In short: I need to open an application originally built in Visual Studio 2008 (version 9) in Visual Studio 2013 without upgrading the project since the overall project architecture must remain the same for when I check it back into source control.
Details: I need to open a Visual Studio solution (.sln) inside Visual Studio 2013. The solution in question was originally developed in Visual Studio 2008, so when I try to open said solution in Visual Studio 2013, I am shown a prompt with the projects within the solution checkmarked, with the message:
These projects are either or supported or need project behavior impacting modifications to open in this version of Visual Studio. Projects no displayed either require no changes or will automatically be modified such that behavior is not impacted. Visual Studio will automatically make functional changes to the following projects in order to open them. You will not be able to open these projects in the version of Visual Studio in which they were originally created.*
My attempt at a fix was to just upgrade the solution and hope for the best. This is successful, but after building and attempting to run the main project, I see the following build error:
The type 'Microsoft.Web.Services3.WebServicesClientProtocol' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'Microsoft.Web.Services3, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'. *
I then tried both commenting out the references to this assembly and adding in the missing reference. Okay, so then I rebuilt the solution and attempted to run. Same error, but for a different assembly. Repeat fix, same error for different assembly. This pattern continues and continues, and at this point I realize this is unacceptable anyway, because when I make a change to this solution, I need to check it back into source control. When others open it, they may be opening it in VS2008, and therefore this “upgraded” version is inconsistent with the version the business uses. I need to open the solution originally build in VS2008 in VS 2013 (can't work around this, needs to be VS2013). If it helps, I'm using 64 bit Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate.
Any help or guidance will be greatly appreciated!
As several of the commenters have already helpfully pointed out, this is not possible. Round-tripping (i.e., opening and manipulating project files created by an older version of Visual Studio in a newer version of Visual Studio) was not supported until Visual Studio 11. The only way to open a Visual Studio 2008 project/solution in a later version of Visual Studio will be to convert it.
As far as interoperability with previous versions is concerned, you have two options:
Update the project locally (using the migration wizard provided), make any changes to the project file necessary to get it to build, and then edit the code files. Once you're satisfied with your edits, commit only the modified source files, not the project infrastructure files. Your fellow developers, stuck on VS 2008, won't notice any difference.
Update the project locally (using the migration wizard provided), make any changes to the project file necessary to get it to build, and then rename the project file (e.g., by appending a -vs2013 suffix to it). Commit this to your code repository. You will now have two project files in your root directory, one for each version of Visual Studio that your team works with. From here on, you just open the project file corresponding to the version of VS that you have installed.
I used approach #1 for a good part of last year, where I spent most of my time developing a C++ application in VS 2010 on a desktop machine, but also wanted to work on it on my notebook running VS 2013. Of course, in my case, it took a trivial amount of time for the automatic conversion to upgrade my project file after pulling from source control. I didn't have to do any tweaking thereafter to get the project to build. It sounds like your case is different, so option #2 might be a better choice.
Related
I have a relatively large WinForms application that has been developed under Visual Studio 2013. I recently upgraded to Visual Studio 2015 on another computer and have been trying to get the project working under it.
My first issue/concern is that when I open the project for the first time in Visual Studio 2015 it does not ask me to "upgrade" the solution to Visual Studio 2015, it happily just opens the solution. I am used to having Visual Studio ask to "upgrade" the solution and create a new .sln file that is recognized as a, for example, Visual Studio 2013 solution instead of the old VS10 solution.
The actual issue I am facing is ~10 errors that seem to deal with cryptography. From what I can guess this has to do with the solution itself and what microsoft does with it in the background seeing as the most cryptography I use in the project is generating Guid.
An image of the errors
The one other issue I have is that, as I am not used to, I cannot double click on the errors them self to be lead to where Visual Studio thinks they are occurring. Thus I am not sure what is generating them or where to go from here.
Any suggestions?
This is a Windows 7 installation on an older model Lenovo Thinkpad. I do not have admin privileges on this computer either.
EDIT: So far I have tried to add <enforceFIPSPolicy enabled="false"/> to the file Visual Studio 15 settings at C\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Devenv.exe.config, though whenever I try to edit it (even after a fresh restart) the file is "always" opened by another program. So it seems I cannot edit the file to turn off FIPS for Visual Studio 15.
I am still open to suggestions or clues.
EDIT2: I have managed to get <enforceFIPSPolicy enabled="false"/> into the IDE settings with the help of IT (Using this article). Though this seems to do absolutely nothing, it seems that it is being ignored.
Another issue/clue here is that even if I create a brand new C# project in Visual Studio, when I try to compile I receive the same errors. So I have to assume that Visual Studio is using the SHA256 class somewhere "in the background". If I did have control over its usage I would try to implement #Kevin 's answer below.
