I have 5 basic projects that need to be part of multiple applications. WinForms, ASP.NET, WPF depending on the needs we have.
These Projects are:
Company.Business - Business Logic DLL
Company.Business.Model - Business Models
Company.Business.DAL - Various DALs
Company.Configuration.Classes - Classes that are used to initialize BOs
Company.Utilities - General Utilities
Now i am trying to decide how i should go about when i create new UI solutions?
1) Include the projects by Add->Existing project ?
2) Copy the compiled .dlls to each solution manually?
In case of option 2 where i should do the basic development for all the above? Probably a separate solution that includes them all? and in there i should start unit testing?
My take on this is that it depends on your needs and how mature the "basic" projects are.
Your needs
If you need to look at into the code of the "basic" projects while working on the using-projects, then I'd add them to the current solution with the add-existing project method. In situations with multiple added existing projects I make a solution folder called "referenced projects" and add them in this folder.
Maturity
If your "basic" projects are still being developed (perhaps side-by-side) with the using-projects I'd also would add them in the solution as described above.
But if you have no need to look at the code then you might as well include the compiled dll in your client-projects.
Harry
My compact framework application is generating a ...asmmeta.dll file in the output folder. What exactly are these files and why are they created? I have made compact framework applications in the past and it hasn't created any files like this.
One possible reason (you've not said a lot about what you're building) may be that you have USerControls or custom controls of some sort. In that case, the asmeta files are created for Studio designer support of those controls. Do you also have an XMTA file in the project?
I am currently developing a handful of similar Cocoa desktop apps. In an effort to share code between them, I have identified a set of core classes and functions that can be common across all of these applications. I would like to bundle this common code into a framework which all of my current applications (and any future ones) can link against.
Now, here's the hard part: I'm going to be developing this framework as I go, so I need each of my desktop apps to have a reference to it, but I want to be able to edit the framework source code from within each of the app projects and have the framework automatically rebuilt as required.
For example, let's say I have the Xcode project for DesktopAppNumberOne open, and I decide that one of my framework classes needs to be changed. I would like to:
Open and edit the source file for that framework class without having to open the framework project in Xcode.
Hit "build" on DesktopAppNumberOne, and see the framework rebuilt first (because one of its sources has changed), then see parts of DesktopAppNumberOne rebuilt (because one of the frameworks it links against has changed).
I can see how to do this with only one app and one framework, but I'm having trouble figuring out how to do it with multiple apps that share a single framework.
Has anyone had success with this approach? Am I perhaps going about this the wrong way? Any help would be appreciated.
Make an XCode Project for you framework.
In the 'Groups & Files' Panel > See the Blue Project Icon at the very top left? Drag and drop that into the 'Groups & Files' Panel of any other project you like.
So, make an app project, and drag in the project icon from your framework project.
CMD-i on your app target. Here you set your dependency on the framework and Link against it.
A few points
Linking multiple apps to one framework can be stressfull. You will either need to install your framework into /Library/Frameworks or equivalent or bundle up into each app.
For development purposes, i find setting a custom, common build directory for each of the projects eases things. I set each project to build into /Code/Build/Debug. This means that framework search path for debug build can be $CONFIGURATION_BUILD_DIR. For your release builds you will still have some work todo with install paths, rpaths, etc. Pain in the Ass!
XConfig files are your friends. The Open source google mac toolbox stuff is a good example of how to use them. You will probably need at least a Project_debug.xconfig, Project_release.xconfig, Target_framework.xconfig, Target_application.xconfig.
Being new to VS, how may I think of these two concepts, what is the difference?
I find some missing information in the other answers (at least for people who come from other IDEs like, say, Eclipse) . To say that a solution is a container for projects is only part of the thing. The conceptual feature of a VS project (what determines its 'granularity') is that one project produces one output: typically an executable or a library (dll). So, if you are going to code three executables that uses related code, you'll create one solution and at least three projects - probably more.
A solution is a container for projects, and tracks dependencies between projects.
Just to come up with a metaphor..
A solution is like a house, a project like a room. Each room provides a piece of functionality whereas the house, a container of rooms, provides the means to link the rooms together and organize them appropriately.
