How do you move a Visual Studio C# project and maintain the linked files?
For example;
I have a VC# Project that sits in folder: A/V2013_Project.
This VC# Project links to files A/Image/a.png this is because we have many other projects that use this file also.
I want to move my project to A/Release/V2013_Project. Ie move the project to a sub-folder.
I'm not renaming anything in the new project, not changing anything else except for the location of the project.
When I move the project all my links fail (theres more than 50) and most of my references fail. By fail, I mean they no longer point to the file. Within the newly moved VC# project; when I click on a linked file VC# displays an error:
Cannot find the file A/Image/a.png. It may have been moved or deleted.
But this file was never moved. Its still in exactly the same place.
How can I move a VC# project and maintain the links and references? Are there any 3rd party addons that can do this?
Edit: Using wintermute's advice; the links are indeed relative and not absolute. For example;
<Resource Include="..\..\Resources\Other\Images\TOOLBAR_close.png">
<Link>Resources\Other\Images\TOOLBAR_close.png</Link>
</Resource>
Any ideas how I can make links absolute in VC#?
It depends on how the file is linked. It isn't clear from your question.
Some files are references by the .csproj file. Close Visual Studio down (just to be sure) and open the .csproj file with Notepad or some other text editor. See if the files you're talking about are referenced there. If so, add the text "..\" in front of each file name, indicating they are one directory higher up, relative to the project location.
Some files are referenced in the .resx file(s). In this case Visual Studio should have included the name of the .resx file as part of the error message. This can be fixed using Visual Studio's editor. Double-click on the error message and it should open the .resx file with the file reference that is in error as the selected line. Again, add "..\" in front of the file name.
You say you have 50 references. Hopefully this means you can search-and-replace to add the "..\" text to the relevant file names.
Edit:
You posted an edit to your question, showing this line:
<Resource Include="..\..\Resources\Other\Images\TOOLBAR_close.png">
If you really want to make this absolute, then just do it.
<Resource Include="D:\Merlinia\Trunk-Debug\Add-Ons\Picture Editor\VS2012 projects\PictureEditor\Resources\Other\Images\TOOLBAR_close.png">
But as I mention in a comment on your question, make sure this is the best way to fix the problem.
Related
While using Java in Eclipse IDE, one can add a folder to the "Build Path" using the "Add Class Folder" option in the "Libraries" tab, which allows the resources in that folder to get compiled inside the application's jar file, rather than outside or not at all.
.
With this, one can get the resources inside the folder as a URL via the Class.getResource(String name)method. I am already informed about C#'s equivalent: Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(string name) or Assembly.GetManifestResourceInfo(string resourceName) methods, but I am not aware of C#'s "Build Path" equivalence in Visual Studio (I am using 2019, if you wished to know). Could somebody please explain how I would accomplish Java's build path resource folder in C#?
(Note that I am looking to create a resource folder where anything put inside the folder would be considered an application resource. I am not looking for a way to add one or more resource files individually.)
Any replies would be greatly appreciated! :)
After a little research, I had found a solution for this problem. There are in fact two possible solutions to this issue.
.NET Core Solution
The first involves editing the .csproj file of your C# project. This solution is only available in .Net Core.
You can add this code snippet to your file and change the {PATH_TO_RESOUCE_FOLDER_HERE} folder to your desired folder.
<ItemGroup>
<EmbeddedResource Include="{PATH_TO_RESOUCE_FOLDER_HERE}\**" />
</ItemGroup>
Now any item placed in that folder will be considered an embedded resource Assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(string name) method.
Regular .NET Solution
The second method involves using a .resx file to encapsulate all of your resources
In Visual Studio 2019, you can create a .resx file by right clicking on the location in your project where you wish to add the file to, and navigating to Add > New Item (you may also press Ctrl+Shift+A). You can now navigate to the item that quotes "Resources File" and select it. You can now use this GUI to insert your resources (for a deeper explanation, click on this or this link. For use cases, see this MSDN).
The "Resources File" option
Note that this solution will also work in .NET Core.
I hope this answer helped you as much as it did me! :)
You just create a folder and name it as you like it, say 'Resources'. Add any file you want in there to be treated as a resource by your application.
Then navigate to the properties of every resource file (you can press F4) and in the menu you can choose what you want the compiler do with that file (Compile Action is the option name if I remember well). There you select the type as a resource, the namespace (your Build Path), and whether you like the file to be copied every time you compile your application, and so on.
A small but very annoying issue I have:
In our current working way, all .config files are excluded from source control. Also a .tmpl file with the .config content is included in the source. So when I check out a project from source control I end up with:
[Triangle]Log4Net.config
Log4Net.Config.templ
In my solution explorer. Clicking on the Log4Net.config file (predictably) gives the error, "The item 'Log4Net.config' does not exist in the project directory. It may have been moved, renamed or deleted." Fair enough.