I have found another possible solution on the web though I am not sure of its validity
VS 2012 now builds C# projects in a separate process that runs
msbuild. The entry you added to devenv.exe.config (that worked for VS
2010) won't be seen by this process. You should add the same entry,
namely
to the config file for msbuild; typically that's found at
c:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe.config"
I will try to get this done when I have time for the .NET 4.5+ msbuild.exe.config files and report back.
The solution I went with is outline here.
<enforceFIPSPolicy enabled="false"/> was added to a few files, namely
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\msbuild.exe.config
C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe.config
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\Devenv.exe.config
Though I think the one that actually made it work was the first file.
You can't double click on the error and have it go to where the error is being thrown because it is being thrown inside the SHA256 class. If the FIPS compliance bit is set, any non-FIPS compliant .NET cryptography classes throw this error.
You have two choices to fix this...
First, you can just turn off the FIPS compliance bit on the machine where you are trying to run the app (not recommended).
Otherwise, you can update the code to use the FIPS compliant version of SHA256 (SHA256CryptoServiceProvider). This will require .NET Framework 3.5 or greater.
Am doing a back end project in C# in Visual Studio. My team mate had done it using Visual Studio 2012 express and everything seems to work there. But when i used git to clone it to my system where am using Visual Studio 2013 express, one part of the project says its incompatible with the current version of VS. I could clean and build the project, but was unable to run the project. I searched and found that one solution is to go to Programs and features, select VS, right click,select repair. But even after doing this, the problem persists. Is there any work around?
When I was learning ASP.NET MVC by Informit tutorials I was in the very similar situation. I downloaded the sample sources that was created in VS2013 but had VS2015 installed. It was some kind of bug \ magic, but VS didn't recognized some libraries in VS2015 even they were installed. What is more strange is the fact that when I decided to totally rewrite the project line by line it worked!
Of course, I tried to clean, rebuild, reinstall NuGet packages.
So, if you have an access to sources *.cs, then just try to create new project and copy-paste code.
Im writing an applcation with C# in visual studio 2012 but i want to open that project in another place in visualstudio 2008. How i can do this? in saving i have to do something? Or in oening in visualstudio 2008?
Since I am stuck with VS 2008 in my home computer, I regularly have to do this.
You can modify your solution file (*.sln) manually. Most of the time you just have to change the first two lines that define the VS version of the solution.
From this link:
You can edit the sln and csproj/vbproj files by hand and try that way, I've used this method with no side effects. In the sln file the first lines for VS2010 will say
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00
# Visual Studio 2010
and for a VS2008 solution:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00
# Visual Studio 2008
Also, in a 2010 project file you may find a section like
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
which will need to be modified as
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
With only these 2 types of changes I was able to open the solution & projects with VS 2008.
It's not possible.
Visual Studio generally doesn't support forward compatibility -- that is, opening a newer project in an older version of Visual Studio. It generally supports backward compatibility -- opening an older solution in a newer Visual Studio.
Your only real option here is to retain it as a 2008 solution; even then, when you open it in 2012, it may ask you to convert it to a 2012 solution format, which will make it unusable in 2008.
I have found this while I was Googleing. It may be useful in your case:
Visual Studio Project Converter
Disclaimer: I have not personally tried this program.
I had the same need basically because I wanted to keep the compatibility with .net 3.5.
Although VS2010 and VS2012 support projects running on this FW version, many users are still forced by their companies to use VS2008 or 2010.
I could also develop in 2008 but as a geek that I am I dind't even consider it! :)
So, my solution was to create separate *.sln and *.csproj files for each VS version.
This way you guarantee that everything will work out of the box for each VS version.
The easier and faster way I found to do this was to open eash VS version and create empty solution and projects, with the same structure as the original but with the vs version on the name like:
my.solution.sln
my.project.csproj
...
my.solution.vs2008.sln
my.project.vs2008.csproj
...
my.solution.vs2010.sln
my.project.vs2010.csproj
...
Keep in mind that you have to manually open all the versions and add the new files and so on... they won't be automatically synchronized but it pretty much works.
Hope this helps,
Cheers!
I remember seeing an open source project within the last year that I was able to open in both VS 2008 and VS 2010 without an upgrade wizard popping up. I think...
Is it possible to create a project/solution that will open up in any version of Visual Studio without prompting me to run the upgrade wizard? If so, how do I do this?
Information for both C++ and C# projects would be most helpful.
You can, use CMake and generate VSx solution.
I think the project that you have seen had 2 visual studio solutions for different visual studio versions.
Update:
Also, you can use http://sourceforge.net/projects/vspc/
or see http://www.emmet-gray.com/Articles/ProjectConverter.htm
The solution format hasn't changed significantly over the visual studio versions except the version number.
If the code itself is generic enough (not using linq, etc) then you can edit the first line of the solution file to "downgrade" the version.
VS2005 uses:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 9.00
# Visual Studio 2005
You can give the Prebuild project a try to generate needed solution files on the fly.
