Defines the elements of a CLI module.

Classes

	Class	Description
	AssemblyEnvelope	Represents an assembly understood basically, internally, as a collection of modules (ModuleDeclaration) and, externally, as a collection of exported types.
	AssemblyLoadHelper	Helper class to load assemblies. Provides a "binding log" for our custom binder and appends this log in exception text.
	AssemblyManifestDeclaration	Represents an assembly manifest (Assembly).
	AssemblyRefDeclaration	Represents a reference to an external assembly (AssemblyRef).
	AssemblyResolveEventArgs	Arguments of the AssemblyResolve event.
	BindingException	Exception thrown when a binding exception occurs in PostSharp.
	CustomAttributeConstructorException	Wraps any exception thrown during the construction of a custom attribute runtime instance.
	CustomAttributeDeclaration	Represents a custom attribute (CustomAttribute).
	DataSectionDeclaration	Represents a data section, where initial values of fieds are stored.
	Declaration	Base type for all declarations of a module.
	DeclarationCache	Caches some frequently-used declarations or constructions with lazy loading.
	Domain	A domain is a scope, i.e. a context in which external references are resolved. A domain contains assemblies.
	Element	Represents an element of a tree structure.
	EventDeclaration	Represents an event (Event).
	ExceptionHandler	Represents an exception handler.
	ExportedTypeDeclaration	Represents a type exported by the current assembly but not defined in the current module.
	FieldDefDeclaration	Represents a field definition (FieldDef).
	FieldRefDeclaration	Represents a reference to a field of a type defined in an external assembly(MemberRef).
	GenericParameterDeclaration	Represents a generic parameter (GenericParam).
	Instruction	Gives read-only access to the current instruction of an InstructionReader.
	InstructionBlock	A single node of the hierarchical structure of a method body.
	InstructionReader	Reads a stream of binary IL instructions and debugging sequence points.
	InstructionReaderBookmark	Bookmark for the InstructionReader class.
	InstructionSequence	Represents a sequence of instructions without branches, i.e. the control flow necessarly begins at the beginning of the sequence and ends at the end of the sequence.
	InstructionWriter	writer a linear stream of instructions into an InstructionSequence.
	LocalVariableDeclaration	Represents a local variable. Local variables are owned by method bodies (MethodBodyDeclaration).
	LocalVariableSymbol	Assigns a name to a local variable LocalVariableDeclaration. Local variable symbols belong to an InstructionBlock, which is in the current case the lexical scope of the variable.
	ManifestFileDeclaration	Represents a file reference (File).
	ManifestResourceDeclaration	Represents a resource referenced by the assembly (ManifestResource).
	MarshalType	Marshal types. Determines how fields and parameters are marshalled during PInvoke.
	MemberRefDeclaration	Represents a reference to a field or method (MemberRef). This type is the base of FieldRefDeclaration and MethodRefDeclaration.
	MemberValuePair	Represents the fact that a member is assigned a value.
	MetadataDeclaration	Base class for all declarations represented in the metadata tables. Metadata declarations have a token (MetadataToken) and may have custom attributes (CustomAttributeDeclaration).
	MetadataDeclarationTables	Exposes the metadata tables.
	MethodBodyDeclaration	Represents the IL body of a method.
	MethodDefDeclaration	Represents a method definition (MethodDef).
	MethodGroupDeclaration	Implements the functionalities that are common to PropertyDeclaration and EventDeclaration, which are both lexical collections of method semantics (MethodSemanticDeclaration).
	MethodRefDeclaration	Represents a method reference.
	MethodSemanticDeclaration	Represents a method semantic (MethodSemantic), i.e. the association of a method and a role in a collection (PropertyDeclaration or EventDeclaration).
	MethodSignature	Represents a method signature, which specifies primarly a calling convention and the type of parameters.
	MethodSpecDeclaration	Represents a method specification (MethodSpec), i.e. the construction of a concrete generic method.
	ModuleDeclaration	Represents a module (Module).
	ModuleRefDeclaration	Represents a reference to another module in the same assembly (ModuleRef).
	NamedDeclaration	Extends the MetadataDeclaration class with a Name property.
	OpCodeDictionary<(Of <(T>)>)	Efficient implementation of a dictionary taking an OpCodeNumber as the key type.
	OpCodeMap	Maps OpCodeNumber to OpCode and provides the various properties of opcodes.
	ParameterDeclaration	Represents a method parameter (ParamDef).
	PermissionDeclaration	Represents a permission attribute.
	PermissionSetDeclaration	Represents a permission set (Permission).
	PInvokeMap	Maps a method declaration to an external unmanaged method.
	PlatformInfo	Contains the characteristics of a platform, typically the target platform of the module.
	PropertyDeclaration	Represents a property (Property).
	RawUnmanagedResource	Unmanaged resource given in raw form, as an array of bytes.
	SerializationType	Represents the type of a serialized value.
	SerializedValue	Represents a serialized value and stores enough information to serialize it back using the exact representation.
	StandaloneSignatureDeclaration	Represents a stand-alone signature (Signature).
	SymbolSequencePoint	Maps a point in IL instructions to location in source code.
	TypeDefDeclaration	Represents a type.
	TypeRefDeclaration	Represents a type reference (TypeRef).
	TypeSignature	Represents a type construction (pointer, array, generic type instance, intrinsic, ...).
	TypeSignatureCollection	Collection of types (IType).
	TypeSpecDeclaration	Represents a type specification (TypeSpec).
	UnmanagedResource	Abstract class representing an unmanaged (Windows) resource. The only current implementation is RawUnmanagedResource, but later versions may provide implementations for specific types of resources.

