How To Convert Visual Studio 2010 project to Visual Studio 2015 - visual-studio

I have a project from VS Studio 2010 that I want to work with in VS 2015. When I start this Project with VS 2015 I receive an error saying something like "compatibility-Error (Version)".
How can I successfully convert a Visual Studio 2010 project to use with Visual Studio 2015?

Without you going into any more detail about the actual error. (error numbers / screenshot) it will be very hard for any of us to give a real answer. Therefore I am going to suggest you take a look at Troubleshooting Unsuccessful Project Upgrades.
Something else to check out might be the Porting, Migrating, and Upgrading Visual Studio Projects guide
One of the key things mentioned in the 2nd link I provided is:
The following list describes support in Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2013 for projects that were created in Visual Studio 2012 or Visual Studio 2010 SP
Therefore I'd recommend upgrading the 2010 version to SP1 first. (if this is still installed that is)
One further thing to note is that if you keep the old version of Visual studio installed you can import a project which is made with an older version and skip the update. Visual studio 2015 will then use parts of the older version itself to open the project.
For details you can read How to: Upgrade Visual C++ Projects to Visual Studio 2015 page and the equally useful Installing Visual Studio Versions Side-by-Side page.

It appears that there are issues when moving from VS 2010.Net to VS 2015.Net and may require that you build the project from scratch and copy the code over. VS 2015 requires a Namespace. There are a number of designer issues on control that require the style page be used since various attributes have been removed. Something still, however, do work but you need to review the HTML, specifically things like Font and alignment. While it's a pain it isn't a big deal since it requires mostly cut and paste.

If you are having issues converting web projects the projects may have originally been created as a "web site" rather than a "web Project" . Try opening the application as a web site and see what happens. At least that may help get you to the point you can actually get to the code to convert it in VS 2015. Hope this helps.

Try to Right-click the solution, then select "Re-target solution".

Related

Should I install Visual Studio 2017 beside Visual Studio 2015 or should I first uninstall Visual Studio 2015 and then install Visual Studio 2017?

I am currently using Visual Studio 2015 for programming ASP.NET Core applications. I have the following questions regarding installing Visual Studio 2017:
What is considered to be best practice and/or cleanest method?
Should I install Visual Studio 2017 beside Visual Studio 2015?
Should I first uninstall Visual Studio 2015 and all .NET Core dependencies and then install Visual Studio 2017?
Are there any tools that would ensure a clean uninstall of Visual Studio 2015?
From page Visual Studio 2017 Platform Targeting and Compatibility
Compatibility with Previous Releases Installation
You can install and use Visual Studio 2017 alongside previous versions of Visual Studio, including Visual Studio 2015, Visual Studio 2013, and Visua Studio 2012.
So yes. you can install them without any problem.
VS 2013, VS 2015, and VS 2017 all work well side-by-side. VS 2012 can be a little dodgy on Windows 10, but should also work side-by-side. In theory VS 2010 should also work side-by-side with those, but I've run into quirks in the past with them interfering with one-another.
Projects should round-trip between 2015 and 2017 generally, although there are some one-way upgrade scenarios.
Note that if you really just need the older compiler toolset for some reason, you can also install VS 2017 and select the optional component Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.140 which installs the older v140 compiler which you can still use with the VS 2017 IDE. That said, there's not a lot of reason to do this since the VS 2015 & VS 2017 C++ standard libraries are binary compatible so you can mix them in a project.
See this blog post for information on VS 2017.
It sounds like you have done some projects in 2015 already, so you will probably want to keep it.
Once you open a project in a new version, it will try to upgrade the project and then you can't go back.
However, if you have multiple versions installed at the same time, when you try to open a project, say, from Windows Explorer, it will open it with the "Visual Studio Version Checker" and will look at the project file and determine which version to open it in.
Bottom line, if you have the hard drive space, there is no reason to not install them alongside each other.
In the past, it was recommended to install them in sequential order if you are installing multiple versions, but it doesn't sound like this is an issue for you and I don't know if that is even a problem anymore as it has been several versions since I have had to deal with that.
Good luck!
Personally, I would keep both - there have been multiple times through the years where you have compatibility issues and NEED to have the prior version(s). I've also had old project that will not upgrade and I've gone back and reinstalled old VS versions.
If you have no reason to keep VS2015 in your computer I would suggest uninstalling it.
I uninstalled VS2015 after installing VS2017 and later noticing that I was still using an old taskbar shortcut to VS2015.
So I was inadvertently still using VS2015.
Maybe some special cases require keeping older versions of VS along side the new version, but for the rest of us, I say, uninstall!
VS 2015 is the last version that is supported by Installshield LE.
If you have a need for building installers in the future, it will be useful to have VS 2015
1,2,3. Visual Studio 2017 has more features over 2015 and it contains 2015's current features so you don't need 2015 alongside 2017. Just stick with 2017. And I don't think you will have any problems while opening 2013 and 2015 projects with Visual Studio 2017.
Uninstall Tool is a good tool to use. It cleanses all the leftover files and registry entries after running the original uninstallation wizard and even tells you how many files will be cleaned after the required reboot.
For people continuing to read this, I have Visual Studio Professional 2008 (For Windows Embedded 6.5), 2010, 2015, 2017 and they all work even if open at the same time.
Edit: As stated in other answers, they need to be installed from oldest version to newest.

