ChristianASP.NET Blog - Visual Studio 2005

Converting a Class Library Project to WAP

David Neal — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:29:25 GMT

Like a few others, I eventually ditched ASP.NET 1.1 Web Form projects in in favor of Class Library projects. For any of you out there converting your 1.1 Class Library projects to ASP.NET 2.0 and want to use the after-market Web Application Project, here's what you need to do.

Convert your 1.1 project to 2.0 using the VS 2005 conversion wizard (just open the project in VS 2005)
Close VS 2005
Edit your .csproj or .vbproj file with a text editor
Find the line that reads <ProjectType>Local</ProjectType> and change it to:

[C#]

<ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>

[VB.NET]

<ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}</ProjectTypeGuids>

For any of you still developing under VS 2003, check out Fritz Onion's ASP.NET without Web Projects.

UPDATE: Found out that settings for VB.NET projects are different.

UPDATE 2: If you've upgraded a 1.1 project to WAP, you'll probably want to also right-click on the project and choose the "Convert to Web Application" option. This will split the code-behind files into partial classes and enable designer support. Thanks for the tip, Scott!

Red Gate SQL Prompt is FREE!

David Neal — Tue, 23 May 2006 13:09:58 GMT

Awesome! Red Gate has released SQL Prompt, and it's FREE! Get Intellisense for Query Analyzer, Enterprise Manager, SQL Management Studio, and Visual Studio 2003/2005. It even supports UltraEdit and EditPlus.

SQL Prompt can also automatically upper-case SQL keywords, and provides a code snippet engine.

Prompt SQL is now Red Gate SQL Prompt

David Neal — Thu, 04 May 2006 17:46:40 GMT

I absolutely love Red Gate's SQL tools, and can't say enough good things about them. I just found out from Steven Smith that Red Gate have purchased Prompt SQL (intellisense for SQL), and there's a beta to be downloaded that supports SQL 2005 Management Studio! According to the beta support forums, the plan is to sell SQL Prompt for $50/user with multi-user discounts at 5- and 10-user levels.

By the way, Red Gate's Profiler and Load tools are incredible, too.

Free eBook: Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers

David Neal — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 01:01:00 GMT

For anyone interested in learning Visual Basic 2005, you can now grab all the chapters from "Introduction to Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers" from MSDN.

Get a focused, first look at the features and capabilities in Microsoft Visual Basic 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and the .NET Framework 2.0. If you currently work with Visual Basic 6, these authors fully understand the adoption and code migration issues you'll encounter. They'll step you through a quick primer on .NET Framework programming, offering guidance for a productive transition. If you already work with .NET, you'll jump directly into what's new, learning how to extend your existing skills. From the innovations in rapid application development, debugging, and deployment, to new data access, desktop, and Web programming capabilities, you get the insights and code walkthroughs you need to be productive right away.

Download here.

VS 2005 Referencing Wrong Version of Assembly

David Neal — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:27:11 GMT

I think I just wasted somewhere around 10 hours over the last several days trying to track down an issue I've been having. It started out as what should have been a painless project upgrade from VS 2003 to 2005. This particular project happens to use Crystal Reports XI.

"Well, that's your first problem!"

Yes, I know. Crystal. A fool to be pitied, am I. Alas, it's a customer requirement... on with the story.

Everything compiles and runs great. However, now none of the reports are working. I'm getting all kinds of weird exceptions. I fight with references and what-not for a couple of hours. Turns out, for .NET 2.0 you need to download Crystal Reports XI Release 2. No problem. It's only a 1GB download. That should only take, what, three days?

Fast forward download and 2 hour upgrade install. Everything compiles and runs great. However, now none of the reports that have parameters are working. I'm getting a weird exception whining that ParameterDiscreteValue can't be cast to ParameterValue, even though ParameterDiscreteValue inherits from ParameterValue. Only makes sense, right?

I run through and fix all my references again, and then start narrowing down and eliminating all the possible culprits. I double-check my code against all samples and Google results I can find. No dice. So, I give up and open a support case with Crystal. Insert typical support response: "Have you tried running the samples?"

At this point I'm so desparate that I actually do run a sample project that sets parameters dynamically. It works. So, I set out to plug one of my own reports into the sample project. It works. WHAT?!

After stepping through every line of code for the millionth time (give or take 3 builds), I finally go back and check my references again. Hmm... that's odd. All my Crystal references are OK except the Crystal Engine is pointing to the 10.0 version that ships with VS 2005. Update the reference and recompile. Run a report. Exception. Check my references again. Hmm... that's odd. The old reference is back again.

OK... the fix?? After setting the reference, I have to set the "Specific Version" property to "True." If I don't, VS 2005 is kind enough to automagically change my reference back to the previous version.

This is actually not the first time this issue has happened to me. At this point I'm so frustrated I could spit.

Hey, wait. These spots on my laptop might be dried spittle. I'm not sure.

Code Snippets

David Neal — Wed, 09 Nov 2005 23:13:00 GMT

One of the cool new features in VS 2005 I’ve seen a couple of presenters use is Code Snippets. Basically, it is a customizable code generation tool that allows you to type some quick short hand or alias, and VS 2005 will automatically expand it into a block of code. For example, if you type “foreach” and press TAB a couple of times, you’ll get a new foreach block with customizable types and variable names. You just have to see it for yourself.

There are a number of built-in Code Snippets (just do a help search in VS 2005), but you can also create your own. As a matter of fact, someone has already started an online library of code snippets at GotCodeSnippets.net. Also, there is a Code Snippet editor named Snippy (of course) that will help you build your own Code Snippets and add them to VS 2005.