Prebuild is a cross-platform XML-driven pre-build tool which allows
developers to easily generate project files for major IDE's and .NET
development tools including: Visual Studio .NET 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010
SharpDevelop, MonoDevelop, NAnt and Autotools.
May be it is not what you ask about, but you can convert you project into nmake target
The only way to do this is to create separate solutions (for 2010 and 2008), and include existing projects to different solutions. Create new projects in VS2008, and then add them to VS2010 solution.
You may need something like round-tripping
Round-tripping is the ability to use a current or previous version of Visual Studio to target a platform that is supported by both versions of VS. For example, with round-tripping, you can open projects from a previous version of VS in a newer IDE without the need for conversion, thus allowing you to work side-by-side on old and upgraded projects.
Read more
I'm trying to find a way of being able to use multiple versions of Visual Studio on the same set of projects. The majority of our team uses 2008, but I am trying out 2010. All projects are C#.
As I understand it Visual Studio 2010 insists on upgrading all projects, so it's not possible to leave all the solution/project files as 2008 versions. I really don't want to branch the entire source tree, so I'd like to find a way for multiple versions of the project files coexisting. Currently, I've duplicated all .sln and .csproj files so I have:
# 2008 versions
SolutionName.sln
ProjectA.csproj
ProjectB.csproj
# 2010 versions
SolutionName.vs2010.sln
ProjectA.vs2010.csproj
ProjectB.vs2010.csproj
The trouble is, despite the 2010 versioned files all having the same assembly names as their 2008 counterparts, Visual Studio (2010) believes the projects are all ProjectName.vs2010. Renaming the project in VS fails with a message saying a file of the same name already exists.
I don't think putting the 2010 version in a sub-folder would be a solution as it would screw up any relative paths in the files.
So:
Is there any way to convince VS that the project name should not be suffixed with .vs2010 (i.e. not the same name as the file)? Or
Am I approaching this the wrong way? Is there a better way of working with multiple versions of VS on the same projects?
UPDATE
My initial claim was wrong that Visual Studio was failing to find the project references because it was using the file name. The specific problem I was having was that in my build files the project references were of the form:
<ProjectReference Include="..\..\path\to\ProjectName.vs2010.csproj">
<Project>{48354450-2462-449D-8B32-EFECA39F6CD7}</Project>
<Name>ProjectName</Name>
</ProjectReference>
The project files that I copied apparently have a different ID (or whatever it is in the <Project> element. Simply removing the element from the build file has solved that particular issue:
<ProjectReference Include="..\..\path\to\ProjectName.vs2010.csproj">
<Name>ProjectName</Name>
</ProjectReference>
Having said that, the whole process of duplicating the project and solution files has actually been more effort than it's worth, so I'm not recommending this approach.
Do you often modify the projects?
You could simply work with your upgraded version of the csproj and sln files.
This way you would commit/check-in all changes to source code files except for the project files, which are not often modified anyway (except to add new files).
Then if you want to commit the changes in the project files, you'd work with an intermediate local VS2008 version of the file and line it up using your favorite diff/merge tools before eventually committing this VS2008 version. It would be some kind of local branch.
Unless you absolutely have to work with different versions of Visual Studio, those of the team still using 2008 could upgrade to Visual Studio 2010 Express. It's free for commercial use, and lacks only a few advanced features you might not need.
Have you tried opening the SolutionName.vs2010.sln in a simple text edior and changing the diplay name of the projects?
(form: Project("{$GUID}") = "$DISPLAYNAME", "PROJECTFILE", "{$OTHERGUID}"
Answering the second part of your question:
Why is it important to cover up that there are multiple versions of the project files? The reality is that there are two versions and you have to be careful to maintain both of them concerning the state of your project anyway (files are addded / renamed/ deleted; configuration options are changed).
Having two sets of projects and solution files will lead to differences between them which will break things.
Generally: Don't mix Visual Studio releases in the same project. Keeping the toolchain identical between developers will save you much trouble.
visual studio 2010 and 2008 project files (.csproj) are compatible side by side if you have both editors installed, meaning you can upgrade it, work on it in 2010, and have someone else work on it in 2008 without any issues. the only caveat is that you have to leave the target framework as .net 2.0 or 3.5 and that those who work in 2008 have to also have 2010 installed.
the only problem comes if they try to then open the project file in 2008 and they don't have 2010 installed (because I think 2010 adds some new build target that a standard 2008 won't know about). I didn't think this was a problem but I just ran into it this past week (on a web project), so it does exist in some form for some projects.
if you do go the rename route, the best way to go about that is to open the sln file in notepad, and rename the csproj references to the new names by hand (adding any new renamed folder paths), then renaming any folders outside visual studio, then renaming the file name in windows explorer, then rename the csproj in windows explorer, then open the solution in visual studio. your scm bindings may be hosed at that point though...