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"Peek/Go to definition" jumps to partial declaration in a tab named as "xxx[from metadata][Read only]" [duplicate]

I have a C# project which contains references to assemblies in DLL format. I have the PDB information for these DLL files, contained in the same folder. When I press F12 on a referenced member, I want to go to the definition of the member. Instead, it gives me the metadata, which of course I don't want.
When VS is debugging, it does go to the source code if I single step into that method. But if I press F12 on that method, it still brings me to the metadata.
There is a similar question here, but it only applies to project references, and the accepted solution has nothing to do with my issue.
"Go To Definition" in Visual Studio only brings up the Metadata
To summarize:
Referenced project is a DLL
I have the PDB information
Single-stepping in debug-mode brings me to the source code
F12 brings me to metadata
I want F12 to bring me to the source code as debug does.
EDIT: Adding as a "Project" is not an option as it creates additional complexity as our solution file references about five other projects which are all under separate source control repositories.

In Visual Studio expand the References section, select the reference to your related project (the one that contains the source code you want to F12 into) right click on it and select "Remove".
Then add the reference back to the project by right clicking on References and selecting Add Reference, under the Projects tab (if your using VS 2012) select (or browse for) the project you want to add a reference to and then click the OK button.
This will rebuild the reference and you will be able to F12 into the referenced projects source code. You will need to do this with all the projects in your solutions that are having this issue.
I don't know why this happens but at least the solution to the problem is rather simple

If you have ReSharper installed, you should bring up ReSharper options, and look for External Sources. There you can specify the relevant options:

It appears that this issue has been solved in Visual Studio 2013. Having the PDB information in the same folder as the DLL is showing me the source code when I use Go To Definition. I do not have the Reflector extension installed.

Is the referenced DLL a project in your solution? I find that when I have the source code for the project, and it's in my solution, Visual Studio is able to link to this code much more easily. (without showing me meta data).
Also, be sure to add the reference by "Project" in the References popup.
This is generally what I do anyways when I have this problem
Hope this helps!
PS. PDB files are usually just for debugging (both locally and remote) and are not used for source code reading in the way you are attempting to use it. ("Go To Definition")

One solution to this issue is to use .NET Reflector, VS or VSPro edition. This program will modify Visual Studio to provide the required functionality.
http://www.reflector.net/
Unfortunately, it costs $135 to $195, which isn't an option for everybody.

Add the reference as a project instead of ..\bin\Debug\referenceFile.dll
That solved my issue

I also used add reference as a project and my problem has been resolved and it's working great. Actually I was stuck at this point from very long time and finally i resolved this issue.
References -> Add References -> Solution -> Projects -> Select reference

Trying to add a reference to my solution

I am a complete stranger to adding "custom" references to my projects, usually everything I need I can find in NuGet packages. Ive come across a problem and the solution I've found is to add the following reference to my project:
https://microsoftdwayneneed.codeplex.com/
Ive downloaded the source code, opened up the project in VS and hit build. I then went into the bin/Release folder and added the .dll for both Win32 and normal which I assume is any CPU.
The problem I faced earlier is now fixed, however now a new problem arised: I keep getting the message that the Microsoft Visual Studio XAML UI Designer has stopped working. The error it gives is a NullReferenceException and in the name is "dwayneneed" so I can only assume that I messed up adding the reference.
Can someone explain to me how to add references like the one above correctly to my solution.
The problem Im trying to solve for those wondering:
https://github.com/MahApps/MahApps.Metro/issues/488
the solution, see: https://github.com/MahApps/MahApps.Metro/wiki/FAQ

Do you mean adding a solution to the solution, like this.

Weird: C# Type or Namespace name could not be found - Builds successfully

I have a weird error showing up in my project when it is open in the VS2012 IDE. Everywhere where I make use of another referenced project it suddenly says "Type or Namespace name could not be found". And by "says", I mean it has the text underlined in red with the error when I hover over it. The intellisense doesn't work for that code. BUT (and here's the weird part), the errors do not show up in the error console and the project builds and runs fine.
I can even debug and step through the code and it works perfectly fine. So at runtime the project is referenced fine but at design time the IDE can't find it. This worked for the past 2 weeks, and only then suddenly went a little bonkers. It's really annoying because I am rubbish at coding without intellisense!
Has anybody ever seen anything like this or have any suggestions?

I had this. I referenced assemblies whose "Target Framework" were set to ".Net Framework 4" in the "Application" secion of the projects properties. I changed this to ".Net Framework 4.5" not just in the referenced assembly's project but also the project I was building and it worked. Give this a try.

