ILDASM: How does it work?

Question

While there are many examples of how to use ILDASM, I have yet to find any information as to how ILDASM populates its data. Can anyone please help shed some light on this for me?

Edit: I should mention that I am interested in doing this from C++.

Answer 1

It uses the common .NET runtime support interfaces to read data from assemblies, IMetaDataAssemblyImport for example.

Best way to get insight is to look at its source code. Which is available in the SSCLI20 distribution. After you installed it, navigate to the clr/src/ildasm subdirectory and have a look-see.