I've got a TFS project with a NuGet package installed, and it references an assembly from that package. However, another copy of the same file is in a folder in the tree, and it is somehow overriding the reference and being used instead.
Even if I remove the reference entirely and manually point it to the correct path, the other file still is recognized and overrides the path.
Actual Case:
Correct Reference Path:
c:\Stratigen\Stratigen\packages\MonoGame.Binaries.3.2.0\build\net40\MonoGame.Framework.dll
Overriding Reference Path:
c:\Stratigen\Stratigen\Stratigen\Tools\MonoGame.Framework.dll
The file in "Tools" needs to be there because it is a build against SharpDX (API wrapper for DirectX) and is used to compile shaders for multiple versions of MonoGame, while the game should be running against the OpenGL version (unless I were to purposefully change something).
The especially odd thing about this is that I've had this file in the "Tools" folder this entire time, and for weeks never encountered this issue, yet now it's got this odd behavior.
It seems that having included the "Tools" directory in the project was to blame. This folder is already handled by TFS but since there are a few source files in there (for the shaders) I'd included the folder. However, this for some reason gave priority to the DLLs there over those from the packages. I'm going to re-add the source files but not the DLLs/EXEs from that folder and it should work fine then.
Related
i am struggeling for a while now with removing unused dependencies from bin output folders.
I am for example writing a small .NET Wpf program which gets its data from a Web server. Therefore i installed the System.Net.Http NugetPackage to make my Get / Post requests. The Package Information is stored in the .csproj file.
When i compile the project a lot of Dependencies are added to the output folder
Sytem.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms.dll
Sytem.Security.Cryptography.Encoding.dll
Sytem.Security.Cryptography.Primitives.dll
Sytem.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.dll
...
None of these dependencies are explicitly used in my program, means when i delete them from the output folder and start the application everything works as expected.
I do understand that this Dlls has to be in the package, but how can i ignore them. Is there a way to ignore dependencies within a nuget package?
One way to accomplish this is to set copy local to false on the Dll reference.
I haven't worked on WPF projects but I believe this would still apply.
To do this expand the References node in the project, select the Dll and then in the Properties window set the "Copy Local" property to False.
This should prevent the Dll from going into the bin and also from being included when published.
One word of warning though, the application may work now but doing this creates a potential trap for future you or other developers. If code changes down the road require one of these Dlls your application won't be so happy and then you'd have to remember to put the Copy Local back to True.
I'm evaluating TFS Build 2013 for use in a corporate environment.
TFs itself has been running fine for ages, and today I setup the Build components. No problem so far.
I grabbed a fairly simple project from source and created a manually triggered build definition, using the standard defaults.
I ran a test build and hit an issue straight away with a primary reference. The error in the logs is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin\amd64\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1697,5): warning MSB3245: Could not resolve this reference. Could not locate the assembly "XYZ.dll".
So a bit of back of background on how we store and use references:
We create a root folder for the solution, inside this goes the .sln file and sub directories for the projects as normal. We then add a "References" folder at this level, which holds all of the DLLs required for the project. These are generally DLLs from other in house code libraries, but also certain 3rd party ones (such as the old Enterprise Library DLLs, and anything else we don't get from NuGet).
Each of the projects that require these DLLs reference this folder (and from inspecting the .proj files I can see the link is stored as "..\References\XYZ.dll" etc. This works fine for local builds and nobody has ever had an issue. The reference folder gets checked into TFS and everybody gets a copy. From what I've read through trying to diagnose our issue, this is a fairly common and accepted way to manage references.
So, the build error that I receive is as above. Basically saying the build target can't find the DLL from the References folder. The log goes on to list all of the places it's tried to find it.
Crucially (it would seem) the first line reads:
For SearchPath "{HintPathFromItem}".
Considered "..\References\XYZ.dll", but it didn't exist.
Furthermore it looks in the Framework folder, various default assembly folders, the GAC and so on, none of which (of course) contains it.
So I'm wondering where I've gone wrong. Have I misconfigured one of the build/drop locations? Is there some other convention for referencing required DLLs (bearing in mind our entire company uses the "..\References" folder setup, or is there something else?
