Is it safe to edit .csproj file in Visual Studio 2019? - c#

We have a C# solution with multiple projects. We are managing version control for the solution using Github desktop, i.e., outside Visual Studio. After pushing new code to GitHub on a new machine with a fresh install of Visual Studio 2019 community edition, when I add a new file to the API project in the solution, I find that the file gets added to the .csproj file as follows, and the IDE never includes the file in the build, debugging, code completion etc.
<ItemGroup>
<Compile Remove="Controllers\TestController.cs" />
</ItemGroup>
I also see a + sign next to the TestController file in Solution Explorer. Hovering over the + sign brings up the message "pending add."
Why is this happening? And is it safe to just remove this itemgroup block in the .csproj file? Is there a way to prevent this behavior for new files added to the project?
Details
Context:
C# solution with 5 projects - (1) WebAPI, (2) Identity, (3) DataAccess, (4) Services, (5) Shared libraries. Editing using Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition.
Full timeline:
Solution pulled from GitHub.com using GitHub desktop
Files added to DataAccess and Services project using Visual Studio. Everything was fine
New branch created in GitHub desktop. New files added to the branch using GitHub desktop and pushed to GitHub.com using GitHub desktop
Code merged with parent branch by project administrator
Local solution synced to remote repository using GitHub desktop
--- alert: problem seen now ---
New file (TestController) added to the API project using Visual Studio. This file does not become part of the build. IDE does not highlight ApiControllers, ControllerBase etc, does not indicate errors for mis-spelt services, pressing F11 on ApiControllers gives error message "cannot navigate to the symbol under the caret."
Google search suggests checking on .csproj file. Here I find that the new file is within the 'compile remove' block.

Is it safe to edit .csproj file in Visual Studio 2019?
If you know what you're doing and you do it correctly, sure. Otherwise, not so much.
Why is this happening? And is it safe to just remove this itemgroup block in the .csproj file? Is there a way to prevent this behavior for new files added to the project?
It's happening because a file showed up in the project subdirectory that Visual Studio doesn't have as part of that project. So it adds the <Compile Remove... /> element to exclude it from being compiled as part of the project. It is safe to remove the element, but in my experience it just shows up again.
As a general rule, you should not be adding files to project directories managed by Visual Studio, except by using the Visual Studio UI itself. It's not clear from your post why you are doing this. The directory you apparently are adding files to is your project directory. It should only have files that do in fact belong to the project.
The best fix is to not try to add files to a project directory when they shouldn't be part of that project.
You may have an XY Problem. If you can post a new question in which you explain the scenario in which you've added the files that don't belong, and ask for guidance to accomplish whatever broader goal it is you have, but without running afoul of Visual Studio's rules, you may get a better answer than "don't do that".

I think I have identified the problem. I believe what happened is that once the local branch was pushed to remote, further changes to the project made using Visual Studio were not being integrated into the project, even though I was not formally tracking the project in Visual Studio.
git status showed that I was still on my initial local branch. I did the following to sync with the remote parent branch and then start a new local branch:
git stash
git checkout <parent_branch>
git pull
git checkout -b <new_branch>
This switched me to a new branch, and now I am able to edit the file as usual.

Related

How do I enable prediction when writing C# codes in Visual Studio Code? [duplicate]