I am looking for a way to "make" that file, like for eg. right click force open, that will open a new empty editor window where I can paste in the content. (I can easily just copy it from the .tmpl file).
Anything like a plugin, or a keyboard shortcut or similar would be what I'm looking for.
Update: To clarify, the .sln/.csproj file(s) are checked in referencing the files. I check this out and open in visual studio. I see the yellow triangle moaning about missing files. Now I need to recreate these files, and I would like to use VS to do so...
I had a Properties file called RecentFileList within my Visual Studio 2012 project and I removed it. I believe it was a .settings file. Now when I run my setup project, it is trying to copy files that it shouldn't care about and it's bombing out as a result. I get 3 errors (-1007 -6271 and -6103), all related to the same missing file.
-6103: Could not find file "C:\Users\Charles\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\RallyCourses\RallyCourseDesigner\bin\Debug\Properties\RecentFileList.Designer.cs
What file do I need to edit to get rid of the reference to this file? I tried searching for RecentFileList.Designer.cs, but can't find it.
The offending files in my situation were trying to be installed by the installer, but I had removed them from the main project. Within the SetUp project, there is a section Specify Application Data -> Files. I found the files in the Properties section there, removed them, and things are working now...
I have a main project directory with the following contents:
SubDirectory (Directory)
Project.sln (Solution File)
When I try manually changing SubDirectory's name in my Windows explorer, I get errors when I open the solution file. How can I rename this directory without affecting my solution?
Thanks!
Rename it in Visual studio, or edit the .csproj/.sln file with a text editor and fix the refrences.
Open the solution file in a text editor and rename all references to the old folder.
Open up the .sln file in notepad. You'll see a line like this:
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "myproject", "myproject\myproject.csproj", "{DF81752F-37EE-4F4E-BC22-B09C8D05ED78}"
EndProject
If you want to rename the folder from myproject to newproject, you can change myproject\myproject.csproj to newproject\myproject.csproj (or whatever).
Change the name in SolutionExplorer.. it will work fine..
However it doesn't gurantee problem with Source Control or TFS you will need to resolve them manually
Your solution has the paths to your project files embedded in it, which includes the folder name. If you want to rename the folder, you have three options:
Close the solution. Rename the folder, then reopen the solution. The projects will show up as gray, and you'll need to click each one and locate the project file in the Properties window. Note that this may remove project references, but it may not. This is what I would suggest.
Open the solution and remove the project(s) within that directory. Note that this will remove any project references from any other projects that reference the project(s) that you're removing. Rename the folder, then add the project (and any project references) back.
Close the solution. Rename the folder, then open the .sln file in Notepad (or some other text editor) and fix the paths manually. This will preserve any project references.
When I have done it, I manually change it, then open the solution. You will get an error about not being able to find the project file, just choose to locate it, and it will re-map it. If you are using VSS, make sure everything is checked in first.
There are probably paths in project/solution related files that contain the old directory name. You'll either have to update those manually or find a way to rename the project from within Visual Studio.
This might help you rename the project:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3e92t91t%28v=VS.90%29.aspx
In Visual Studio solution explorer,
edit the project properties to change
the assembly name, namespaces etc.
etc. to what you want.
Rename the top
Project nodes in VS solution explorer.
Shut Visual Studio down.
Open Windows explorer and rename your
folders and .csproj files to what you
want.
With a text editor and NOT Visual
Studio, open up the
sln file,
the .csproj files and
anything else you've renamed.
do a
Find & Replace looking for the old project strings, filenames,
namespaces (if required - I suggest
you leave that bit for when all has
been transitioned) and replacing them
as required.
I'm suggesting you'll
need to be selective because I don't
know how you've named your projects
and .csproj files ;-)
Once you've done all that, quit your
text editor and try opening up your
.sln file again.
Do a Rebuild the first time to remove any artifacts from the old configuration/naming.
HTH
Is it possible to programmatically reload a C# project? In one of my previous questions I needed to add all the CS files in a specific folder, now while this works I find that I have to reload the project every time to so that it can register the new files were added.
So now I need a way to automatically reload after the project had been generated.
I assume, for the first time when you output all the DAL files, you are also creating a file with extension .csproj listing in it, all the files you just added in the folder.
If my assumption above is right:
When you want to add more files, you can programatically edit the same .csproj file from your c# code. Then, Visual studio will force the project reload saying it has changed outside the environment.
If my assumption above is wrong:
You can create the .csproj file, It should be easy and straight forward.
I am not sure If I got your question right.