I'm fairly new to TFS Build, but I'm by no means new to TFS or Visual Studio
itself. I've spent about an hour or so Googling without finding anyone experiencing the same issue as me, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
UPDATE:
The build agent is configured as follows:
Build Agent- working directory:
D:\BuildAgent\$(BuildAgentId)\$(BuildDefinitionPath)
The build definition "Source Settings" have the (I assume) default values of:
Status: Active | Source Control Folder: $/ProjectRoot | Build Agent Folder: $(SourceDir)
Status: Cloaked | Source Control Folder: $/ProjectRoot/Drops | Build Agent Folder:
The references folder is not explicitly configured here, but when I look in the Build Agent's working directory I can see it:
D:\BuildAgent\1\ClientName\SolutionName\src\Dev\Evolution\Source\SolutionName.Solution\References
If I open VS2013 Command Prompt, navigate to the folder that contains the .sln file (and also the References folder) and run "msbuild d:\path\to\Solution.sln" then it builds successfully with no warnings or errors.
Well it turns out this wasn't a fault with TFS at all...
The problematic DLL, although present in the References folder, was not actually checked into TFS.
Right clicking the References folder in VS (added as a "Solution Folder") and selecting to Add Existing Item, then a check in fixed the issue.
So the References folder was being used as you would expect, in the same way that VS uses it. MSBuild worked locally because I had the file in my local folder, but because it wasn't part of the solution it wasn't with the rest of the source.
So I see two solutions to my current problem, but I was wondering what the pros and cons are, or if there is a defacto best practices approach.
So my current project has a number of configuration files, help files, and other external content. I need this content local to run and debug the application. Currently we duplicate this content in a standard windows installer project. This clearly is a bad idea. We are moving to a new setup that uses the WiX installer, and I'm currently setting the project up next to the code project and trying to figure the best way to share resources. I see two solutions.
One is that I can put all the resources in the WiX project and then add them as links in the code project. This way I know what I'm debugging is installer.
The other option would be to leave the content in the code project and path into it in the installer using the reference variables.
Right now it seems 6 one way, half dozen the other. Any persuasive arguments for either method?
Assuming that these configuration and help files are going to be installed in the same directory as the executables then definitely put them in the code project, mark them as Content, and add a reference to the code project to the installer project. If you're using WiX 3.5 the files will be automatically included in the installer along with the executables, which makes writing simple installers much easier.
For earlier versions of WiX or more complex deployment scenarios (where the content files could be going into different directories) you would still put them in the code project but then you'd use File elements with a relative path or reference variable in the Source attribute to include the the content files from the code project directory.
I don't believe that putting the content files in the WiX installer project directory instead of the code project directory will do anything to ensure that the version you use to debug will be the same as the version installed. That can only be ensured by thinking through the process of how your application finds these content files and making sure the right versions are found.
So going back to the simple case where the content is in the code project and marked as Content, and it will be installed and loaded from the same directory as the executables, then it is only a matter of setting "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy always" or "Copy if newer" and then you can be sure the versions used in debugging and the version installed will match.
I have been in this situation quite a few times where visual studio does not honor the Additional Include Directories when it comes to lib and header source files. For example, I just downloaded MyGUI source code and made sure the include directories were correct. I even put them to absolute paths, Visual Studio still complained that it could not find specific header files.
Does anybody experience the same thing with projects, and if so, is there a solution to this problem?Blockquote
EDIT: My apologies for not being able to explain fully. I know that the library and source files have different include directories. The project that I received had correct directory paths for the Additional Include Directories and Additional Library Directories but Visual Studio still failed to recognize them properly. I can right click and open the header file within Visual Studio but when compiling it still complains it cannot find the required header files. I regularly make projects relying on a framework I myself programmed, so I am quite familiar with how to set up dependencies. This is however the second time this seems to be happening. I don't recall which 3rd party project I was trying to compile last time, but Visual Studio simply refused to believe that the Additional Include Directories paths is where it should look for the header files. I am not sure how to give the complete details of this particular library (MyGUI) but I can point you to the website where you can download it to try and see if it is able to find the header files that are included in the project (if it doesn't compile, that is fine, and it is probably because of additional dependencies, but it should at least be able to find files in the common folder, especially when I put absolute paths in Additional Include Directories)
This happened to me once. It turned out the inconsistency of the Debug vs Release builds. When I modified one build, the other build was being compiled. Please set both builds with same include folders and see if it works. Good luck.