Structures

	Structure	Description
	GenericMap	Map generic arguments to their value.
	LiteralString	Encapsulates a read-only array of characters.
	MetadataToken	Encapsulates a metadata token, which unambigously identifies a MetadataDeclaration inside a ModuleDeclaration.
	UncompressedOpCode	Uncompressed opcode (i.e. an opcode with its operand).
	UnmanagedResourceName	Represents the name or the type of an UnmanagedResource, which can consist either in a string, either in an integer.

Interfaces

	Interface	Description
	IAssembly	Defines the semantics of an assembly (AssemblyRefDeclaration AssemblyEnvelope).
	IAssemblyName	Defines the semantics of an assembly name.
	ICustomAttributeInstance	Exposes the fact that a custom attribute (ICustomAttributeValue) is applied to an element (MetadataDeclaration).
	ICustomAttributeValue	Defines the semantics of a custom attribute value, i.e. basically a constructor, its arguments and other named arguments.
	IDeclaration	Exposes the semantics of a declaration, which is basically a module-scoped domain element.
	IElement	Defines the semantics of a domain element, which is basically a domain-rooted tree node.
	IField	Defines the semantics of a field (FieldDefDeclaration, FieldRefDeclaration).
	IGeneric	Exposes the common semantics to generic instances and generic definitions.
	IGenericDefinition	Exposes the semantics of a generic definition (i.e. a type or method having (unbound) generic parameters).
	IGenericInstance	Exposes the semantics of a generic instance (i.e. an instance of generic definition, with concretely specified generic, bound arguments).
	IGenericMethodDefinition	Declares the semantics of a generic method definition, i.e. a method that may have unbound generic parameter and method constructions (MethodSpecDeclaration).
	IGenericParameter	Defines the semantics of a generic parameter or argument.
	IManifestResourceImplementation	Defines the semantics that are common to all physical locations that can contain resources (ManifestResourceDeclaration).
	IMember	Defines the semantics of a type member (DeclaringType and Name properties).
	IMemberRefResolutionScope	Defines semantics of all classes declaring external fields or methods.
	IMetadataDeclaration	Defines the semantics of a metadata declaration, i.e. a declaration with a token.
	IMethod	Defines the functionalities that are common to all representations of a method (MethodDefDeclaration, MethodRefDeclaration, MethodSpecDeclaration).
	IMethodSignature	Exposes the semantics of a method signature.
	IModule	Defines the functionalities that are common to all representations of a module (ModuleDeclaration, ModuleRefDeclaration).
	IModuleScoped	Defines a Module property.
	INamedType	Defines the semantics of a type (IType) that can be named.
	IRemoveable	Defines the semantics of a declaration that can be removed from its parent.
	ISecurable	Defines semantics of declarations that can be secured by permission sets (TypeDefDeclaration, MethodDefDeclaration, AssemblyManifestDeclaration).
	IType	Defines the semantics of a type.
	ITypeContainer	Exposes the semantics of a declaration that can contain type definitions (ModuleDeclaration or TypeDefDeclaration).
	ITypeRefResolutionScope	Defines semantics of TypeRefDeclaration resolution scopes (TypeRefDeclaration, AssemblyRefDeclaration, ModuleDeclaration).
	ITypeSignature	Defines the functionalities that are common to all representations of a type (TypeDefDeclaration, TypeRefDeclaration, TypeSpecDeclaration, TypeSignature).
	IWeakReferenceable	Defines the semantics of declarations (TypeRefDeclaration and AssemblyRefDeclaration) that can be "weakly references".

