whoneeds - A different kind of dependency inspector

whoneeds.exe is a command line utility to report dependants on a .Net library. The main difference is in the approach, rather than opening an assembly and reporting all its dependencies, it scans all the assemblies in a folder printing all those depending upon a specified input pattern.

This small utility saved my life in a non trivial refactoring job, and I am sharing it in the hope it will be useful.

Compiling

Build the whoneeds project and copy the output whoneeds.exe to your favourite command line tools folder.

Usage

Enter a folder with .Net assemblies and invoke the command like this:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>whoneeds forms
aspnet_regsql => System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build.Tasks => System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build.VisualJSharp => System.Windows.Forms, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility.Data => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Compatibility => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.VisualBasic => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Configuration.Install => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Deployment => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Design => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Drawing.Design => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Messaging => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.ServiceProcess => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Web => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
System.Web.Mobile => System.Windows.Forms, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089

You can also use a RegExp:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319>whoneeds ^system.xml$
caspol => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
ComSvcConfig => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
DataSvcUtil => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
EdmGen => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build.Conversion.v4.0 => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build.Engine => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0 => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
Microsoft.Build.Utilities.v4.0 => System.Xml, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
^C

References

• .Net Regular Expressions Quick Reference