I have found this is a known problem with VS2012. Check to see how you are building, 64 bit or 32 bit. It won't work with 64 bit but it will with 32 bit. It will say things are missing and design will not work, however the program will run fine. I have heard the new VS update that hasn't been released yet will fix it.

Manually delete all the references to the libraries of the other projects and re-add. Intellisense rebuilds whatever it needs at that point and doing this has helped me in the past.

Another source of this problem is a solution with multiple projects containing code for the same namespace. The compiler can handle this. Intellisense won’t.

Related to a couple other answers here, I had a "Data" project using a "Data" namespace. Built fine, but just started recently showing errors from intellisense (even though it continued building fine.) (VS 2015.)
I fixed this by changing my "Data" project and namespace to "MyCompany.Data".
Oddly, the problem didn't seem to show up until recently, but making the change did fix it. Presumably there was a conflict in namespace with another project or reference, which can build fine, but intellisense can't handle.
You can change this in the Application tab of Project properties. You can also open up an EDMX diagram, right click, choose model browser, choose the second collapsable item in the model browser tab, hit properties, and there you'll find the Namespace option for generated Entity Framework entities and contexts. (Similiarly, if you modify an Entity Framework Model's namespace, you might also need to change the related connection to match [in Web.Config for ASP.Net and MVC.])

Make sure that there is no class with the name same as Project default namespace.

make sure that you don't reference .net framework 4.5 projects in .net 4 projects!

Examine your .proj files in a text editor and make sure the paths to your references are correct.

This can also happen if you set the Build Action to "None" on the referenced file and forget about it.

I had the same problem, where it would build and run fine, it just would always show that error and I couldn't use intellisense with the class.
I actually used the automatic method of creating the class in a new file to resolve the issue, then just copied the code over from the real class. I deleted the old file, renamed the new file, and now it works.

Why can't I reference my class library?

I have a solution that contains a website and a class library in Visual Studio 2008.
I then have another web site project outside of the solution that needs to reference the class library. I right click the Bin folder or Project and select Add Reference, then select my Class Library Project, it adds the 15 or so DLLs that the class library needs to the websites bin folder, but none of the .cs files recognize the using statements.
using MyLibrary.MyFolder;
It says that it can't resolve it, and ReSharper just says it can be safely removed since it's not being used.
ReSharper can recognize that it needs the reference and suggests that it "Reference MyLibrary and use MyFolder". I'm not sure why it's suggesting I add a reference I already have. When I go with the suggestion, I get the error
"Failed to reference module. Probably, reference will produce circular dependencies between projects."
I've tried going to the websites property pages and removing all the references and re-adding them, but it gives the same errors. Any ideas why this isn't working?

Also, check that the new solution's projects run against a compatible framework to the project you're trying to include. I was trying to include a reference to a 4.0 project in a 3.5 project.

I found how to fix this issue (for me at least). Why it worked, I'm not sure, but it did. (I just tried against a second website that was having the same problem and the following solution worked for that as well).
I tried the normal cleaning of the projects and rebuilding, shutting down all my Visual Studio instances and restarting them, even tried restarting my computer.
What actually worked was opening up the project in Visual Studio, closing all the open tabs, and then shutting it down.
Before I had left the tabs open because I didn't think it mattered (and I hardly ever close the tabs I'm using).

One possibility is that the target .NET Framework version of the class library is higher than that of the project.

I had a similar problem, will all my references being buggered up by Resharper - The solution which worked for me is to clear the Resharper Cache and then restarting VS
tools->options->resharper->options-> general-> click the clear caches button and restart VS

I had a similar problems where VS would sometimes build and sometimes not. After some searching and attempts I discovered that I had an ambiguous reference to a class with the same name in different libraries ('FileManager'). The project that would not build were my Unit Tests that reference all modules in my solution. Enforcing the reference to a specific module sorted things out for me.
My point is: Rather than blaming ReSharper or VS, it may be a good idea to double check if there really isn't some kind of circular reference somehow. More than often, classes with the same names in different modules could cause confusion and is often a symptom of bad design (like in my case).

This sounds like a similar issue with ReSharper:
http://www.jetbrains.net/devnet/thread/275827
According to one user in the thread forcing a build fixes the issue (CTRL+Shift+B) after the first build..
Sounds like an issue with ReSharper specifically in their case.. Have you tried building regardless of the warnings and possible false errors?

Since they are both in the same solution, instead of adding a reference to the DLL, add a reference to the class library project itself (the Add Reference dialog will have a tab for this).
Ahh, it's a different solution. Missed that. How about you try instead of adding a reference to the project addding a reference to the compiled DLL of your class library. The Add Reference dialog has a Browse tab which does this.

