In Silverlight 4 app; what does this error mean?:
"Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component."
It's a very generic error. The VS debugger doesn't point to the exact location of the error when debugging.
This is kind of an old question, but I figured I'd give my answer since I found this thread by Googling for the exact same problem.
In my case, I'd copied some sample XAML from the web to get started with Silverlight Toolkit 4. That sample XAML contained a simple button with a click event handler that didn't relate to any handler that actually existed in my code behind. I didn't notice this simple problem at first, because the compiler didn't give me an error message, I just saw the "Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component" message above at runtime. It was only when I isolated my sample XAML by copying it into a brand new Silverlight application without any other content that the real underlying problem was revealed at compile-time.
So, if you've got the same error message at runtime, my advice is to check your XAML carefully for any errors that you had expected should have been picked up at compile time, but which for some reason ended up as the runtime error noted above. In order to debug, you can do what I did and isolate the code that's causing the error in a standalone Silverlight app with no other content, and see if like me you get a more helpful error message to guide you.
HTH.
There are many solutions out there but this is the only solution that worked several times for me.It has been tried on VS2012 VS2013 and VS2015, I find it working equally good for all.Just follow steps bellow to fix this issue
Step 1 : Close Visual Studio
Step 2 : Delete *.csproj.user and *.suo files
Step 3 : Reopen VS, and try to run project again in debug mode.
NOTE : This situation occurs when multiple users working on same
project with different VS versions .suo file is not supported
for round-tripping between the two VS versions.It contains information
about what settings current user has selected for his/hers VS working
environment.
In my situation:
I create a
class MyControl : ContentControl {
}
By default, the class is not public and XAML cannot load it and throw exception
Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component
Just change the scope of class to public and error disappear.
Hope this help.
PS. Microsoft should provide more on information than just throw a mystery error message without any stack trace.
I also had this error and I found that this problem is related to not have added all requiered assemblies to your project. In my case I was using a UserControl with a depency with the Silverlight Toolkit and I havent added this reference.
I just added the reference and everything solved :)
I had this error using the current SL4 Telerik controls. A similar issue has been reported here with a solution ... of sorts. The problem seems to be with the way Expression Blend manages the cache of controls.
Here's one way to generate this error, which I stumbled upon today. We have the following button in XAML:
<Button x:Name="button" Click="Button_Click" Content="Click me" />
The event handler that handles the button's Click event is as follows:
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
button.Margin = new Thickness(0, double.NaN, 0, 0);
}
When I click on the button I get the aforementioned error. The same error arises if I replace NaN with PositiveInfinity or NegativeInfinity.
Interestingly, I get a different error message if the first parameter of the Thickness constructor contains the NaN instead of the second.
I had this error from problems with XAML. The strange thing was that I had missing resources used by Style and Margin attributes - which means the app runs fine, and even resharper only reports a 'hint'.
Once I cleared up those problems my "Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component." disappeared. As others have said though, this is a vague error, very difficult to debug. In this case I have inherited a large project with 100's of VS and ReSharper messages with varying severity - missing StaticResource on Style attributes were not the first place I checked!
I had this error in my xaml page and there were no syntax errors. Cleaning and re-building the project solved my issue. fyi...
The IIS App Pool has to run as an account that has query access to the Team Foundation Server. This fixes the problem for me.
Most of the reason of this problem related dependency propertied on component design.
You just face off this problem on design.
Soulution is easy but takes time :) Clean project and rebuild all. When you enter the desing again you should see everything is fine!
I hope this helps!
If you see this exception recently, please try to re-install silverlight sdk4.
This is a security and permissions issue. Look into the IIS and make sure Integrated Security is ON. Then set Application Protection level to Medium (If it is high then this might be the result). Then check your Web.Config file. Make sure impersonation is off.
This should help.
I had this problem while I was encoding Live video and audio (using Microsoft Expression) and the next piece of code throws the exception randomly:
// Set bitrate
liveJob.OutputFormat.VideoProfile.Bitrate = new ConstantBitrate(2500);
// Set Video size
liveJob.OutputFormat.VideoProfile.Size = new Size(320,240);
until i've figured out that the second line throws the exception while the first one is still running in another thread !
and of course, it was my fault - i've called the method in code, and it was also been called by Click event...
I had this exception and went nuts. I would advice you check if you had recently installed a component that had possible conflicting namespace items. In my case I installed the windows phone tool-kit which had items that were similarly named with the stock tool kit on windows phone.
Asap I uninstalled this from the Nuget package manager, all was back to normal.
