VSpackage how to call operations on the project - visual-studio

Is there a way In a VSpackage to issue a clean on the project from code, to issue a rebuild or a build. So basically is there a way in code to call the commands that appears in the context menu when you left click on a project? (though my current context may not be in solution explorer I may be on the editor window, so calling ExecuteCommand wont work for commands that are only available when I am in the solution explorer)

The SolutionBuild-interface offers various methods that allow performing actions on the solution, e.g. building the solution or a project and cleaning the solution.
You start at the DTE-object and access the SolutionBuild like this:
// Builds the solution and waits for the build to finish
DTE.Solution.SolutionBuild.Build(true);
// Show result of build
MessageBox.Show(string.Format("{0} projects failed to build.",
DTE.Solution.SolutionBuild.LastBuildInfo));

Related

Visual Studio 2015 no longer generates executable

I had a Windows Forms application that needed some UI and code changes changes made to it. I made the proper changes (mainly deleting a few controls and moving some code). Oddly after the changes were made, I would rebuild run, and despite the changes, the changes being saved, and builds being made multiple times,the application would always run as if the changes were never made.
I tried to Build -> Clean Solution a few times, with no avail. I decided to try manually deleting the bin and obj folders and rebuild. However, after closing the solution, deleting those folders, I tried to build again and get the following error:
OutputPath and AssemblyName are set correctly as far as I'm aware. This only affects Debug, Release runs fine (sort of) and even in debug XML and *.vshost files are created, but not the executable. I've tried restarting VS a few times to no avail. What in the world did I do and how do I fix it?
EDIT After right clicking on the solution and doing a batch-build on all projects in the solution, things started working. I still have no idea what happened, so if anyone has any theories feel free to comment.
Does the Output window provide any details about where the .exe was created?
You may need to increase the verbosity of the logging. To do so, go to the Options dialog (Tools > Options) and open "Projects and Solutions" > "Build and Run." Change the "MSBuild project build output verbosity" and recompile.

How to specifiy the location for a unit test in VS 2010

When using VS 2010, I like to organize the projects in my solutions by creating them in subfolders in the OS. For example I would place a project called MySolution.Core.Shared in G:\Projects\MySolution\Core\Shared. I will also create a Solution folder in Solution Explorer to hold the project as well. This works well for other templates, but the automated unit test creation process does not. VS always creates the unit test project in the solution's root folder, so I have to then unload the test project, move the project (after closing VS or I get a file open error for some reason) and then reopen the solution and remount the project in the appropriate point in Solution Explorer.
Well, I was never able to find a true answer to this, but I did find an acceptable solution. Here are the steps I took:
Create the test project manually by first right clicking on the
solution folder where you wish to place your new tests and choosing
the Add -> New Project option.
Select the Tests->Test Project Template.
Give it an appropriate name and choose the appropriate Location in
the provided slots.
Go to the object/member you wish to test and select Create Unit
Tests in the right click menu.
Choose the test project you just created in the spot provided at the
bottom of the resultant dialog box.
Voila! You are done and your unit tests are now nice and snugly placed in your file structure of choice.

This Breakpoint Will Not Currently Be Hit, The Source Code is Different from the Original (even after cleaning/rebuilding)

