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.
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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.
I am working on a project on Visual Studio 2008, using .Net Framework 3.5, and I have to embed a Xilium.CefGlue browser (or possibly Chromium, but not WebKit nor IE), but the only Xilium.CefGlue download I have found was a source code created with Visual Studio 2012 which does not compile in 2008 (mainly because 2008 is missing a large number of DLLs, like System.xaml, GTK, etc.). Is there an older version which is compatible with Visual Studio 2008, or a DLL which I can include in my project?
Thank you in advance.
I have found a way to do it, using the source code.
First, open one of the projects (not the solution) with Visual Studio.
Then, change each of the project's settings to use .Net framework 3.5, and build them one by one, EXCEPT for the GTK one (which I didn't need anyway).
Finally, grab the generated DLLs and use them in your project.
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!
Basically, I had a project that was written with Visual Studio 2010 Express in C#, I then tried out using Visual Studio 2012 Express with that file, and now VS2010 says:
"The selected file is a solution file, but was created by a newer version of this application and cannot be opened."
Now when I had looked up about this, Microsoft said that you can still use 2010 if you do not use anything that was VS2012 specific. Well, I had tried out the built in Testing that is in the VS2012, and that was the only thing that was VS2012 specific, but deleting that from my project (the Testing project), still left it saying that it was created by a newer version.
So, how do you make a VS2010 solution that VS2012 modified work with VS2010 again?
SP1 for VS 2010 is required to open VS 2012 modified solutions.
Try this out:
http://vsprojectconverter.codeplex.com/
Personally I've never used it but I have it marked as a tool to use if I run into issues. Hope it helps!
This probably isn't the kind of answer you are looking for, but it has worked for me in the past for compatibility issues and such, so it's worth mentioning. If your project isn't too complicated, you can create a new project then copy and paste everything across, starting with form controls, and then moving to the code. It's a sloppy solution that doesn't scale well, but sometimes nothing else seems to work.
The response here by Andrew.Wu is very comprehensive
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vssetup/thread/fc763995-beed-4287-97de-6e47d3e87865 and details steps to take to solve the problem
very old...but hope it can help someone...
Step 1: Go to your project location where the project's sln file is kept and then Right-click on it, choose "Properties". Uncheck "Read Only" as like given below:
Step 2: Again Go to the location where the project's sln file is kept and then Right-click on it to open it with notepad and change the "Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00" to "Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00" on the file.
you can change also the "Visual Studio 2012" to 2010
Can other version of Microsoft Visual Studio be opened with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 C#?
Projects created with previous versions can, and will invoke a project conversion wizard. Projects created with later versions cannot, generally. I found a downgrade utility on, of all places, Mises.org. I didn't write it, and haven't even tried it, so your mileage may vary.
You can open projects created with older releases of Visual Studio 2005, like 2002. A migration assistent will help you to update the project files.
If you're asking if you can run, say, an instance of Visual Studio 2008 next to 2005, then yes. I've done it many times. When you double-click on a .sln file, what actually runs is a little stub program that examines the .sln and decides which is the best version of Visual Studio to launch it in.
If you're asking whether you can open a solution created in VS 2005 in another version of VS, then the only restriction is that it has to be more recent than VS 2005. EG: you can't open a Visual Studio 2008 solution in VS 2005.
Sometimes you can change the version of the solution file manualy. Open it in text editor and manually change the line "Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00" to earlier. Sometimes can help :).