I just downloaded Visual Studio Code and my Intellisense is not automatically working.
The two settings that control this seem to be set correctly:
"editor.quickSuggestions": true,
"editor.suggestOnTriggerCharacters": true,
I do get an Intellisense menu when i start typing and press "CTRL + Space", but this gives me a list of everything and not things specifically for my object.
What am i doing wrong?
If you have a workspace and for some reason have multiple folders you may need to 'help' omnisharp a bit. I initially had a big project and added a solution for it further on - ending up with TWO workspace folders (one to a startup project and one to the solution). After composing that setup I experienced only the first project to have intellisense working.
Solution to get intellisense working was to make sure omnisharp worked its way from the solution instead of the project:
Ctrl + Shift + p
Write "OmniSharp: Select Project" and press Enter.
Choose the solution workspace entry.
Inspiration gotten from 'swaner':
https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/issues/1889
Visual Studio Code's more advanced editing features (IntelliSense, refactoring tools, etc.) only work in C# files if you have a project.json file or *.sln file that VSCode is aware of. Open the folder (i.e. open the File menu and click Open Folder...) with the *.sln file or project.json and VSCode will attempt to find all project/solution files in the folder. If there are multiple projects, you may need to select one from the projects button on the right side of the status bar (bottom of the window).
From the VSCode website:
Selecting a project.json-file is opening a DNX-project and VSCode will load that project plus the referenced projects
Selecting a *.sln-file is opening a MSBuild-project. It will load the referenced *.csproj-projects and sibling or descendant project.json-files but no other project files that are referenced from the solution file.
Selecting a folder will make VSCode scan for *.sln and project.json files and VSCode will attempt to load them all.
If you are start your project with c#, then some time you haven't download extension.
Process by written
Ctrl + Shift + p.
Write "OmniSharp: Select Project" and press Enter.
Choose the solution workspace entry.
Then enable the c# extension for "OmniSharp : Project".
Process by image
Downgrading to 1.23.9 of the C# VS Code extension fixed the intellisense for me. So if nothing else is working for you, perhaps try installing an older version of the extension (doesn't necessarily have to be that exact one I mentioned). You can do this by selecting this option in VS Code:
As of the 0.5 version I have found that I need to close and re-open my working files to get some new intellisense information to start working for my own files. This usually happens after I have a file open that needs to use type information from another file I just created. Until I close and re-open them (within the editor) the intellisense doesn't always work.
Hopefully this is something that'll get fixed as the app matures.
Inorder to make the intelligence working, the Visual Studio Code extension OmniSharp should be there along with Mono. When you open a project/solution folder, the OmniSharp gets the project dependencies from either project.json or from the dotnet solution file (if the project/solution created with other versions of visual studio).
So, when you look at the omnisharp's output window after immediately opening the project/ solution folder, you may see the following lines
Starting OmniSharp server at 2017-9-18 09:26:44
Target: /Users/{username}/Source/{Your Solution Folder}/{Your Solution
file}.sln
OmniSharp server started wth Mono
Path: /Users/{username}/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode.csharp-1.12.1/.omnisharp/run
PID: 5808
post that, you may see couple of lines coming up like below,
[info]: OmniSharp.MSBuild.MSBuildProjectSystem
Update project: {Your Project1 Name}
[info]: OmniSharp.MSBuild.MSBuildProjectSystem
Update project: {Your Project2 Name}
....
they mean that your projects are getting recognised by OmniSharp Extension.
If you get any error message informing you about timeout, please get into the settings of the Visual Studio Code, and add a configuration override like the one below:
"omnisharp.projectLoadTimeout": 200
I know it is too long to wait for 200 seconds. But don't worry, this won't stop you anymore working with project files. But, remember that the IntelliSense will be automatically available once all the projects in the folder are successfully loaded.
Feel free to extend the Timeout setting since it will help you getting intellisense even-though you are not getting it immediately.
Here is another link with the same solution: https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode/issues/1585
Hope my information helps you! Enjoy your VSCode!
This case was for an existing project that was working fine before. Opened via the vs code "recent" history.
For dotnet core. I opened my project's *.csprog file, made no changes, and saved it via the vs code editor.
As soon as I saved, all of the intellisense stuff starting working again in my other files within that project.
Another troubleshooting strategy to try if none of the above works out is uninstalling Mono, which is unnecessary anyways if you're using .NET Core. I also experienced a sudden disappearance of Intellisense after pulling changes to one of our enterprise repos that included an upgrade from ASP.NET Core 2.0 to 2.1. Strangely, at the same time, Intellisense was working fine in another C# project repo running ASP.NET Core 2.2.
For the project in question, I was puzzled to see successful logs for each reboot of the Omnisharp server as well as perfectly clean builds and runs. The puzzlement increased as I compared these Omnisharp logs to those from the 2.2 project and found them effectively identical.
Upon uninstalling Mono, the one detail that changed is how Omnisharp started. Now it boots up from a shell script located at ~/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode.csharp-1.19.0/.omnisharp/1.32.18/run. Previously, Mono itself was booting the server from the executable at ~/.vscode/extensions/ms-vscode.csharp-1.19.0/.omnisharp/1.32.18/omnisharp/Omnisharp.exe.
Other troubleshooting I attempted in this instance though to no avail:
dotnet clean / Deleting bin and obj directories
Updating launch.json to point at the proper /bin/Debug/netcoreapp2.1 build
directory
Wiping my local nuget cache
Restarting Omnisharp
Uninstalling and reinstalling VS Code, as well as bumping back a version from 1.33.1 as the breakage coincided oddly with the March 2019 update
Uninstalling and reinstalling the C# VS Code extension, as well as bumping back a version from 1.19.0 given other users' reports of said version interfering with Intellisense for certain projects*
Adding a global.json file at project root to override default utilization of latest .NET Core SDK (mine was 2.2.105) and run instead using 2.1.302 in concert with the project's version
Wiping/rebuilding the project .sln file
