Managed Extensibility Framework

Managed Extensibility Framework
Developer(s)Microsoft
Stable release
V1 in .NET Framework 4.0 / April 12, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-04-12)
Preview release
V2 Preview 5 / December 19, 2011; 12 years ago (2011-12-19)
Repositorygithub.com/MicrosoftArchive/mef
Written in.NET Languages
Operating systemWindows
Platform.NET Framework
TypeWeb application framework
LicenseMIT License[1]
Websitedocs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/mef/

Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) is a component of .NET Framework 4.0 aiming to create lightweight, extensible applications. It aims to allow .NET application developers to discover and use extensions with no configuration required. It also aims to let extension developers encapsulate code easily and avoid fragile hard dependencies. Furthermore, it aims to allow extensions to be reused across applications.[2] MEF was introduced as a part of .NET 4.0[3] and Silverlight 4. It was later improved with the release of .NET 4.5 by adding support for generic types and the introduction of a convention-based extension model.[4]

  1. ^ "MEF". GitHub. 15 October 2021.
  2. ^ Kanjilal, Joydip (7 July 2016). "How to work with the Managed Extensibility Framework in C#". InfoWorld. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  3. ^ Pronschinske, Mitch (12 April 2010). "What's New in VS2010 and .Net 4?". DZone. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  4. ^ Vogel, Eric (12 February 2010). "Managed Extensibility Framework Improvements in .NET 4.5". VisualStudio Magazine. Retrieved 25 June 2022.