Specify assembly for namespace

Question

Is there anyway to specify the assembly along with the namespace in C#? For instance, if you reference both `PresentationFramework.Aero` and `PresentationFramework.Luna` in a project you might notice that both of them share the same controls in the same namespace but with different implementation. Take `ButtonChrome` for example. It exists in both assemblies under the namespace `Microsoft.Windows.Themes`. In XAML you include the assembly along with the namespace so here it's no problem ``` xmlns:aeroTheme="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Windows.Themes;assembly=PresentationFramework.Aero" xmlns:lunaTheme="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Windows.Themes;assembly=PresentationFramework.Luna" ``` But in C# code behind I can't find anyway to create an instance of `ButtonChrome` in `PresentationFramework.Aero`. The following code gives me error CS0433 when compiling ``` using Microsoft.Windows.Themes; // ... ButtonChrome buttonChrome = new ButtonChro…

Accepted Answer

You need to specify an alias for the assembly reference and then import via the alias:

```
extern alias thealias;
```

See the properties window for the references.

Suppose you alias the aero assembly as "aero" and the luna assembly as "luna". You could then work with both types within the same file as follows:

```
extern alias aero;
extern alias luna;

using lunatheme=luna::Microsoft.Windows.Themes;
using aerotheme=aero::Microsoft.Windows.Themes;

...

var lunaButtonChrome = new lunatheme.ButtonChrome();
var aeroButtonChrome = new aerotheme.ButtonChrome();
```

See extern alias for more info.

Specify assembly for namespace

Solution

Problem