Specs: VS Code 1.33.1, C# Extension 1.19.0, MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6.
*NB: As it turns out, in another .NET Core 2.1 project with the same issues in VS Code as described above, uninstalling Mono alone did not fix things. I also did wind up needing to bump back the C# extension to v. 1.18.0 to recover Intellisense. Weird.
The issue I had was OmniSharp was an older version. I set the flag to update to latest version in Settings.json file. This ensures the extension is always the latest version.
"omnisharp.path": "latest"
And restarted VS code. That fixed it for me.
Simply reinstall the extension and restart the VSCode/PC.
I use Task Manager and kill the Visual Studio Code process, then restart Visual Studio Code, the intellisense shows and fixed.
I've had some good experiences in C# with this extension so far:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jchannon.csharpextensions
This extension traverses up the folder tree to find the project.json or *.csproj and uses that as the parent folder to determine namespaces.
Try "Install Extension" from command Pallete - probably if C# intellisense is not there:
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/customization/colorizer
if intellisense in not working for react js or javascript or node js this solution will help for windows
uninistall type script by typing npm uninstall -g typescript
install specific version of type script that is 3.3 by typing npm install -g typescript#3.3
add the typescript location in vscode by navigating to file > Preferences > settings > here search for edit in setting.json then add this path "typescript.tsdk": "/Users/yourusename/AppData/Roaming/npm/node_modules/typescript/lib"
settings.json should look someting like this
{
"editor.suggestSelection": "first",
"vsintellicode.modify.editor.suggestSelection":"automaticallyOverrodeDefaultValue",
"typescript.tsdk": "/Users/yourusername/AppData/Roaming/npm/node_modules/typescript/lib"
}
I was able to fix this by changing the Api Compatibility Level from .Net Standard 2.0 to .NT 4.x. You can find this setting on Project Settings / Player.
After that, intellisense started working again.
This is because of C# extension issue.
Reinstall the extension will work.
https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/intellisense
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-dotnettools.csharp
I fixed this with a multiple project solution in .net5 / .net core 3.1 by
opening each project (not the sln folder) in VSCODE. This then prompts to add the resources/ .CSX? files to the project; enabling intellisense, per project. Finally close that window and reopen the solution folder and all works as expected.
See image
Add VSCode assets
Downgrading to 1.23.9 of C# for Visual Studio Code (powered by OmniSharp).
https://i.stack.imgur.com/VrdJl.png
After trying several things I looked at the OmniSharp logs only to realize that because I had two different sln files in my workspace. It had picked up the “other” one and thus wasn’t working. I deleted it, reopened vs code, and all is well again.
For me I had been working without internet for a long time. It had previously been working but then stopped. I closed+reopened VSCode with a stable wifi connection and the Output tab in VSCode popped up, displaying the the extensions were re-installing. After that it worked!
in my case , the extension wasn't enabled
I just had this happen (this being no code completion suggestions appearing). What resolved it for me was changing the VSCode Editor package in Unity to a previous version and then back to the current version.
For me, this was going from 1.2.0 to 1.1.3 and then back to 1.2.0. I believe removing and reinstalling 1.2.0 would have accomplished the same.
Window > Package Manager > Visual Studio Code Editor
I know this is probably the most obvious answer. But I had enough dealing with VS Code ridiculous bugs. You should be focusing on code, not the buggy IDE. Their documentation doesn't make it easy either to debug.
Steps for complete uninstallation:
Save your personalization files such as keybindings.json,
Just put it on GitHub or something so whenever you need have trouble with VS Code you simply just need to go to GitHub and copy-paste it.
Uninstall VS Code completely
When you uninstalled VS Code, it doesn't erase your extension files and some old settings. This is the cause of the re-installation ended up the same. Horrible move VS Code. For the list of the files that you must delete, you can check out this answer.
Go to their website and install the new one.
I hope this helps some people who are already had enough with the VS Code ridiculous bug.
In my case, the issue was not with VS Code settings. The error was due to a corrupted TEMP path configured in my PC's registry user profile environment settings.
I got this error from Help --> Toggle Developer Tools --> Console
The error was flagged in the console when I opened a new typescript file.
Unable to write file c:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Temp;C:\wamp64\bin\php\php5.6.25;C:\vufind-3.1.2\install.php\09cf49d8-af5b-42e9-8194-43f5b566be0f'
Obviously this path was corrupted. After updating the environment variables in registry settings, the VS code IntelliSense started working. Checking the console is a good start to find the root cause of this issue.
Earlier intellisense was working for Angular in VS-Code but for some reason (which I don't know) intellisense stopped working. I had extensions installed i.e. Angular Essentials and Angular Language Service etc. that were responsible for this intellisense and all that.
What I did?
I disabled the extensions, restarted VS Code and enabled them. It was all working fine as before.
If everything in VSCode is working ( No errors in output console, language server is working etc.) and built-in extensions are enabled. Still, if your IntelliSense is not working for normal .js files make sure variables are defined with a type identifier such as var d = new Date() or let d = new Date(). In my case, IntelliSense was not working for d = new Date() (No autocomplete for Date object 'd' APIs in this way) but started working fine when I specified a type before my variable names.
Download and install "Tool for Visual Studio 2019" as the C# extension under hood use the build tools: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/
In my case, I had an extension installed (Explorer Exclude) to help me focus and hide certain files that I don't regularly work with within the Explorer.
I so happened to have disabled viewing *.sln, *.csproj and *.vsconfig files and folders, which apparently prevents VSCode from even knowing the file is there in the first place. Disabling these specific rules solved the problem instantly.
Took me ages to figure out... The more you know.
I solved it by uninstalling all SDK's (not sure if this is needed)
and installed 4.7.1 developer pack
win 10, vscode 1.63.2, unity 2020.3.25f1
I fixed this by installing .NET Framework 4.7.1 Developer Pack:
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet-framework/net471

