clr - Module initializers in C#

Question

Module initializers are a feature of the CLR that are not directly available in C# or VB.NET. They are global static methods named .cctor that are guaranteed to run before any other code (type initializers, static constructors) in an assembly are executed. I recently wanted to use this in a project and hacked together my own solution (console program/msbuild task) using Mono.Cecil, but I was wondering:

1. Is there any way to trick the C# compiler into emitting module intializers? Any attributes (e.g. CompilerGenerated, SpecialName) or other trickery that could be used?

2. Do the C# / VB.NET ever emit these initializers themselves for some purpose? From what I've seen they are used by managed C++ for some interop purposes, but I couldn't find any reference to them being used for other purposes. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Check out the module initializer addon of the awesome opensource IL-Weaver project "fody", written by Simon Cropp: https://github.com/fody/moduleinit

It allows you to specify a method which will be translated into an assembly initializer by fody:

public static class ModuleInitializer
{
    public static void Initialize()
    {
        //Init code
    }
}

gets this:

static <Module>()
{
    ModuleInitializer.Initialize();
}