.NET 4, console application. The project is set to 'Debug' mode. The breakpoint being set is in the primary/startup project. I have right-clicked -> Clean, and right-clicked -> rebuild, both on the Solution and project levels.
Following the instructions in this SO question, I have confirmed that my "Build and Run" options are set to 'prompt' for both 'When projects are out of date' and 'when build or deployment errors occur', and I am NOT getting a prompt when I F5 to build/run.
Also, the 'save all changes' under 'before building' is also selected (plus I manually saved them myself).
I monitored the output window of the application, see this line:
'MyApplication.exe': (Managed (v4.0.30319)): Loaded 'C:\exepath' Symbols Loaded.
I restarted the VS2010 instance. I restarted all open VS2010 instances (of other projects). I've even gone through a reboot.
However, the breakpoint I am setting in the startup project is a hollow-red circle, with the notice that 'This breakpoint will not currently be hit, The source code is different from the original', and, in fact, is never hit.
So, this is really 2 questions:
1) How do I fix this problem so I can properly breakpoint
2) When I see this, does that mean my code is executing from an older build?
I've had this problem once myself but that was on a vsto addin. In that case there were left over intermediate files under the users/appdata directories that were actually loaded instead of my app.
There is this blog article that has a whole load of possible reasons for this error and then a whole bunch more in the comments from other users
This can also happen if you have a solution with multiple projects, and have the wrong project selected as your startup project in VS2010 and VS2012.
Now, obviously, I wouldn't expect debugging to work if I have the wrong startup project selected -- the debugger is attaching itself to the wrong process!
But this error message (in my case) was terribly misleading. It made me think something else was wrong. I tried a bunch of solutions in this thread (nuking various /bin and output directories) when really it was something very simple (wrong startup process).
If you are using vb, check that you are building the project for the active solution configuration (Build, Configuration Manager..., Column under Build is checked. Also check the project properties, Compile tab, Advanced Compile Options, and Generate debug info is set to Full. Sorry I can't tell you where this may be in C#.
The only other time I've seen this is when two projects in the solution are referencing the same dll but they are referencing from different sources. One from a project reference and another from a file reference for example. If the "copy local" option is true, there would be the potential of overwriting the dll with an older version of the same dll.
My solution might help people who have signed the assembly.
After lot of head scratching for the past two days, I was able to resolve the same issue by doing the following simple steps:
Go to your Visual Studio project properties.
Go to the "Signing" tab.
Uncheck "Delay sign only" option if it is checked.
Now run your project and it should work.For me it did work.
In my case was this same problem (“The breakpoint will not currently be hit. The source code is different from the original version.”) caused by fact, that I tried add breakpoint to declaration:
DateTime dt;
bool b = DateTime.TryParse(null, out dt);
(first line of code)
So I assume that message is "universal" and may have many different causes.
This can happen if your system clock was changed since the last compile. Your PDB file will be different date than the one your are trying to debug. Delete the PDB files in the project and recompile.
I experienced the problem when Project > Properties > Web did not have "Enable Edit and Continue" selected. After enabling this feature the issue was corrected.
It is important to note that under Tools > Options > Debugging > Edit and Continue "Enable Edit and Continue" was selected, but it was not enabled for this project.
Just go to Tools / Import and Export Settings
Choose reset all settings then click Next
No, just resetl settings, ovewriting my current settings then click next
Choose your current language, por example C#. then click Finish
If you have multiple solutions open, try simply closing all Visual Studio instances and restarting only the instance you need.
In my experience this has happened when two branches of nearly identical code are open in different instances.
doing a "clean solution" from VS Build Menu might help you.
I had to go over all those steps to fix the issue on my computer.
Make sure that debug = "true" on your web.config
Clean and rebuild all projects
Delete every file inside the bin folder of all projects
Close and open Visual Studio, rebuild, and run the project again.
Go to your solution folder -> obj -> Debug - > delete the .dll file and build the solution again.