I don't have the whole project from git

I am new to git. I made a repo and added a friend of mine to also contribute. He pushes the changes. Then i pull them and when i open solution explorer in vs 2015 it shows up only the files he was working on, but not mine. I searched in the file explorer and my files ARE there. How to view them from vs?
It's likely that you simply don't have your files included in the appropriate *.csproj file for your project. This actually sometimes happens to me as well. If you just right-click on the appropriate parent folder(s) in VS and select "add existing", that usually is all you need to do.
Post back if that doesn't fix the issue.

How to explain the differences in these nested Visual Studio projects?

I am new to .Net and Visual Studio. In order to learn more, I decided to create a simple asp.Net application in my spare time. In Visual Studio I am trying to follow the same project structure as the application I support at work. I noticed that my work application has the following project structure
Development
|_services
|_RedSun.Onvia
|_various VS project folders (i.e. RedSun.Onvia.Core, RedSun.Onvia.Web, etc)
|_RedSun.Onvia.sln
|_RedSun.Onvia.v12.suo
Notice how the VS solution files are on the same level as the RedSun.Onvia solution folder. However when I create a basic empty project Visual Studio, it gives me the following structure...
Development
|_services
|_RedSun.Onvia
|_RedSun.Onvia.sln
|_RedSun.Onvia.v12.suo
Note the RedSun.Onvia.sln and RedSun.Onvia.v12.suo files are a directory deeper than the solution folder. When I tried moving files around manually with File Explorer to try and match the structure above I was unable to open the project in VS due to errors.
Can anyone please explain how I can get the same structure as shown in the first example?

