CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#visual-studiovisual-studio-2008visual-studio-2013
Kyro
Kyro

Reputation: 768

Visual Studio 2008 Project in 2013 Solution

I have a Visual Studio 2008 project that is a Smart Device project targeting a .NET 3.5 Compact Framework Windows CE device and it currently references a 3.5 class library project.

What I would like to do is be able to add the class library into a Visual Studio 2012/2013 solution without "migrating" it.

For example the structure is currently:

I want to have is:

The result of this would be that I can work on the Smart device project in VS2008 and add classes to the Class Library Project, and then be able to open the VS2013 solution file and have those new classes available.

When I look at the difference between a 2008 Class Project and a 2013 Class Project csproj files, the only thing that really is different is the ToolsVersion on the Project element (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bcxfsh87.aspx). In VS2008 the ToolsVersion is 3.5, but in VS2013 its 12.0.

I've attempted to make the ClassLibraryProject switch between 3.5 and 12.0 for the ToolsVersion with the following:

<Project ToolsVersion="$(ProjectToolsVersion)">
<Choose>
    <When Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' != ''">
        <PropertyGroup>
            <ProjectToolsVersion>12.0</ProjectToolsVersion>
        </PropertyGroup>
    </When>
    <Otherwise>
        <PropertyGroup>
            <ProjectToolsVersion>3.5</ProjectToolsVersion>
        </PropertyGroup>
    </Otherwise>
</Choose>
<!-- other project stuff -->
</Project>

I can open this fine in VS2013, but when I open it in VS2008 it says:

Unable to read the project file 'ClassLibraryProject.csproj'.
C:\Test\ClassLibraryPorject.csproj: The tools version "$(ProjectToolsVersion)" is unrecognized.

Please Note: I am not able to migrate the entire project to VS2013 because VS2013 does not support Smart Device projects.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3184

Answers (1)

Lex Li
Lex Li

Reputation: 63299

VS2008 which uses MSBuild 3.5 should be able to handle ToolsVersion 12, as in that case it automatically falls back to ToolsVersion 3.5.

Thus, you should migrate the class library project in VS2013, and it should be able to work still in the VS2008 solution without any modification.

VS2008 and MSBuild 3.5 gives you the error, because Choose is evaluated later than Project, so what you define in Choose (aka ProjectToolsVersion) cannot be used in Project.

Upvotes: 1

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