CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studiovisual-studio-2008dependenciesprojects-and-solutions
Robert Fraser
Robert Fraser

Reputation: 10917

Visual Studio: How to make one solution depend on another?

Is it possible to make a solution in VS depend on (i.e. include) an entire other solution? I've seen some stuff about "Solution Folders", but these don't seem to be the same thing....? Thanks! (BTW, I'm using VS 2008)

Upvotes: 35

Views: 28364

Answers (5)

net_prog
net_prog

Reputation: 10251

Take a look here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/habibh/walkthrough-adding-an-existing-visual-studio-solution-to-another-solution

Actually the method described adds all projects from another solution to the current solution, not quite what we want, but at least this saves time adding all of the projects manually one by one.

Upvotes: 8

Ryan Mann
Ryan Mann

Reputation: 5357

This post is old, but these days you can easily reuse dependencies in other solutions by building nuget packages for all of them. VS 2015 has nuget package building built in but is currently a Release Candidate. In Visual Studio 2013 you can use the Nuget.Packaging nuget package to allow your project to build as a Nuget Package.

Then you can just publish new versions of your packages to a local network share and configure it as a Repository in Visual Studio.

Then your other solution's projects can depend on that package.

For example, say you have a reusable Utility DLL in a Solution Called "Core Framework" and you want to use a utility in there on a WebSite you are building in a solution called "XYZEcosystem".

In the CoreFramework solution you would build a nuget package for the Utility Project that compiles to the utility dll and include the dll and it's pdb file in the package.

Then you publish that to your network share.

So let's say your package has an ID like "XYZ.Core.Utilities" with a version of 1.0.0.0.

Now in XYZEcosystem you would use the package manager console, set the repository drop down to your repository and type "Install-Package XYZ.Core.Utilities" and it will install the latest version of XYZ.Core.Utilities.

If you make a change to XYZ.Core.Utilities you can run Update-Package XYZ.Core.Utilities on XYZEcosystem and it will pick up the new version.

Upvotes: 18

codeape
codeape

Reputation: 100766

You cannot do that. And why would you want to?

Simply add all the projects that you depend on (the projects in the 'other' solution) to the solution.

Then use project references (not file references) between the projects.

Upvotes: 0

darasd
darasd

Reputation: 2977

A solution is a collection of assemblies that build to create some kind of executable or dll. Having one solution depend on another does not make sense. The output assembly (executable/dll) depends on the assemblies that it references. If your solution depends on other assemblies, then reference them. You can add projects to your solution (File>Add>Existing Project) and then you can add refences these projects from your output project.

Upvotes: 0

Sam Harwell
Sam Harwell

Reputation: 99859

Not really. You'd have to do one of the following:

  • Make a build script that builds the solutions in the correct order.
  • Pre-build solution A, and only reference the built binary outputs from it in solution B.
  • Make a third solution containing all of the projects from both solutions.

The first two items are the most common, where I personally prefer the second.

Upvotes: 21

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