Copying and Renaming Visual Studio VB.NET Projects

[kdsdata]

Copying and Renaming Visual Studio VB.NET Projects

It's actually easy, but at first it can appear confounding. Here (IMHO) is a good checklist, to make it easy and to make sure no step is missed.

Disclaimer: This list is for a VB.NET 2010 projects. My apologies, but I can't verify if the same list applies to C# or C++, or earlier versions of VB.NET.

1. Close all VS Projects and VS itself.
2. Via Windows Explorer make a copy of the (old) Project.
3. With reference to the new (copied) folder, and with the meaning "rename to the new Project name":
-> i. Rename the app (root) folder
-> ii. Rename the app (root)\(sub) folder
-> iii. Rename the .sln file
4. Delete the .suo file
5. Open the new app (rrot)\(sub) folder and "rename" the .vbproj file.
6. Open VS.
7. Click <Open Projects...> and point to the new .sln file
8. You will get the following error message:
-> "One or more projects in the solution were not loaded correctly.
-> Please see Output Window for details"
9. Click <OK> and ignore this message, for the remainder of this checklist.
10. When the Project opens, Right-Click on the Project in the Solutions Explorer, and select <Remove>
11. Again, Right-Click in the Solutions Explorer, and select <Add><Existing project...>
12. Point to, and open, the new .vbproj file in the (new) app (root)\(sub) folder.
13. Via the Solutions Explorer, check that all files are correctly named and in the correct folders. Starting with the Solution, click each item, going down the list, and inspect the Properties Window, looking for correct names and folders.
14. However, you are not done renaming the project.
15. In the Solutions Explorer, Double-Click <My project>
16. This opens the (new name) Top-Tab. The Left-Tab should be <Application>.
17. In the fields "Assembly name" and Root namespace", enter the new project name.
18. From the <File> menu, choose <Close Solution>, and click <OK> in reply to the question "Save changes to the following items:"
19. The new project should save and close, and should be visible now in VS under <Recent Projects>.
20. But you are still not done. There is some clean-up to do.
21. Open the new (renamed) app from the <Start page>.
22. Via the Solutions Explorer, right-click the Project (generally the first line below the Solution), and select <Remove>.
23. Assuming the old Project was able to compile, the new Project should also compile, and create the respective files.
24. Close the app and VS.
25. Go to the app folder (root)\(sub)\bin\debug and delete the files with the old project name.
26. Go to the app folder (root)\(sub)\obj\x86\debug and delete the files with the old project name.
27. Now you are done with copying, renaming, and cleaning up.

Download the attached file, and print it out for your checklist.
Good Luck
kdsdata

[cicatrix]

Hmm, what's so difficult? I just copied all the files from the solution folder to a new location and opened it there. All paths to the project files (except external references) are stored relative to the 'root' path of the project.
And it's easier to rename the project when it's opened.

[kdsdata]

Hello cicatrix,

You are correct in saying that you can copy the project folder and just rename the folder, and then rename the the project when the solution is open in VS.

However, that does not clean up items such as the sub folder and the paths of any of your references to the "new" sub path. It also does not change the filenames for the "build" files.

I am aware that my submitted checklist seems long, but it's actually not really that bad to go through, and "all" the references get changed to the new name. 2 minutes and you are done.

I will add that the checklist is all predicated on having all the refrences AND files under the one (new) "project" root folder.

If any files are "external" to the project root folder, then the checklist would be somewhat different. However, if the sub folder, and some of the files have the old project name (or parts of it), then you will need steps something like the checklist.

Regards,
kdsdata

[Hack]

Moved To Tutorials

[WCCRobert]

I have some confusion when I hit step 22. Deleting the new project that was just added doesn't make any sense to me. Are you supposed to add the project back at any point? Could you please clarify the last 6 steps?

[kdsdata]

Thanks so much WCCRoberts for picking up on that.

It is item 21 that has an error and should read:
21. Via the Solutions Explorer, right-click the Project (generally the first line below the Solution), and select "Rebuild".

Now items 22 to 26 make sence again.
The corrected pdf file is attached.

Thanks for the pointer,
kdsdata

[thkregel]

This was very useful. Thanks!!!

[Bellhop]

kdsdata: I'm sure that your solution works, but not for me! I'm accessing numerous SQL Server Compact Edition databases using Datasets and Table Adapters. After I completed your steps and hit "Rebuild", I got gazillions of errors all relating to the Databases. The work has only just begun! I guess that we'll be sticking with the project "code name" for the time being. That's Sales: It takes them as long to come up with one product name as it takes Engineering to write and debug the entire system, then they complain about how much work it was!

Take-away: If you're using Databases, you'll have more work to do.

[hackyslaker]

Thank you! I have been trying to figure out how to do this for a while now.

[opa6x57]

If possible - I think you should EDIT the initial post on this thread ... folks MIGHT miss the corrected information if they don't scroll down the whole page.

Just my 2 cents - thanks.

Thanks so much WCCRoberts for picking up on that.

It is item 21 that has an error and should read:
21. Via the Solutions Explorer, right-click the Project (generally the first line below the Solution), and select "Rebuild".

Now items 22 to 26 make sence again.
The corrected pdf file is attached.

Thanks for the pointer,
kdsdata