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Referencing Other Assemblies in Scripting Solutions

The Microsoft .NET Framework class library provides the script developer with a powerful set of tools for implementing custom functionality in Integration Services packages. The Script task and the Script component can also use custom managed assemblies.

Note

To enable your packages to use the objects and methods from a Web service, use the Add Web Reference command available in MicrosoftVisual Studio Tools for Applications (VSTA). In earlier versions of Integration Services, you had to generate a proxy class to use a Web service.

Using a Managed Assembly

For Integration Services to find a managed assembly at design time, you must do the following steps:

  1. Store the managed assembly in any folder on your computer.

    Note

    In earlier versions of Integration Services, you could only add a reference to a managed assembly that was stored in the %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\vx.x.xxxxx folder or the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\SDK\Assemblies folder.

  2. Add a reference to the managed assembly.

    To add the reference, in VSTA, in the Add Reference dialog box, on the Browse tab, locate and add the managed assembly.

For Integration Services to find the managed assembly at run time, you must do the following steps:

  1. Sign the managed assembly with a strong name.

  2. Install the assembly in the global assembly cache on the computer on which the package is run.

    For more information, see Building, Deploying, and Debugging Custom Objects.

Using the Microsoft .NET Framework Class Library

The Script task and the Script component can take advantage of all the other objects and functionality exposed by the .NET Framework class library. For example, by using the .NET Framework, you can retrieve information about your environment and interact with the computer that is running the package.

This list describes several of the more frequently used .NET Framework classes:

  • System.Data   Contains the ADO.NET architecture.

  • System.IO   Provides an interface to the file system and streams.

  • System.Windows.Forms   Provides form creation.

  • System.Text.RegularExpressions   Provides classes for working with regular expressions.

  • System.Environment   Returns information about the local computer, the current user, and computer and user settings.

  • System.Net   Provides network communications.

  • System.DirectoryServices   Exposes Active Directory.

  • System.Drawing   Provides extensive image manipulation libraries.

  • System.Threading   Enables multithreaded programming.

For more information about the .NET Framework, see the MSDN Library.

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