Visual Studio 2010 debugger steps over methods and doesn't stop at breakpoints

My Visual Studio 2010 debugger sometimes has a very strange behaviour...
Sometimes it doesn't stop at breakpoints, but when it stops, and I want to step into a method, the debugger just steps over it. Also the breakpoints in those over-stepped methods are ignored.
When this strange behaviour occurs, it also does not break on exceptions but simply ignores them.
I've tried to rebuild my project, reset the Visual Studio settings and disabled debugger settings like "Break only in my code", but nothing has worked.
How do I solve this problem?
Here are a couple of reasons and workarounds for why Visual Studio will avoid stepping into a particular method.
Just My Code is enabled. In certain circumstances the "Just My Code" setting will prevent you from stepping into a method / property. To avoid this you can disable "Just My Code" in the debugger options page (Tools -> Options -> Debugger -> Uncheck "Just My Code")
Symbols are not loaded for the target method. If the target method is a part of another DLL it's possible that symbols are not loaded for that DLL and hence Visual Studio will not be able to step into it by default. To force the symbols to load, open up the Modules view (Debugger -> Windows -> Modules), navigate to the DLL containing the method, right click and load symbols.
The method is explicitly marked with a debugger attribute such as DebuggerNonUserCode which causes the debugger to step over the method.
The method is actually a property or operator and you have "Step Over Properties and Operators" setting enabled (this is the default). This can be disabled via the debugger options dialog.
In my case it was "Step Over Properties and Operators" in Tools -> Options -> Debugger. Just had to uncheck that and after that everything was fine, I could step into.
Another source of confusion is iterator methods that use the yield return operator because they are rewritten by the C# compiler in such a way that stepping into them (F11) is kind of a "no-op".
You must wait for the iteration to occur to break into the method's code.
I've found the solution of the problem and it is really simple:
In my solution's build configuration, the "Build" check-box of the project where the methods are, that get over-stepped, was not checked. I checked it, and now everything works.
The most important thing to check is whether when trying to put a new breakpoint inside the method it refuses to step into, if the breakpoint is filled red liked the others, or half filled or has a special "look". If it does, hover over the breakpoint you created to find out why it isn't working.
If the breakpoint looks normal but still you can't seem to step into the method, try clearing the shadow copy cache: http://weblogs.asp.net/mreynolds/archive/2003/08/11/23576.aspx
Another thing to try is to make sure that you are indeed using the DLL you've just rebuilt by adding a MessageBox.Show (or something similar) to the method you can't seem to stop at, and make sure you get the box.
I struggled with this for a while. None of the answers given worked for me. I finally got it to work by doing the following:
Make sure the project is in debug mode (all projects)
From Windows go to a Command prompt and be sure to run as administrator
Navigate to c:\windows\syswow64\ (or folder where gacUtil.exe is located)
Run the following command (substitute path below to where your debug output version of the DLL is located.
gacutil /i "C:\Users\John\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Project1\Project1\bin\Debug\MyAppDLL.dll"
You should get "Assembly successfully added to the cache"
Now run your project and you should be able to step into the DLL code.
WAG here, but I'd say you've referenced another project in your solution by BROWSING to a dll (project/bin/debug/mydll.dll) rather than by adding a "Project Reference." If you have multiple projects in your solution, remove ALL references to each project. Then, in the Add Reference dialog, hit the "add project reference" tab and select the project you wish to reference.
Project references are always updated on a new build. But if you, say, browse to bin/release and add a reference to a dll in that directory, when you switch to debug mode and add code and try to debug it, the old release version of the dll is loaded into the appdomain and VS won't be able to hit any breakpoints (you'll notice the breakpoints are empty circles and the tooltip will say something about the code not being loaded).
I have just found another reason for the problem, and a fix. I am creating a Windows Forms application using C++ in Visual Studio 2010. I am using the FreeType library and some code which depends on it and for various reasons this code has to be compiled with 'No Common Language Runtime Support' selected (Properties -> Configuration Properties -> General). I was not able to get breakpoints to be hit in this non-CLR code.
The fix is that the main app must be compiled with 'Common Language Runtime Support (/clr)', NOT 'Pure MSIL Common Language Runtime Support) (/clr:pure)'. That immediately solved the problem. I can now debug into, and hit breakpoints in, the non-CLR code, including the FreeType C code.
I have experienced the same recently. Not sure what I did exactly though. Try to physically clean up your solution, i.e. delete all bin directories from all projects of the solution. That usually helps to solve a lot of problems.
Try disabling "Require source file to be exactly matched" option in tools->options->debugging->general.
My solution was to create a new project and load all my .vb files into the new project. Solved all of my issues.
My problem was simple. I have multiple projects in the solution and I just need to set the project I am working with as Set As Startup Project.

