomain tempDomain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(string.Empty, new Evidence(), applicationDirectory, null, true);

 RecursiveLoad(tempDomain, visitedAssemblies, builder, rootAssembly.GetName());

 AppDomain.Unload(tempDomain);
 }

 private static void RecursiveLoad(AppDomain domain, HashSet&lt;string&gt; visitedAssemblies, ContainerBuilder builder, AssemblyName name)
 {
 string assemblyName = name.FullName;

 if (!visitedAssemblies.Contains(name.ToString()))
 {
 try
 {
 Assembly loadedAssembly = domain.Load(name);
 IEnumerable&lt;Attribute&gt; dependencyInjectionHookAttributes = loadedAssembly.GetCustomAttributes&lt;DependencyInjectionHookAttribute&gt;();

 if (dependencyInjectionHookAttributes.Any())
 {
 builder.RegisterAssemblyTypes(loadedAssembly).AsImplementedInterfaces();
 }

 visitedAssemblies.Add(name.ToString());

 foreach (AssemblyName referencedAssemblyName in loadedAssembly.GetReferencedAssemblies())
 {
 RecursiveLoad(domain, visitedAssemblies, builder, referencedAssemblyName);
 }
 }
 catch (IOException e)
 {
 Console.Error.WriteLine(e.ToString());
 }
 }
 }
}
</code></pre>
 
You can see that I pass the top-level assembly into the recursive method RecursiveLoad. I first check that I am not inspecting something that I've already looked at. This is to prevent reference check loops. After that, I loop over that assemblies references, and I pass each of those assemblies into the recursive method. 
 
The reason I am using a temporary app domain--which you may not need--is because I want to load every assembly into memory in order to inspect its referenced assemblies. Once you load an assembly into an app domain, that assembly cannot be unloaded. Only an app domain can be unloaded. I am doing this solely for the purpose of dynamically registering things with AutoFac, and if I don't end up using a particular library (for some odd reason), I don't want to have that assembly sitting in memory unused just because I loaded it for registration purposes.
</div>

Developer

it_saige

<div>
Maybe something like:
<pre><code class="code-10 nolinks" id="code-20-42805648-1">static class Extensions
{
 public static IEnumerable&lt;Assembly&gt; GetAllReferenceAssemblies(this Assembly source)
 {
 var results = new List&lt;Assembly&gt;();
 results.Add(source);
 foreach (var name in source.GetReferencedAssemblies())
 {
 Assembly loaded = Assembly.Load(name);
 if (!loaded.GlobalAssemblyCache)
 {
 results.AddRange(loaded.GetAllReferenceAssemblies());
 }
 }
 return results.Distinct();
 }
}
</code></pre>
Proof of concept -
<pre><code class="code-10 nolinks" id="code-20-42805648-2">using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;

namespace EE_Q29136943
{
 class Program
 {
 static void Main(string[] args)
 {
 foreach (var assembly in Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetAllReferenceAssemblies())
 {
 Console.WriteLine(assembly.FullName);
 }
 Console.ReadLine();
 }
 }

 static class Extensions
 {
 public static IEnumerable&lt;Assembly&gt; GetAllReferenceAssemblies(this Assembly source)
 {
 var results = new List&lt;Assembly&gt;();
 results.Add(source);
 foreach (var name in source.GetReferencedAssemblies())
 {
 Assembly loaded = Assembly.Load(name);
 if (!loaded.GlobalAssemblyCache)
 {
 results.AddRange(loaded.GetAllReferenceAssemblies());
 }
 }
 return results.Distinct();
 }
 }
}
</code></pre>
Produces the following output -<a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2019/02_w08/1413073/Capture.PNG" target="_blank" title="Capture.PNG (5 KB)"><img alt="Capture.PNG" class="file-block lazyload" style="max-width: 572px;" data-src="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2019/02_w08/1413073/Capture.PNG" /></a>-saige-
</div>

Capture.PNG

<div>
Good to know Kaufmed... &nbsp;;) 
 
-saige-
</div>

<div>
@it_saige 
 
I think your code will have the same problem that I ran into with the looping references. This is why I am using the HashSet. 
 
Also, I think your use of the GlobalAssemblyCache property is an attempt to check if the assembly is a part of the Framework. That's not going to be 100% reliable since any assembly can be registered with the GAC. Consensus on the Internet seems to be to check the public key token value, which is itself probably not 100% reliable.
</div>

Senior Software Developer

Russ Suter

<div>
Very helpful, both of you. Thanks much!
</div>

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
I have a simple enough line of code: 

<pre><code class="code-1 nolinks" id="code-10-29136943-1">AssemblyName[] referencedAssemblies = Assembly.LoadFile(@&quot;C:\Program Files (x86)\MyTestApplication\test.dll&quot;).GetReferencedAssemblies();
</code></pre>
This returns a valid list of referenced assemblies but I need to go deeper. I need to get all the referenced assemblies of the referenced assemblies (excluding GAC assemblies if possible) but I don't have a full path of the referenced assemblies to load their references. How do I recursively get assembly references like this?
</div>
</div>

I have a simple enough line of code:
(CODE)
This returns a valid list of referenced assemblies but I need to go deeper. I need to get all the referenced assemblies of the referenced assemblies (excluding GAC assemblies if possible) but I don't have a full path of the referenced assemblies to load their references. How do I recursively get assembly references like this?

Recursively obtain assembly references

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