After confirming the same version of asp.net was being used. I removed the project. cleaned the solution and re-added the project. this is what worked for me.

If you're referencing assemblies for projects that are in the same solution, add a Project reference (using the "Projects" tab) rather than browsing for the dll in the \bin\Debug (or \bin\Release) folder (using the "Browse" tab). See screen shot below. Only browse for the assembly/dll file if it's considered an external assembly.

I deleted *.csproj.user ( resharper file) of my project, then, close all tabs and reopen it. After that I was able to compile my project and there was no resharper warnings.

I had this problem. It took me ages to figure out. I had people over my shoulder to help. We rebuilt, cleaned and restarted Visual studio and this didn't fix it. We removed and re-added the references...
All to no avail.... Until!
The solution to my problem was that my class declaration was spelt incorrectly.
Before you start judging me harshly, allow me to explain why it wasn't stupid, and also why this mistake could be made by even the most intelligent of programmers.
Since the mistake was early on in the name, it wasn't appearing in the intellisense class listing when I began typing.
e.g.
Class name:
Message.cs
Declaration:
public class Massage
{
//code here
}
At a glance and in a small font, Massage looks identical to Message.
Typing M listed too many classes, so I typed e, which didn't appear in the mistyped version, which gave the impression that the class wasn't being picked up by the compiler.

I had a similar issue in VS 2010, when creating a test project for an MVC 2 application.
The symptoms were identical.
The message from ReSharper was somewhat misleading. For a moment I completely ignored ReSharper and did it the "manual VS way":
I cleaned the solution.
I manually added the reference to the MVC project.
I manually added the using directives.
ctrl-shift-b
At this stage I got a compilation error: I should have referenced the System.Web.Mvc assembly in my test project (sigh). Adding this reference causes the project to compile. The ReSharper issues remain, but the ReSharper test runner works.
When I restart VS, the ReSharper errors are gone too. I'm not sure if the restart is required - simply closing the .cs file might be enough.
From now on, when I see the ReSharper message
Failed to reference module. Probably,
reference will produce circular
dependencies between projects.
I'll read
Failed to reference module. Probably,
reference will produce circular
dependencies between projects,
or you are missing some references to dependencies of the reference's dependencies.

Another possible fix that just worked for me:
If you have Assembly A, which references Assembly B, both of which reference a non-project (external) assembly X, and Assembly B's code will not recognize that you have referenced X, then try the following steps in order:
Drop reference to X from BOTH A and B
Recreate reference to X in B
Recreate reference to X in A
Apparently, VS will not recognize a reference to an external assembly in a project that is a dependency of another project that already references the external. By setting up the references again from the ground up, you overcome this. It's just very odd.

I faced this problem, and I solved it by closing visual studio, reopening visual studio, cleaning and rebuilding the solution. This worked for me.

If using TFS, performing a Get latest (recursive) doesn't always work. Instead, I force a get latest by clicking Source control => Get specific version then clicking both boxes. This tends to work.
If it still doesn't work then deleting the suo file (usually found in the same place as the solution) forces visual studio to get all the files from the source (and subsequently rebuild the suo file).
If that doesn't work then try closing all your open files and closing Visual studio. When you next open Visual studio it should be fixed. There is a resharper bug that is resolved this way.

I had stumbled upon a similar issue recently. I am working in Visual Studio 2015 with Resharper Ultimate 2016.1.2. I was trying to add a new class to my code base while trying to reference a class from another assembly but Resharper would throw an error for that package.
With some help of a co-worker, I figured out that the referenced class existed in the global namespace and wasn't accessible from the new class since it was hidden by another entity of same name that existed in current namespace.
Adding a 'global::' keyword before the required namespace helped me to reference the class I was actually looking for. More details on this can be found on the page listed below:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c3ay4x3d.aspx

If both projects are contained within the same solution, it will be more apropiate if you add the reference for the project you need, not its compiled dll.

I had the exact same problem.
I tried closing Visual Studio numerous times, I tried deleting and adding a new class library.Checked if I had the right version, if I had referenced it in the target project. Nothing worked.
Then I thought maybe, just maybe I cannot reference the library because it was empty... and that was it.
As soon as I added a class to it the problem was fixed. So if you have tried everything and you are close to losing your sanity. Just try adding something to the class library.

the solution for was just adding the access modifier
my class didnt have any access modifier then i just added public and it worked!
Contracts class library:
namespace Contracts
{
public interface ILoggerManager
{
void LogInfo(string message);
void LogWarn(string message);
void LogDebug(string message);
void LogError(string message);
}
}
Logger service class library:
using Contracts;
using NLog;
public class LoggerManager : ILoggerManager
{
private static NLog.ILogger logger = LogManager.GetCurrentClassLogger();
public LoggerManager()
{
}
}

I tried various solutions for this issue. An old WebForms application refused to acknowledge the existence of a library even though a reference existed.
Oddly, what worked was to add and reference the class library in Visual Studio 2022, safe the project, then reopen in an earlier version of Visual Studio.

