Inheritence in C# and referencing a dll containing the base class
.net, c#, reference
Solution
This completely breaks the encapsulation, and i am not sure why this is needed (since B.DLL references A.DLL).
I don't see how it "completely breaks the encapsulation".
In order to perform member resolution, the compiler needs to know what's in `BaseClass`. Therefore to compile C.dll, you need references to both A.dll and B.dll. When someone is writing code accessing an instance of `DerivedClass`, they need to know what `BaseClass` supports, as it's likely to be a super-set of what `DerivedClass` itself overrides.
Even if you don't like it, that's just the way it is. If you don't want A.dll to be required at compile-time you could use composition instead of inheritance - but you'll still need A.dll at execution-time anyway.
Problem
I have a scenario where the compiler is complaining that i am missing a needed reference. I have 3 assemblies: A.DLL - public class BaseClass B.DLL (References A.DLL) - public class DerivedClass : BaseClass C.DLL var derived = new DerivedClass(); In C.DLL i am only referencing B.DLL (i need access to DerivedClass only). The compiler gives an error, saying i need to also reference A.DLL This completely breaks the encapsulation, and i am not sure why this is needed (since B.DLL references A.DLL). EDIT: Bad choice of words on "breaking encapsulation". My intention was this causes what seems to be an additional compile-time constraint on this project (C.DLL) since i am only instantiating types from B.DLL, and not from A.DLL. I would want this compile-time requirement to be removed, mostly because B and C sit in the same solution, but A does not.