Here is what FINALLY fixed this problem for us when trying to use MICROSOFT.TEAMFOUNDATION library when querying Team Foundation Server:
Team Foundation Explorer has to be installed with the currect version that is referenced in the application.
MSDTC – Configuration. (See DTC config below)
IIS App Pool has to run as an account that has query access to the Team Foundation Server
IIS App Pool has to run as an account that has COM access on IIS Server (We have a dedicated server for this so we made the identity user an administer on the local server).
Firewall has to be off or configured to allow COM access for DTC service.
DTC config ----
Click Start, click Run, type dcomcnfg and then click OK to open Component Services.
In the console tree, click to expand Component Services, click to expand Computers, click to expand My Computer, and click to expand Distributed Transaction Coordinator.
Right click Local DTC, and click Properties to display the Local DTC Properties dialog box.
Click the Security tab.
In the Security Settings section, click Network DTC Access.
In the Client and Administration section, select Allow Remote Clients and Allow Remote Administration.
In the Transaction Manager Communication section, select Allow Inbound and Allow Outbound.
In the Transaction Manager Communication section, select Mutual Authentication Required (if all remote machines are running Windows Server 2003 SP1 or Windows XP SP2 or higher), select Incoming Caller Authentication Required (if running MSDTC in a cluster), or select No Authentication Required if some of the remote machines are pre-Windows Server 2003 SP1 or pre-Windows XP SP2. No Authentication Required is the recommended selection.
I hope this helps.
My problem was a missing Style. I had overridden a control template with a custom brush like so:
<Style x:Key="MyCustomStyle" TargetType="Thumb">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="Thumb">
....
<TextBlock Foreground="{StaticResource MyCustomBrush}"
and was missing my definition of MyCustomBrush, like so:
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="MyCustomBrush" Color="#FFAC0909"/>
and then BOOM, app didn't startup and I got that COM error message.
Well, I was almost going to eat my computer..
At last, I find out the problem is that I MAYBE BY ACCIDENT removed one parameter of one Margin setting of an Image object in the XAML page, orz..
Margin="0,-20,0"
which should be
Margin="0,-20,0,0"
Obviously I didn't realized I have ever modified anything of the XAML, so I have been troubleshooting the code behind for "a little while"..
Fortunately, I found this post and rechecked everything include the XAML page.. that was ... something...
For me, I narrowed it down to a SplitButton control that I downloaded off CodePlex ages ago. I had upgraded the solution from Silverlight 4 to Silverlight 5 and got slammed with this error. I was able to narrow it down by commenting out the XAML to all controls then uncommented it back in one by one until the error appreared again:
System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException was unhandled by user code
Message=Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.
StackTrace:
at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor)
at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks)
at System.Delegate.DynamicInvokeImpl(Object[] args)
at System.Delegate.DynamicInvoke(Object[] args)
at Homexaml_3.BindingOperation(Object BindingState, Int32 , Action )
InnerException:
Message=Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
StackTrace:
at MS.Internal.XcpImports.CheckHResult(UInt32 hr)
at MS.Internal.XcpImports.UIElement_Measure(UIElement element, Size availableSize)
at System.Windows.UIElement.Measure(Size availableSize)
What fixed it was manually removing the outdated references System.Windows.Control and System.Windows.Controls.Toolkit then re-added them from the Silverlight 5 SDK folder.
Hope it helps someone (and helps me!) if it happens again a few months down the road.
I received this error recently in VS 2013 for a Silverlight 5 project. None of the above worked for me. Oddly enough, it was a threading problem (normally I am used to an exception that explains this if I am trying to create UIElements on a background thread by mistake).
Wrapping my code that adds UIElements to the MainPage with Dispatcher.BeginInvoke solved the problem:
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() =>
{
// your code
});
Most of the times its difficult to see where exactly the problem is located especially in XAML.
Another way to find out where its failing is to perform the following steps
Copy the exception it shows in the output window of Visual Studio. example. System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException
Click on Debug -> Exceptions. It shows up the exception list.
Click on the "Add.." button.
Paste the exception copied in the step 1 in the text box. Select "Common Language Runtime exceptions" in the drop down list.
Click on "Ok" button. The selected exception will be highlighted. Make sure you check the checkbox against the exception. Click on "Ok" button again to close the dialog.
Now run the application in debug mode. The application breaks when the exception occurs. Sometimes in the assembler mode as well.
At this point in time you have two options,
Click on the View details of the exception screen shown. Dig into
the inner exceptions until you get a clue from where its
originating.