My solution was simple, but I'll share it in case someone else has the same issue and finds this question by googling like I did.
It turns out that the most recent build of the supporting DLL was done in Debug mode, and my code was looking at the Release version of the DLL. I rebuilt the DLL in Release mode and all is working properly.

Unfortunately the only thing that worked for me was completely deleting and recreating the class library project, after having temporarily copied the class files in it elsewhere. Only then would the ASP.Net web project recognise the using statements that referred to the class library project. This was with Visual Studio 2010, not using ReSharper.

I had similar issue. What worked for me is that I had added wrong Class Library from visual studio. I added by using the search feature of visual studio.
What I needed to do was Add New Project > Visual C# > Class Library. And this newly added class library is the right one and can now be added as reference to any project.

You may forget to add reference the class library which you needed to import.
Right click the class library which you want to import in (which contains multiple imported class libraries), -->Add->Reference(Select Projects->Solution->select the class library which you want to import from->OK)

Successful Visual Studio C# build does not create assembly

I am using Visual Studio 2005, .NET 2.0
I am not really sure yet under what circumstances it happens, but here is the scenario:
I have a solution with a project structure like this: A library project Foo, a library project Bar which references Foo, and a library project Quux which references Foo and Bar.
Compiling fails with the Error message "Metadata file 'Foo.dll' could not be found" from Bar, and "Metadata file 'Foo.dll' could not be found" and "Metadata file 'Bar.dll' could not be found" from Quux.
Looking in my target directory (I have a combined target directory for all 3 projects), it is empty, so no project at all is compiled. Now I can get that Bar and Quux fail if there is no output from Foo. Problem is: Why does Foo silently fail? There is no error from it, and just building Foo instead of the entire solution works fine.
The "funny" thing is, after just pushing the build button again, the Foo.dll file appears, Bar no longer complains but does not produce any output file either, and Quux complains about missing Bar.dll. Pushing the button again, the Bar.dll appears, there are no more errors but no Quux.dll. Only after pushing the button yet again, the Quux.dll appears, once again with no errors.
The project dependencies are all set correctly, the solution build order says exactly the right thing.
I have even tried creating a new solution and new project files, then adding the sources again to those. No joy, either. Same thing happens.
I am completely stumped. Does anyone know a way out of this mess?

You should have separate output directory for each project. Each time a project builds, it clears the output directory, so it won't find any dependencies on the next one.
Don't fear losing any DLLs, they'll be copied on each bin directory where they are needed.

I think a work around to your problem could be using post build events that deletes previous version of your dlls and copies the new ones to your combined target directory.
When you set up the three projects to work this way, you will find that you are compiling each project to it's correspondent bin folder and to a combined target directory. There is a second thing you should do if you decide to work with this, set up for each project in your solution a reference path pointing to the combined target directory. Compiling order must still exist.
This way each project dll will be found in the combined target directory, each time you compile.
Although, this solution has it's own problems such as when a post-build event forgets to wrok properly; but it's rare.
Hope this helps

The problem is build order. If some project depends on another then that second project must be built first. Use build dependencies in the solution properties to overcome this.

Check you build order so that all seems right there..
Try to run a clean solution and build again is this when it happens?

Drag your project file into note pad and Find with "Import" tag
and replace that tag with this
Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets"
Its should work

For reasons unknown, this happened to me with Visual Studio 2013 in the middle of a morning's work. One build, it was updating the dll, the next, it just wasn't, even though the build seemed to go smoothly. I finally addressed it by deleting the existing dll. With no pre-existing dll, the build had to provide a new one.

I agree that each project should have its own target directory. I have tried to get cute with this and it always causes more trouble than whatever I was trying to get around.
I have a vs19 , 5 project solution. I just added a new console app. THis app started suddenly compiling without complaint but did not produce files. the unit test project that depends on it complained.
I did the usual
clean / rebuild
clean / rebuild each project in order
check the project dependencies and the build order
restart vis studio (in know its 2020 and i still have to restart vs sometimes)
faced w/ the prospect of just creating a new project, i decided to try one other thing
removed all references to other projects
commented out all the code that depended on these.
i was left with pretty much a main() that returned a 0
this compiled and produced files
one by one i added the references back until everything was there.
uncommented the code.
at the end of this exercise things worked.
I can not tell you what changed.
Thought I would offer this as a trouble shooting method.