I've just spent some hours battling with failing #include paths in the compiler, inconsistencies between the compiler and intellisense.
What I finally discovered was that in the properties of the *.cpp file -- not the project, but the individual *.cpp file -- the "Additional Include Directories" property was blank. I had to explicitly set it to "inherit from from parent or project defaults" -- there's a checkbox near the lower-left corner of the dialog for editing the directory path.
I had copied this file from another project and used "Add > Existing Item..." to add it to the current project. My hypothesis was that maybe the "Existing Item" procedure skipped a property initialization step that "New Item" would normally perform. But I just tested that hypothesis by Adding another Existing and a New. Both of these files had their property set to inherit from the project, so I don't have an explanation for why my problem file was not initially set to inherit.
Anyway ... after much frustration, found and fixed that one.
I have found (stumbled) on the solution (I think). It has something to do with the character limit imposed by the OS. Although the limit should be 260, for me it falls in the below 150, see this discussion and links to it. I downloaded and unzipped the file to C:\Users\MyUserName\My Documents\Downloads\Downloads From Chrome\MyGui3.0...[and so on]. I learned quite some time ago not to try to compile projects under such long paths, but this time it completely slipped my mind as VS did not give me a warning at all and pointed me in the wrong direction. Anyway, cutting and pasting the project to D:\ fixed the issue. I am not going to checkmark the answer however until someone confirms this.
I have the same problem : Can't find .lib file even though I've added the additional include directory.
From an answer of Additional include directory in Visual studio 2015 doesn't work, I tried:
delete the .suo file and restart VS
Then it works for me.
I had this issue too. Just like sam said - this string value containing path to your framework includes has to be the same for the Debug and Release configurations. So the best way is to choose "Configuration:All Configurations" and "Platform:All Platforms" from the two context checklists on the top of the project properties window before typing it in, or copying from windows explorer adress bar.
Can you elaborate on this? If I recall, there are at least two places in Visual Studio where you can configure this:
Per-installation: Tools/Options/Projects and Solutions/VC++ Directories)
Per-project: Project/Properties/Configuration Properties/"C/C++"/General/Additional Include Directories
If you're adding the include directories per-project (#1), which I think you are, and then trying to include from another project, this will obviously not work. Try adding them at the per-installation level and see if it works.
Also, this may sound stupid/simplistic, but make sure the path is right (i.e. copy-paste into Explorer's path bar and see if the header files are in that folder).
If by lib files you mean library (.lib) files, the directory location is not specified through C/C++/General/Additional Include Directories but rather through Linker/General/Additional Library Directories.
It's logical if you think about it. C/C++ options are all compilation options, settings involved with compiling .cpp and .h files. Linker options are all linking options, settings involved with linking up .obj and .lib files.
I had the same symptoms in my c++ project. Navigating from header to header went fine, but after toggling to the source file of a header (let's say foo.cpp), then the navigation to an #include <bar.cpp> in that source file failed. I got the following error:
File 'bar.cpp' not found in the current source file's directory or in build system paths.
After research I noticed that the system build path given in the error where not extended with the include paths of the project. In other words: IntelliSense didn't know that the source file (foo.cpp) was part of the project, and therefore it didn't use the include paths of the project to search for the #include <bar.cpp>.
The fix for me was creating a file intelliSense.cpp (file name doesn't matter) that is part of the project, but excluded from the build. This file contains an include for each source file. ex:
#include <foo.cpp>
#include <bar.cpp>
...
This way IntelliSense knows that these source files are part of the project, and will therefore use the include paths of the project to resolve the #includes in those source files.
