CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-studiodebugging
Boris Mesetovic
Boris Mesetovic

Reputation: 420

DebuggingVisualizer targeting multiple versions of Visual Studio

Is it possible to build a Debugging Visualizer that can be used in multiple versions of Visual Studio?

A Debugging Visualizer has to reference Microsoft.VisualStudio.DebuggerVisualizers.dll and there is a separate version of the assembly for every version of Visual Studio. It seems that these versions are not compatible. For example, if I built a visualizer that references Microsoft.VisualStudio.DebuggerVisualizers v9.0, it can be used in Visual Studio 2008, but not in Visual Studio 2010.

I am looking for a way to target at least Visual studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010 while maintaining only one project for the visualizer. Duplicating the project and changing only references to Microsoft.VisualStudio.DebuggerVisualizers will work, but it creates a maintenance horror.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 139

Answers (1)

Snowbear
Snowbear

Reputation: 17274

If your code base is exactly the same for both referenced assemblies then I would suggest the same approach as I've suggested in this question: Visual Studio Installer -- Change application resource

The idea is to have 1 project where you will have a MSBuild property which VS to target and depending on this property you may reference either VS 2008 or VS 2010 DebuggerVisualizers assembly.

The only other solution I see is the one you've mentioned - having 2 separate project files to target different VS version. I do not think it will be that difficult to maintain two versions if you will not duplicate code. And you can avoid duplicating code by including code files as links into your projects.

Upvotes: 1

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