Possible to create Visual Studio project with Output Type of "none"?

I'm using Visual Studio 2008 and would like to create a sort of container project that holds a number of DLL's that must be installed with a solution. I want them to be in a separate project so that they can be easily attached to a solution as a group.
I created an empty project call TEST, added my DLL's to it with a Build Action of "Content", and set them to "Copy Always". That all works exactly as I want. The problem is that if I set the TEST project Output Type to "Console Application" or "Windows Application" that it won't build because there's no entry point. If I set the Output Type to "Class Library", it builds but I end up with an extra TEST.DLL file that I don't really want.
Is there anyway to sort of set the Output Type to "none"? I want the build actions to take place (so my DLL's get copied) but I don't want the dummy class assembly created. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Assumptions for the following step-by-step guide:
Let's assume that you have a solution with two projects:
Main: your main (start-up) project.
BundledDLLs: a library project which contains the .dlls that should end up in the main project's output directory.
Step-by-step guide:
The easiest way to achieve your goal inside Visual Studio is probably the following:
Add all .dlls to BundledDLLs and set their Copy to output directory to Copy if newer.
This is done in the Project Explorer and the Properties windows.
Configure BundledDLLs's output directory to be identical to Main's output directory.
This can be done in the Build tab of BundledDLL's Project Properties page. Enter something like the following in the Output Path textbox:
..\Main\bin\Debug
Set up BundledDLLs as a dependency of Main.
Do not add BundledDLLs as a project reference to Main, as you usually might; instead, use the Project Dependencies dialog to . This will tell the build tool that whenever Main is built, BundledDLLs needs to be built first.
Do this by right-clicking on the Main project node to open the context menu; select Project dependencies... from there. In the now opened dialog, first select Main from the drop-down list; then check BundledDLLs in the project list below. BundledDLLs is now registered as a dependency of Main.
P.S.: One disadvantage of not having an explicit assembly reference in Main is that some tooling might not recognise the dependency. For example, ClickOnce deployment might not work properly.
Add a post-build event to BundledDLLs that deletes the superfluous BundledDLLs.dll.
As you said, you don't want, and don't need, the dummy output generated when BundledDLLs is built. So add a post-build event that simply deletes this .dll once it's been created.
Open the Build events tab in BundledDLLs's Project Properties page, and enter something like the following in the post-build textbox:
DEL "$(TargetDir)\$(TargetName).*"
(In case you wondered: The reason why you didn't add this project as a project reference to Main earlier is because if you had done so, Main would be looking for BundledDLLs.dll, which it wouldn't be able to find since you don't actually want such a file to be generated.)
P.S.: One disadvantage of adding such a post-build step is that it might interfere with incremental builds. If your project keeps getting recompiled from scratch after this, you might be better off removing the post-build step and living with the extra BundledDLLs.dll in your solution's output directory.
Another option is to use a makefile project, which doesn't require you to build/link anything.
In your project properties (right click property in solution explorer and click "Properties"), under "Configuration Properties" and then under "General", choose "Makefile" from the "Configuration Type" drop-down menu. The build output will include the warning "The property 'NMakeBuildCommandLine' doesn't exist...Skipping" but the build will succeed without building any dll/exe/etc.
While other answers here may better address your specific need, specifying a makefile more directly answers the question title "Possible to create Visual Studio project with Output Type of none?" I hope this is useful for people who google something to that effect and land here.
Credit goes to Xeek in the #winapi freenode irc channel for sharing this tip.
Instead of putting them in a project, you can put the files in a Solution Folder. One of your projects can have a build action that does the copying, but since they won't be in a project, they won't try to "build".

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