Questions tagged [pia]

PIA: Primary Interop Assembly. A DLL distributed by the software manufacturer of a COM application having a programming interface that allows .NET to communicate ("interoperate") with the COM object libraries. In contrast to an IA (Interop Assembly) a PIA has been optimized to best reflect working with the native COM interface.

General information from the Microsoft documentation at https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa302338.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396

What is a PIA?

Like any other managed assembly, an interop assembly is a collection of types that are deployed, versioned, and configured as a single unit. However, unlike other managed assemblies, an interop assembly contains type definitions (not implementation) of types that have already been defined in COM. These type definitions allow managed applications to bind to the COM types at compile time and provide information to the common language runtime about how the types should be marshaled at run time.

While any number of interop assemblies may exist that describe a given COM type, only one interop assembly is labeled the PIA. The PIA contains the official description of the types as defined by the publisher of those types. The PIA may contain certain customizations that make the types easier to use from managed code. The PIA is always signed by the publisher of the original COM type.

Any interop assembly that is not provided by the publisher of the COM types is considered unofficial and should be avoided. Because the types defined in such an assembly are not to be signed by the publisher of the PIA, they are incompatible with the definitions provided in the PIA.

Why are PIAs important?

PIAs are important because they provide unique type identity. The PIA distinguishes the official type definitions from counterfeit definitions provided by other interop assemblies. Having a single type identity ensures type compatibility between applications that share the types defined in the PIA. Because the PIA is signed by its publisher and labeled with the PrimaryInteropAssembly attribute, it can be differentiated from other interop assemblies that define the same types.

How do I make a PIA for my COM type library?

In most cases, creating a PIA is easy. The Tlbimp (Type Library Importer) tool provided in the Microsoft® .NET Framework SDK is capable of creating an interop assembly from an existing type library. The /primary switch on Tlbimp is used to create a PIA. All PIAs must be signed by their publisher so the publisher key must also be supplied with the /keyfile switch.

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How to create an Excel application using PIA (2010, version 14.0) and target machine doesn't have MS Office client installed on it

I'm facing one issue, actually I need to create one application in C# using VS2012, .Net framework 4.5 which reads excel and do some operation, but the issue is target machine doesn't have MS Office client installed on it. And one restriction is I…
Geeky Ninja
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How to check whether Primary Interop Assemblies are installed or not?

Possible Duplicate: How to check if .net interoperability for excel is installed I am "using" Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel in my C# code. I want to use the code related to Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel only if PIA for Excel is installed on…
raghvendra
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Microsoft Office 2021 Interops not appearing in GAC folders

I am upgrading from office 2019 to office 2021 and the interop dlls located in the gac folder are not there anymore, have these been moved to a new location?
Morpheus
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AWS License type for Office if we use PIA in code

We used Word, Excel, PPT PIAs like Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel - Microsoft Excel 16.0 Object Library in our code to convert office file formats such as .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx to .pdf file format. As PIAs used, we understand office…
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PowerPoint Plugin - Error - HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component

I have a problem debugging a project in specific scenario. I'm writing a PowerPoint plugin and when using it with Office 365, it throws following exception PowerPointApplication_PresentationOpen - Exception: Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned…
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Why does my programme not work on other computers with respect to Excel printouts

I have created a programme using Visual Studio 2017 which utilises Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.dll. All work okay on my machine. I then compiled a run version which has been loaded on to a friends PC (He has Microsoft 365.) The programme works…
DaveTheGolfer
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Powershell hard crash on PIA event trigger

Seeing a weird problem with powershell, here's the code: [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialname("Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint") $ppt = New-Object Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.ApplicationClass Register-ObjectEvent -InputObject $ppt…
grivescorbett
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How to get Microsoft PIAs to be available references in Visual Studio for Excel on Office 365?

I have not done any programming for quite some time, so apologies if this is simple. I have had a look on several forums but haven't found quite what I am looking for. I have Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus with Excel Version 1902. The Office version…
LDH087
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Visual Studio 2017 C# project with Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word 2016/365 coded and 2010 production

I'm coding one of my first projects in Visual Studio 2017 using the Microsoft Office Interop Tools to basically open some Word files, extract some content and export it to an XML file. I know that on the target machine Office should be installed and…
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Is there any performance benefit to using .net 4's no-PIA feature?

I understand that there's a deployment benefit to no-PIA, but is there a performance benefit to having the types embedded in the assembly?
Suraj
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Install PIA for Windows Server 2012 R2

I installed Office 2007 on Windows Server 2012 R2. But failed to install PIA for office2007. That seems PIA for office2007 do not support Windows Server 2012. So for using PIA on Windows Server 2012 R2 , what is the version of PIA and Office should…
guokai
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PIA_INSTALL_FAIL during PeopleSoft Server Administration

I'm following the online installation example (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ElSGLkprkY) to install PeopleSoft with PeopleTools on Windows 7 with SQLServer 2008 R2. My PS and PT installation version differs from the online videos since I'm using…
morbac
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Microsoft Word component does not work

I need to use a .NET application with Microsoft Office 2007. The application works on my machine but not on a Windows server 2012 machine, because the Open() method does not work. I made the following steps: 1) compile the application on my…
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Where can I find MS ActiveX Data Object (ADOR) Primary Interop Assembly (PIA)?

I'm trying to generate a Primary Interop Assembly for one of my projects that references Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects (MDAC 2.8). Adding this library through the References dialog box in Visual Studio adds the Interop.ADOR.dll file to the bin…
jehuty
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"COM object that has been separated from its underlying RCW cannot be used"

I have a little function in my asp / C# site which exports some data through excel using PIA. After some research along days about how to use properly all of this, sometimes I'm getting this error: COM object that has been separated from its…
Mortuk
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