View the call stack to see which code of line of your is causing
this exception. This will provide clues to resolve the issue.
For me, this was a XAML parsing error. In a data template, I had an extra S between two tags (probably because I pressed S instead of CTRL+S). For example...
<DataTemplate>
<Border/>s
</DataTemplate>
So, I would suggest you look for poorly formatted XML in the view that causes this exception when displayed.
In my case it was, when I tried to import database into the SSDT project, but this database already was in project, but was empty. I've just updated my project with Tools -> SQL server -> New schema comparsion. Source - database, target - project. Compare - update.
Hope it helps to someone
This error seems to be a 'catch-all' for errors that otherwise are not given a specific definition or tracing, especially those having to do with relatively external Xaml code.
In my particular case, there seemed to be an issue with the namespaces. My UserControl is in its own namespace (creatively named "UserControls"). My Pages are in their own namespace ("Pages"). I wanted to reference an enum definition in the Pages namespace from within my UserControl, so I simply added a using statement: using MySolution.Pages;. Trivial enough, and I didn't want to believe that this was the problem. But when I removed that using statement and simply created the enum in my UserControls namespace, voila, no more HRESULT error and also, as an added bonus, my dependency properties defined in the UserControl, which otherwise were mysteriously not showing up in the Xaml intellisense, suddenly were there and ready to use.
I suspect that underlying cause for this in my case was some sort of circular reference issue. And since there was no more specific error available to relate that information to me, it simply got shuffled into this HRESULT E_FAIL Com error.
I fixed this error by deleting the XAML file and add a new one from add new item. Then I pasted the XAML codes that was there in the old file.
This is an old question but in my case, none of the above solutions worked. I was trying to update the NuGet packages in Visual Studio 2017 but I was getting the following Exception.
update-package : Failed to add reference to 'System.Web.Razor'.
Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component.
In fact, other NuGet commands like restore-package were failing with similar exception message.
I discovered a few assemblies were missing under the packages directory so I deleted the packages directory and returned back to the Visual Studio 2017. When I opened the solution it asked me to restore the packages and after that, I was able to update the packages.
NOTE: Take a backup of package directory before deleting it.
I encountered this same error after installing VS2019 and trying to open a large solution (20+ projects), with both vcxproj and csproj projects, that target VS2015. The csproj all loaded fine, while the vcxproj all failed with the OP's error. Deleting the .vs folder did not work.
What did work was setting VC++'s "Fallback Location", under the "Browsing Database Fallback" settings.
Tools (menu)
-Options...
--Text Editor
---C/C++
---Advanced
----Browsing Database Fallback
-----Fallback Location
I set mine to D:\VC++\v16. Where I use v140 for VS2015 and v141 for VS2017. Also set "Always Use" and "Do not warn".
If anyone facing this issue, while adding reference in console/windows applications, follow the below steps
Open "Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017" as Admin
CD into "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies"
Run "gacutil -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.11.0.dll"
Restart Visualstudio
Reference - https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/add-a-reference-raise-error-error-hresult-e-fail-h/260196
Simple question - I found two ways to add a tool window to Visual Studio (2008): create an addin or create a package.
(Addin: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/vstoolwindow.aspx)
(Package: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb165051.aspx)
What's the "right" way?
You can do either, and I've done both. In some ways, addins are a bit easier, but they suffer from some annoying drawbacks.
Add-in:
+No requirement to install the Visual Studio SDK
+No requirement to use a Package Load Key (PLK) or sign your distributed binaries
+Easier development process when you use the Extensibility API (simplified code in many ways)
+Easier installation process (no wacky registry stuff)
-Doesn't seem to behave as well as VSPackage-based tool panes
-I've run into performance issues which prompted me to use the VS SDK COM interfaces instead of the Extensibility ones, leading to a significant performance bump. In other words, my "add-in" is now based on the VS SDK and is only really an add-in because it loads via an XML file instead of the registry. (Also, from everything I can tell, the Extensibility interfaces are just a large utility wrapper around the SDK.)
VSPackages:
+You can harness the full power of the VS SDK, both its feature set and (potentially, when carefully used) performance advantage
+Seems to behave more reliably than add-ins
-Requires signed binaries, a PLK, and a complicated installation procedure
-Steep learning curve, and many seemingly simple actions are nasty/convoluted. I now have an assembly providing extension methods to perform "obvious (to me)" actions on the COM interfaces. Between that and experience things have improved over time. There are similar options available to the community, which you should seriously consider if you go this route.