Delegates

	Delegate	Description
	DeclarationCacheCallback	Specifies the method that is called by DeclarationCache when a content is requested.
	InstructionAction	Represents an action that performs an action on the current instruction of a specified InstructionReader.

Enumerations

	Enumeration	Description
	AssemblyRefAttributes	Options of assembly references (AssemblyRefDeclaration).
	BindingOptions	Determines how the binding methods behave when the requested object is not found.
	CallingConvention	Determines the calling convention of methods.
	GenericContextOptions	Options of the GetGenericContext(GenericContextOptions) method.
	GenericParameterKind	Enumerates the kind of classes accepting generic parameters.
	ImageAttributes	Attributes of a .NET PE module.
	InstructionPrefixes	Enumeration of IL prefixes.
	IntrinsicType	Enumeration of primitive types of the .NET runtime. This includes intrincic types.
	MemberKind	Enumerates the kinds of type members.
	MethodSemantics	Enumerates the method semantics.
	OpCodeNumber	Enumeration of all opcode numbers.
	PInvokeAttributes	P-Invoke attributes.
	ReflectionNameOptions	Options for the methods WriteReflectionTypeName(StringBuilder, ReflectionNameOptions) and WriteReflectionMethodName(StringBuilder, ReflectionNameOptions).
	StandaloneSignatureKind	Enumerates the kind of stand-alone signatures (StandaloneSignatureDeclaration).
	TokenType	Specifies the type of metadata token.
	TypeClassifications	Type classifications are predicate that applies on types.
	TypeNakingOptions	Determines the behavior of the GetNakedType(TypeNakingOptions) method.
	UnmanagedResourceType	Types of unmanaged resources (like Accelerator, Icon, ...).
	Visibility	Visibity of types and type members.

Remarks

A CLI module can be represented as a tree of elements whose root is ModuleDeclaration. Each tree leave derives from the Declaration class.

The most interesting is probably the following: the ModuleDeclaration contains types (TypeDefDeclaration), which contain methods, fields, properties and events. The MethodDefDeclaration has a Body()()() property, which contains the IL implementation of the method (MethodBodyDeclaration).

A method body is a tree of instruction blocks (InstructionBlock). Instruction blocks can be for instance protected blocks (try {..} blocks) or lexical scopes. Instruction blocks are composed of instruction sequences (InstructionSequence), which are streams of instructions with linear execution (without branching instructions inside).

Instruction sequences can be written thanks to an InstructionReader or written using an InstructionWriter.