How to programmatically update project references in a Visual Studio project

I have a file structure like the following:
- binaries
- binary1.dll
- dev
- <developer-name>
- a.csproj
-trunk
- a.csproj
Developers who need to work on a.csproj will create a branch in dev and they will work from there. Our projects need to have a reference to binary1.dll in the binaries directory.
If the reference is a relative path (the Visual Studio default) then the path will not work both for the project in trunk and the project in the developer's branch.
To work around this problem I thought of creating an environment variable and using that in the project file instead:
<Reference Include="binary1">
<HintPath>$(MY_ENV_VAR)\binary1.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
This works perfectly, but I wanted to help developers add references more easily, so I wrote a program that will convert relative paths that point to binary1.dll (for example, from the dev branch a.csproj it would change the path ../../binaries/binary1.dll to $(MY_ENV_VAR)\binary1.dll) but I have not figured out how to get that to work.
If I use a pre-build event, the project is already loaded into memory and the event return an error because it cannot write the project file.
Then I realized that I could override MSBuild targets, and attempted with the targets: BeforeCompiler, AfterCompiler, BeforeBuild, AfterBuild and in all of them the project is already locked.
Then I ran into this answer and I modified my code to call the executable in the GenerateApplicationManifest target, but that one doesn't seem to call the executable at all.
Some other ideas that I have been playing with are creating a new project that does the updating of the second project and have a link between them, but that would duplicate the number of projects.
I could also just change the depth of trunk, but that only hides the problem and doesn't really solve it. When developers create a branch inside their dev branch to work on different features or bugs then I have the same problem all over again.
There might also be another feature which fixes this in a more elegant way, but I haven't been able to find anything.
So my question: How do I get MS Build or pre-build events to modify a CS project?
I found a way to do this. The issue was that the Visual Studio process itself was locking the project, but Visual Studio could overwrite the file. I ended up modifying a.csproj to include:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<Exec Command="UpdateReferences.exe" /> <!-- This creates the $(ProjectPath).new file -->
<Move SourceFiles="$(ProjectPath).new" DestinationFiles="$(ProjectPath)" />
</Target>

Where to store solutions .sln file in Visual Studio?

I read few things regarding this issue but I'm still a bit confused so I will try to present my scenario and questions.
First of all I read that you shouldn't store your .sln file in the same folder as .csproj. The reason for this is that when you will try to add a new project it will be added above the directory with .sln file.
This is from Visual studio 2010 best practices: [Link]
Now I'm using VS 2013 so is this any different ? Because when I create a new project its root folder is placed exactly where the .sln file is.This is for all the projects created using New project... in Visual studio and later using Add new project.. clicking on solution in Visual Studio.
The reason I ask this is because I copied a project using this step by step [Link]
and everything is working great except the part with the .sln placing. To copy the project I delete the .sln of the first project and let visual studio create a new one. By default Visual studio tries to do that in the same directory as .csproj. So I go one directory above and place the .sln there. The problem is with adding a new project. It actually starts to behave as in the example from Visual Studio best practices book (creates new project one directory above).
I hope all of this is not too confusing. If so I can elaborate.
This is a very important topic since I will be doing this fairly often(copying projects) and I need this to work exactly as it should.
Cheers!
When you create a new project (File-->New-->Project) there is a check box Create directory for solution. Ensure that is checked to create a folder for your solution and a sub-folder for your project.
If you create a new project from scratch, you'll see how Visual Studio creates a project / solution by default:
Solution Folder
Solution.sln
Project1 Folder
Project1.csproj
Project2 Folder
Project2.csproj
etc

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