For me the issue was that .vcxproj Project file was read-only and after I added my directory to "Additional directories", the project file did not actually change. I was surprised that VS did not complain about this file being read-only.
So after I made that file write-able I could compile my project.
Here is another 'I had the same...' in vs2015.
For me it turned out that the active setting is also depending on the 'solution configuration' and 'solution platform'. That makes 4 settings which all should be identical.
That solved the problem in my case.
I realize this question is over 10 years old at this point, but I also just ran into this issue and none of the answers fit my scenario. After some playing with my IDE (VS 2019) for a few minutes I realized that the cpp file I was using had it's platform set to Win32, but the libs I was trying to use were built for x64.
As others have stated, make sure your project's configuration is set to
-"All Configurations" when you add the necessary paths to your project as that can also be an issue. I imagine my issue will not be as common, but I figured it was worth sharing. I hope this helps someone else in the future.
One more possible reason not mentioned earlier: make sure you are configuring properties of the correct project in a multi-project solution.
My problem was that I had a solution of two projects each using the same file with includes. Turns out that I correctly configured 'Additional Include Directories' only for one of two projects and totally forgot about another one. Of course error message was stating that only the second project and not the first one had problems.
I have a couple of different solutions, in which some projects may depend on output from projects in other solutions. To manage this, I've been copying dll files from the /bin/ folder in each project to a shared library location after build, and then copy/reference them from there to the dependent project.
However, as the library solution gets larger, this tends to become unmaintainable. Too much of my time is being spent traversing solution directories in Windows Explorer looking for /bin/ folders, and trying to figure out which one, or which ones, of the dll files from each one I need.
Is there any way to give Visual Studio a hint that I want all projects in a solution to have the same output directory? For example, a /bin/ folder directly under the solution folder, where all projects put their output.
If possible, I'd like to achieve this without hard-coded post-build events that copy the files, since that will fail if a project output changes file name, or adds another file. I'd rather like to change the location of the actual output directory - the location of $(OutDir), if you will.
I know you said you don't want to use post build events, but your reason as to why not intrigued me. It sounds like you might be hard coding the name of the .dll in your post build event. That can easily be avoided.
xcopy "$(TargetDir)*" "c:\common\" /Y
The * would just cause everything in your bin/Debug/ folder to get copied to your common folder. You could also just copy dlls if you want. Or, if you use $(TargetPath), you'll copy just the 1 dll that is the result of the project, and not any other related dependencies.
UPDATE
The way we do it is each projects entire bin folder is copied to a subfolder. Suppose you have 2 projects, WebUtil and HtmlParser, where WebUtil depends on HtmlParser. For both projects, use xcopy "$(TargetDir)*" "c:\common\$(ProjectName)" /Y. This will create c:\common\WebUtil\ and c:\common\HtmlParser. In WebUtil, add a reference to c:\common\HtmlParser\HtmlParser.dll. There will now be 2 copies of HtmlParser.dll in c:\common.
c:\common\HtmlParser\HtmlParser.dll // the most recent build.
c:\common\WebUtil\HtmlParser // what was the most recent build when WebUtil was built
This has all kinds of advantages. If you change the API of HtmlParser, WebUtil will continue to work, since it will have the older HtmlParser.dll until you try to rebuild WebUtil (at which point you'll get build errors because of the changed API).
Now, if a 3rd project got in the mix that depended on WebUtil, and you're using some part of WebUtil that exposes classes in HtmlParser, then you'll need to add a reference to both projects from your new project. When you add a reference to HtmlParser.dll, use the one in c:\common\WebUtil. You do this because you're only including it as a necessary requirement of WebUtil. Now you'll always have the version of HtmlParser.dll that matches your current version of WebUtil.dll.
I hope that makes sense. It can definitely be a tricky thing to manage. Just wait till you have to start pulling down all your dependencies using svn:externals =P
You can set the output directory in each project properties.
Right click on the project, select Properties
For C#, it is one of the Build property page, under Output, Output directory.
In VB.Net projects, it is on the Compile tab, in the textbox at the top.