Kind of corny but I made it up on the fly, so bear with me :)
It doesn't help that Visual Studio seems to make things more confusing. "New Project" actually creates a new SOLUTION containing a project. "Open Project" actually opens a solution containing one (or many) project. (The file menu says "Open Project/Solution" but it really is opening solutions. There is no "Close Project" only "Close Solution" which is accurate.
So, in VS you are always working within a solution. Many solutions contain only one project and newer developers are likely to think of them as the same thing. However you can add other projects into a solution.
In case anyone decides to scroll down this far... I thought the MS docs did a pretty good job at describing the differences. I've copy pasted (and rephrased) the relevant bits here:
When you create an app, application, website, Web App, script, plug-in, etc in Visual Studio, you start with a project. In a logical sense, a project contains of all the source code files, icons, images, data files and anything else that will be compiled into an executable program or web site, or else is needed in order to perform the compilation. A project also contains all the compiler settings and other configuration files that might be needed by various services or components that your program will communicate with.
You don't have to use solutions or projects if you don't want to. You can simply open the files in Visual Studio and start editing your code.
In a literal sense, a project is an XML file (.vbproj, .csproj, .vcxproj) that defines a virtual folder hierarchy along with paths to all the items it "contains" and all the build settings.
In Visual Studio, the project file is used by Solution Explorer to display the project contents and settings. When you compile your project, the MSBuild engine consumes the project file to create the executable. You can also customize projects to product other kinds of output.
A project is contained, in a logical sense and in the file system, within a solution, which may contain one or more projects, along with build information, Visual Studio window settings, and any miscellaneous files that aren't associated with any project. In a literal sense, the solution is a text file with its own unique format; it is generally not intended to be edited by hand.
A solution has an associated .suo file that stores settings, preferences and configuration information for each user that has worked on the project.
A Solution can have many Projects.
The Solution can also handle managing the dependencies between its different Projects...making sure that each Project gets Built in the appropriate order for the final Solution to work.
A project contains executable and library files that make up an application or component of an application.
A solution is a placeholder for logically related projects that make up an application. For example, you could have separate projects for your application's GUI, database access layer, and so on. The projects would be specific divisions for your program's functionality, and the solution would be the umbrella unifying all of them under one application.
A solution is a readable text file whose extension is .sln and having a structured content that describes the projects that it contains. A project is a readable XML formatted text file whose extension is .vcxproj and having a structured content according to its XML schema, and whose primary purpose is to contain the listing of source codes filenames and their dependencies or references to other project's source codes as well.
Solutions are containers for projects - you can also use them to organize items that are used across different related project (shared dll's and such).
Solutions are containers used by Visual Studio to organize one or more related projects. When you open a solution in Visual Studio, it will automatically load all the projects it contains.
When you create a new project in Visual Studio, it automatically creates a solution to house the project if there's not a solution already open.
You can set dependencies of projects on other projects in the solution. The dependent project is build after the project it is depending on is built.
For more details refer - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/quickstart-projects-solutions
If you are from an Eclipse background you would probably go to build path of a project and add a dependency on other project or add an external jar. In VS you can do that in a single container called solution where all related projects are grouped together.
Eg. Let's say you are build and android and iOS app in xamrin, there would be some common code and resources that could go in a separate project and then your android and iOS projects can depend on this common code project. Also you could have projects to test these projects etc.
How do I create a Web Application Project in VS 2008? How is it different from a "WebSite" project?
File--New--Project
instead of File--New--Web Site
It acts as a different container all together and the compile model is different.
ScottGu provided some details when they were first launched: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/05/08/445742.aspx
The main difference is that Web application uses .csproj file which holds the information about all the files in the project. What difference does it make? Using web site model you can add new files without visual studio, since adding new files doesn't require csproj file modifications, but using Web application model you can not.
I personally prefer Web application type.
People have adequately identified many differences, but let me add this broader stroke:
Web Application Projects are architecturally consistant with the other project types in .Net, whereas WebSites deviate and really seem like a throwback to the VS 2003 days.
For this reason, my opinion is that WAP's are more elegant (especially when you have more than one project in a solution).