I think 280Z28 was perfectly correct prior VS2010. But now VS2010 and VS012:
Do not require officially signed packages (may only those that go to the Gallery have to);
Thanks to VSIX it can very easily install VSPackages that can also be deployed to the Gallery.
Moreover VS2010 supports another kind of extensibility: those are MEF extensions, that are lightweight plugins that trigger only at specific events of the IDE, like text editor events. An example is FixMixedTabs extension.
Just a create a VSPackage empty package (no menus, commands, ...) and copy this in the main class to create a VSPackage that basically loads when there's an active solution and just get a reference to the DTE2. In this way you can just use it as an Add-in.
// This attribute tells the PkgDef creation utility (CreatePkgDef.exe) that this class is
// a package.
[PackageRegistration(UseManagedResourcesOnly = true)]
// This attribute is used to register the informations needed to show the this package
// in the Help/About dialog of Visual Studio.
[InstalledProductRegistration("#110", "#112", "1.0", IconResourceID = 400)]
[Guid(GuidList.guidVSPackage1PkgString)]
// Load this package when a solution is loaded (VSConstants.UICONTEXT_SolutionExists)
[ProvideAutoLoad("{f1536ef8-92ec-443c-9ed7-fdadf150da82}")]
public sealed class VSPackage1Package : Package
{
/// <summary>
/// Default constructor of the package.
/// Inside this method you can place any initialization code that does not require
/// any Visual Studio service because at this point the package object is created but
/// not sited yet inside Visual Studio environment. The place to do all the other
/// initialization is the Initialize method.
/// </summary>
public VSPackage1Package()
{
Trace.WriteLine(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "Entering constructor for: {0}", this.ToString()));
}
/// <summary>
/// Initialization of the package; this method is called right after the package is sited, so this is the place
/// where you can put all the initilaization code that rely on services provided by VisualStudio.
/// </summary>
protected override void Initialize()
{
Trace.WriteLine (string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "Entering Initialize() of: {0}", this.ToString()));
base.Initialize();
IVsExtensibility extensibility =
GetService(typeof(EnvDTE.IVsExtensibility)) as
IVsExtensibility;
DTE2 dte = extensibility.GetGlobalsObject(null).DTE as DTE2;
}
}
If you are just creating a simple tool window then I suggest going the Add-in route.
Both Packages and Add-Ins are ways of extending Visual Studio. Generally speaking they have the same functionality. Packages are a bit more powerful and allow deeper integration into Visual Studio. But that deeper integration comes with a cost including bigger ramp up times and installation procedures.
Add-ins are designed to be a more light weight extension mechanism. Smaller ramp up time and easier installation.
If all you are doing is tool window with basic interaction of the editor our code model then add-in is the best route.
I was wondering how Visual Studio associates MFC CDialog derived classes with their corresponding dialog resources. I'm not interested in how the connection is made at run time (as asked here), but rather at design time.
When I add a message handler to a dialog, how does it know which class to add the handler to.
Also, is it possible to have several CDialog derived classes associated with the same dialog resource and vice versa?
I have searched the project directory for the IDD_SOMEDIALOG string but have only found it in SomeDialog.h, resource.h and Project.rc in the expected places so I guess it somehow deduces the connection from those files, most likely the enum in SomeDialog.h:
// in class CSomeDialog:
enum { IDD = IDD_SOMEDIALOG };
I'm asking this mostly out of curiosity.
It depends on what version of dev studio.
In VS6 it was all kept in the CLW (Class Wizard File).
In newer versions of dev studio it doesn't use the CLW anymore and I don't know specifically how it knows, but i suspect its a live parsing instead of using a cached CLW.
As for having multiple derived dialogs using the same resource, it can be done manually. You can duplicate the created class files and rename them and remove the enum from header and edit the use of the IDD enum in the source file to be the actual dialog resource id (IDD_SOMEDIALOG).
AFAIK Dev Studio will only 'happily' handle one class to a dialog at a time. In my experience trying to re-use a dialog resource like this just ends up in a bit of battle with MFC & Dev Studio since they were not intended to do this.
To add to Ruddy's answer:
I noticed that some of my dialog classes in which I replaced the enum { IDD } with static const int IDD was not any longer associated with its dialog resource. Reverting to the enum re-associated them. So it seems that visual studio parses the source code to determine the relationships.
As for resource sharing, it would be ambiguous as to which class should receive the event handler code. Class sharing seems to be be impossible since it relies on the IDD which can not be assigned to a IDD_SOMETHING and IDD_SOMETHING_ELSE simultaneously.