When adding a user control or a project reference to a VS 2008 C# project, I can add only one configuration of the assembly. Is it possible to add separate configurations, depending on the configuration of the container project.
E.g. I am developing a user control, and I am working on a sample application. I want to add the user control so that a debug build of the sample will use the debug build of the user control, and the release build of the sample the release build of the user control.
Any suggestions?
<Reference Include="MyLibrary">
<HintPath>..\$(Configuration)\MyLibrary.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
This add a reference "..\Debug\MyLibrary.dll" if compiled in debug mode or ..\Release\MyLibrary.dll" if compiled in release mode.
You can do this by editing the csproj file; add a "Condition" attribute to the reference.
<Reference Include="Foo" Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'"/>
<Reference Include="Bar" Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'"/>
However, I would have concerns about what this means for unit testing.
While #Marc Gravell's suggestion will work, is there a reason that you don't want both projects in the same solution? If they are in the same solution, you can add a Project Reference when referencing the User Control project to the sample app's project. When a Project Reference is used, Visual Studio will automatically add the Debug version for a Debug build, and the Release version for the Release build.
Instead of adding reference to a .dll directly, which forces you to choose between the .dll from debug or release folder, you should add reference by choosing 'Project reference'. This link explains how to add reference through .dll vs project-project reference. For your purpose, you should choose the latter.
Also refer to my answer to know when to add reference as a .dll vs reference as a project.
Related
We have a multi-project solution. The references between projects are done as Project References rather than Assembly Reference (as one would expect). This works fine for our deployment, but creates a runtime dependency that is version specific. The trouble is that we would like to start creating hot fix installers that only update the specific dlls that changed. Updating all dlls is not an option for our current customer situation.
The 'Specific Version' property on project references is disabled and i'm having trouble finding out a workaround other than switching to Assembly References and using Choose blocks in the csproj to switch between debug/release bins based on build config.
Is there another alternative to allow any version to be used at runtime?
MAINTENANCE FREE
The approach we went with was to set the Assembly version to be a fixed number and only update the File version when we build.(we used to keep both in sync with each other). We went with this approach since it was maintenance free and let us keep our references by Project.
The assembly version is what .net uses to find specific versions of a dependent dll. File version is what will display if you view property details on a file via windows explorer.
If you want to be able to hotfix any dll then you'll need to update all of your Assembly References to be versionSpecific=false and set all of your projects to have a fixed assembly version. If you only want to be able to hotfix specific project dlls then you need only fix the assembly version on those projects. The referencing projects could then keep whatever assembly version scheme you want.
Assembly version is set in ProjectFolder/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs. We've now fixed ours to be 1.0.0.0 and only increment the file version when building.
[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.2.3.45678")]
REQUIRES MAINTENANCE
If you are unable to set a fixed Assembly version then another approach can be to use a File reference. The trouble here is that the path your project dlls will vary based on your active build configuration (debug vs release). To get around this you can make your reference be conditional based on the config.
The major downside being that you'll need to maintain the build sequence manually. Also, if you add a new project then you'll need to remember to use these dynamic references again.
<Choose>
<When Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">
<ItemGroup>
<Reference Include="Your.AssemblyName">
<HintPath>..\Your.AssemblyName\bin\x86\release\Your.AssemblyName.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>
</When>
<Otherwise>
<ItemGroup>
<Reference Include="Your.AssemblyName">
<HintPath>..\Your.AssemblyName\bin\x86\debug\Your.AssemblyName.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>
</Otherwise>
</Choose>
You can also leave Debug as being a project reference if so desired, this would allow you to see what build sequence visual studio automatically generates due to the project references. You would then be able to mimic that sequence for your release config.
I have a WP project for which I use a runtime module from a separate project.
If I reference the runtime module project from the main project, the platform/configuration (e.g.: x86/Debug vs ARM/Release) is handled automagically by visual studio at build time.
Now, I would like to remove the project dependency and only reference the binaries from the main project in such a way that when I chose a specific platform/configuration the correct reference will be used to build.
For example if I build for ARM/Release it should use the binaries from ./lib/ARM/Release/MyLibrary.winmd and if I build for x86/Debug it should use the binaries from ./lib/x86/Debug/MyLibrary.winmd.
I tried multiple ways but still could not find a solution that works both for Visual Studio and msbuild.
I actually have it working making the hint path use Platsform and Configuration variables.
<Reference Include="MyLibrary, Version=255.255.255.255, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
<SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
<HintPath>..\..\lib\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\MyLibrary\MyLibrary.winmd</HintPath>
</Reference>
You might be able to use some macros dependent on your build selection in VS.
Example the two macros found within the linker are as follows:
$(ProcessorArchitecture) which for my example = x86
$(ProcessorArchitectureAsPlatform) which for me = Win32
and depending on the configuration you selected it will build in either Debug / Release.
Similar to what Pinco said.
I have a situation where I need to add a *.dll project (Class library say, ClassLib.dll) to the Start Up project (Containing the .exe). But I am facing a problem here. First I need to compile the library project, and add that dll reference to the main solution through reference -> Add reference then add the ClassLib.dll after browsing the path bin -> debug path.
But my first question is question is in which build shall I add the dll? If I add the release build dll, then the release build path (Bin -> Release -> ClassLib.dll) is different than debug build (Bin -> Debug -> ClassLib.dll).
Now if i need to debug the source code of the class library as well as my exe project, then surely I need to reference the debug mode dll.
But any changes I do in the class library project I need to compile that in release build, so that startup project along with class library project we can build and release for final build.
