I recently inherited some source code developed by someone else who is no longer with the company. However, the solution file was missing and I'm not even sure which version of MVC it was using. I'm experienced with ASP.NET, but not well-versed in MVC so I'm unsure how to go about rebuilding the solution the proper way. Looking for any tips/guidance on how to go about this.
Create a new, blank solution.
Open the solution in Windows Explorer.
Copy the project files into the solution folder.
Within Visual Studio, right-click the solution in Solution Explorer, and then chose the option to Add Existing Project....
Navigate to the solution folder (if necessary), and then select the .csproj (or .vbproj) file. The project will added into the solution.
Now, whether you can compile the solution/project depends on whether the version of MVC is compatible with the tooling installed in your instance of Visual Studio. If the project has NuGet dependencies, they should be restored the first time you build, depending (again) on your version of Visual Studio and tooling.
Edited:
Since you say that even the project file is missing, you can, assuming there are no external dependencies, create a new MVC project and then copy/paste the files into it (or drag & drop the files from Windows Explorer). Assuming there is a Views folder, it will have it's own web.config file. That config file will have bindings for the version of MVC the project was developed with.
MVC4 and newer projects tended to default to using Razor syntax, so the views will be littered with stuff like #Model. If it's using the older WebForms syntax (like <asp:ContentPlaceholder>), it's probably MVC3 or older.
Go to web.config file in the project and look for:
assembly="System.Web.Mvc,Version=3.0.0.0 ..."
In this example is.MVC 3, look for your version
Related
I've been through a lot of similar issues, but could not find anything that worked for me.
I'm upgrading my IDE from the VisualStudio for Web (v10) to Visual Studio 2015 (v14, I guess) Community Edition.
The main project that I'm trying to use on the new IDE is a MVC 5 (5.2.3), with EF 6.1 (6.1.3) and a bunch of other stuff.
Problem is: When opening the project on the new IDE, everything looks fine (it even compiles and work). I got the MVC context menu working on the project explorer (showing the "Add Controller..." and "Add View..." when appropriate). Only (really annoying) thing is the Razor Intellisense.
When I do open a View file (.cshtml) I receive warnings on several helpers, some of the "using" are greyed out (even though they're supposed to be needed) and the #model myModel is shown like everything after the #model directive is not razor (it's treated like HTML by the intellisense coloring).
What I've already found and tried:
I've already tried to clear the UserData from the vs (devenv /ResetUserData)
I've already tried to run the VS2015 in safe mode
I've already tried to run VS2015 as Administrator
I've already tried to set the Project's target framework to 4.5.1 (used to be 4.5)
I've already tried to open the project on Visual Studio Community 2013 saving it there before trying to use it on VS2015.
When creating another MVC project from the VS2015, everything works fine.
Here's an example of the annoying issue:
Ok, finally got it.
Posting what I found out believing it may help someone else:
What seems to cause the problem mentioned is the fact that the project was created on an old MVC version (with older Razor, EF, etc).
As stated in this answer: Visual Studio 2015 Razor View MVC Types not recognized, VS2015 tools may not work for older MVCs.
The solution is to update all your packages to [at least] the minor versions accepted on newer MVC (5?). To do so you can use the list in this website: http://www.asp.net/mvc/overview/releases/how-to-upgrade-an-aspnet-mvc-4-and-web-api-project-to-aspnet-mvc-5-and-web-api-2.
Once everything is up-to-date, open the web.config files located on root of your application and on the Views folder. In there, you will probably find some references to the older versions of MVC and Razor. Update those versions values (all of them) to match the updated versions of your packages (you may create a new empty MVC project on the new Visual Studio and check for those values as a hint of what they should be).
This step is the catch! Since, even if you update you project's packages, some web.config references may still mention the original versions.
Clean the solution (Build > Clean Solution) and close the project. Reopen and compile it. Now [hopefully] everything should be working fine.
[Edit]
One more thing: If your project was also updated from Framework 4.5 to 4.5.1 during this IDE transition, you should also install a NuGet package called "Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform" (as stated in https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3025133).
I've got an old project from a friend that he wants me to do redo. How ever that project is written in ASP.net mvc2. So When I try to open it in visual studio 2013 I can errors. Saying the file is incompatible. How would I go ahead and fix this?
I would highly recommend you to create a new empty MVC 5 project, and move all your files there from old MVC 2 project. If you just try to update DLLs its very hard be sure if you updated all DLLs, proj file, nugets, or at least little bit more work by copying files is well worth it. Problem is that VS2013 is not compatible with old version of MVC framework.
But, if you really want to open MVC 2 solution in VS2013, you can try following some steps described here: How do I open an old MVC project in Visual Studio 2012 or Visual Studio 2013? (contains a project Guid that needs to be changed inside .proj file)
I had a solution that included both an ASP.NET MVC web project and a WebAPI project. The solution was created originally with VS2012, but I recently upgraded it to VS2013.
I just noticed when going to add a controller that I'm not getting the correct options in the right click menu. For instance if I go to the web project and right click the controllers folder, the option to add a controller isn't there. Instead I have add WebAPI controller. It's exactly the opposite for the WebAPI project.
Things seem to build and run ok so far, but it's going to be a pain manually adding things and I'm wondering if something else might break. Any idea why this is happening or how to fix it?
I would guess that project type is different in your csproj. Take a look at this question:
What is the significance of ProjectTypeGuids tag in the visual studio project file
Here is what I have on my machine for c# asp.net mvc project:
<ProjectTypeGuids>{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
Take a look at your guids and see what they mean.
You could see the meaning of the different GUID in the register :
•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Projects for
ProjectTypeGuids
•HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Packages for
packages reference by some project
If I try to open one of my projects in VS2010 on our build machine I get the error: "The project type is not supported by this installation". This is because I don't have MVC 4 installed on this machine. As I would like to keep my build machine as clean as possible I would like NOT to install MVC 4 (and deploy/reference the needed DLLs manually). Is it safe to edit my project file and to remove {E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47} (MVC4) from <ProjectTypeGuids>?
You would be editing you solution file, not the project file in this case.
Well, if it's only you working on this, or you don't check the .sln back into source code once you have removed it, then yes.
If you do, it will be missing for others, who have MVC installed.
Alternatively, leave it in there as unloaded.
Another workaround would be to create a separate SLN file with everything but the offending project in.
EDIT
You would need MVC installed to be able to open / edit / do anything with this project.
I have made a relatively simple change to the MVC 1.0 source code to correct a bug in the DropDownList HtmlHelper (discussed in another question).
I was able to rebuild the MVC solution, ran all the tests, including the one I hadd added to show the bug I was fixing, and built a new DLL.
But how do I use that?
I tried moving the new MVC dll into the project and changing all the project references to point to it, but when I try to run the MVC website, it's throwing an exception saying there's a conflict between my version of MVC and the MVC in the GAC.
I tried to use gacutil.exe to remove the one from the GAC, but it says it can't do that because it would make another program (the Microsoft Installer? fail.
What do I have to do to install my newly built version in place of the "official" version?
If you want to remove it from the GAC without uninstalling MVC (which includes the Visual Studio templates you probably need), you need to do this in the registry:
Find registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Assemblies\Global and look for key starting with System.Web.Mvc – delete it
Now you should be able to use gacutil.exe to remove System.Web.Mvc from the GAC, and you should be able to use your version from your /bin folder.
How about changing the version number when you compile the modified MVC framework?