Visual Studio - Using different versions for the same project

I recently started a new job, and got a machine with Visual Studio 2013 Proffesional installed. This would be great, except the colleague that I'm working with is using Visual Studio 2010. As far as I know, there is no way to work on the same project (or solution), without having quite a lot of issues, is this correct?
And if so, is it still possible to download Visual Studio 2010 (from a reliable source)? I cannot seem to find it anywhere in my MSDN subscriber downloads. All I can find is a stuff like service packs, tools, etc. Did they terminate the support of it?
You work on visual studio 2013 but there are option to select which version of visual studio you want select 2010 and run your project.
You should be able to open Visual Studio 2013 solutions in 2010, if you install Visual Studio 2010 SP1. There is a possibility that some project types won't be supported, but the solution should open.

Code Map Missing Visual Studio

We just switched over to VS 2013 and I heard that you're supposed to be able to
generate code maps for your entire application. Awesome feature indeed, that could
get new developers on our project up to speed.
Watched a couple of tutorials, but when I tried to just right click on a method
in the application, the 'Show on Code Map' context menu is missing. In fact, I
can't find anything in VS that has anything to do with Code Maps.
My version:
Visual Studio Premium 2013
I tried installing Modeling SDK for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013, but that didn't do anything.
Anyone got any ideas?
You need Visual Studio ULTIMATE to create Code Maps.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj739835.aspx
This has changed for Visual Studio 2015 and Visual Studio 2017:
The Enterprise Edition allows creating code maps.
The Community and Professional Editions can open diagrams generated in other Visual Studio editions in read-only mode.

Opening Different Visual Studio projects

OK, can't find a solution to this.
A client sent me his Microsoft Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web project. I have Microsoft Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 installed.
I get an error when I try to open his project saying "this project is not compatible with the current version of visual studio".
We'll be passing the project back & forth quite a bit, so I need a solution that meets that need please.
So, I figure I may be able to modify the project with a text editor to let me open it. If so, do I have to re-edit it back when I send it back to him?
Can I install VS Express 2012 for Web on a machine that already has VS Ultimate 2010 on it without any conflicts? Can I open it if I install VS 2012 Ultimate (keeping 2010 as well)?
I have another client that uses 2010, so whatever I do, I need to be able to still support him.
If I can't have 2 versions installed at the same time, and can't easily edit a file to make it compatible, then I guess my last option is a virtual machine.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Microsoft Visual Studio has backwards compatibility since the version 2010 SP1.
So in this case you just need update your Visual Studio 2010 to SP1 and it will understand the new way files are versioned.
Based on my experience:
You do can edit it with a text file and send it back, but it's not compiled yet so it's your partners job.
Maybe, just maybe, you can edit the .sln and .(whatever the project file extension is) file to meet your VS10 env (I think it's going to be a bumpy road though)
Yes, I'm pretty sure you can have VS 10 and VS 12 installed on same machine, note that you have to have .Net 4.0 and .Net 4.5

Visual Studio 2010 is unable to open project

I used Visual Studio 2010 to develop a web application. I formatted my machine and installed Visual Studio 2010 Professional. When I try to open old projects, I get an error saying:
The selected file is a solution file, but was created by a newer version of this application and cannot be opened.
I do not remember the version of visual studio 2010 I used the first time.
Can anyone tell me which version came after the professional edition?
Make sure VS2010 is updated to the latest service pack, otherwise check to see if the project was actually made in VS2012/13 in which case you will need to create a new VS2010 solution and rebuild it from your existing projects.
Open the .sln file in a text editor. In the beginning there is a marker which tells the VS version it is meant for. For VS 2010 it should look like that:
Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00
# Visual Studio 2010
You should be able to change these values without any problems. As far as I know the file format did not change.
EDIT
Considering the comment of Dumisani: of course you need to target .net 4.0 and make sure no features of .net 4.5 are used!
Chances are you had a service pack installed that you are missing with a clean installation.

Resources