If I refer to the Release mode dll and I do Clean solution is release mode, then I start debug mode, then I get an error "FileNotFoundException". Which is ofcourse that the dll file is missing from Release path which was a reference.
I have seen few projects having separate ClassLib.dll in Debug mode and release mode compilation. How it can be achieved?
Can anybody guide me please what is the best practice of adding a debug ClassLib.dll in debug mode and release ClassLib.dll in release mode.
Thanks
You dont have to worry about these Debug release configurations. Just add a reference from the Release path of the dll into your .exe project. And add the dll library Project into the solution in visual studio. Set the dependency of .exe project to compile dll by right clicking on solution and go to Project Dependencies. Choose your exe project in combo box and check the checkbox of dll project. this will always ensure that dll project is compiled before exe is compiled.
You can include your class library project to your solution with .exe project and add project reference for .exe project instead of direct reference to ClassLibrary.dll. And when you start building your .exe project in release mode all related project will be built and referenced in release mode. The same for debug mode.
I've got a project on a computer with installed devexpress line for win forms. In VS2010 I add references to some of devexpress .dll(s) and mark those references as 'Copy Local' and build project. Than I send a folder with a project to another user whose machine has not installed devexpress on it. When he opens the solution all devexpress references are shown as broken and the assembly won't compile.
The output is as the following:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets(1578,5):
warning MSB3245: Could not resolve this reference. Could not locate the assembly
"DevExpress.Data.v13.1, Version=13.1.8.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b88d1754d700e49a".
Check to make sure the assembly exists on disk.
If this reference is required by your code, you may get compilation errors.
How to add references to the assembly correctly so as I can open it on a machine with no such .dll(s) installed?
"Copy Local" option is copying files to the published directories after building process.
You can include these dlls in the separated solution folder, reference VisualStudio to them and commit this folder with solution to svn or tfs.
In order to do that you need to add the references via Add Reference... / Browse. In the csproj file for your project you should have something like:
<Reference Include="Name.Of.Assembly">
<HintPath>Relative\Path\ToAssemblyFile.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
BUT VisualStudio tries to be smart and adds the Reference to the installed assemblies, even if you choose Browse... to add them.
You can either:
Not install the DevExpress package and only copy the DLLs to your development machine
Manually edit the .csproj file
Either way, you need to keep the DLLs somewhere. I usually put them under source control.
To achieve this, you should add the DevExpress (or other third-party) assemblies to a folder under your solution root directory, then reference the assemblies in this folder rather than referencing the DevExpress install directory.
You should also add the third-party assemblies to source control, so they're available to all developers.
If the other developer hasn't installed a DevExpress license, it will still build, but will display a nag screen at runtime.
We have an application wrote in C#, which broken into several projects. These projects have reference to others.
When someone gets the source from version control and opens the solution contains these projects on its own machine, Visual Studio cannot find the references between projects, even though referenced project is build successfully. That person have to re-add the reference to solve this.
Seems to me that Visual Studio keeps some data in `suo' file, so next time it knows where to find that re-added reference, and this problem won't appear next time the person opens the solution.
Since `suo' file keeps absolute path to references, we cannot commit it in our source control.
The problem is, We've got a separate machine, which builds this big application automatically (as our nightly-build releases) When the build-automation tool opens the solution, and calls Visual Studio's compiler to build it, the references cannot be find. (automation tool cleans everything, and get the latest version of the source again, so it dose not have `suo' file.)
Any solution?
Extra information
Visual Studio version: 2008 - 9.0.21022.8
.Net framework: 3.5 SP1
OS: Windows XP Professional (SP2 & SP3 - we have both of them)
Update
Seems that Visual Studio changes <ProjectReference> tag to <Reference> in `.csproj' files sometimes. Our developers commit the file, and this problem happens.
I couldn't find if it's a bug in Visual Studio. The only solution that comes into my mind is to write a tool to correct this in `.csproj' files, before pass it to the automation tool.
References are defined in the .csproj file for each project. They may be defined in one of two ways (in my experience).
Either with a hint path to find the referenced assembly:
<Reference Include="CommonServiceLocator.NinjectAdapter, Version=2.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
<HintPath>..\..\Dependencies\CommonServiceLocator.NinjectAdapter.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
Or without one:
<Reference Include="CommonServiceLocator.NinjectAdapter, Version=2.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL"/>
You need to make sure that the references are in the first form, that the hint path exists, and that it's a relative path so that it works no matter where you check out the solution.
You can edit the .csproj files either with an external editor, or by right clicking the project, choosing "Unload project" from the context menu, then right clicking again on the unloaded project and choosing "Edit projectname.csproj". After you 're done editing, right click again and reload the project.
Open the project files (*.csproj) and look what are they referencing. Mostly sure the paths are relative to the solution path and your build script might use other paths.
One way of solving this:
Define an environment variable SOURCE_PATH that holds the path to your sources root folder
Edit the project files so they have reference relative to this path (use $(SOURCE_PATH)) in csproj files to reference it
Repeat steps 1-2 on each dev/build machine and add extra env variables if needed.
PS: The *.suo should not be in the version control system.
Why won't you use msbuild rather then automated visual studio compiler?
It's a bug in VisualStudio 2008 and before that.
If you open a solution that contains a project that have reference to another project, but referenced project doesn't included in the solution, VS finds the referenced project, but changes the reference in a way that it refers to the output DLL, not the project itself.
This bug is fixed in VS2010, and MSBuild 4.