Is Visual Studio 2010 Express buggy?

Is Visual Studio 2010 Express buggy for everyone or just me? Or are my project files (getting) corrupt?

I've been using .NET for about two weeks now to convert one of my VB6 applications.

What I notice is that code and controls magically disappear. Images shown on TabControls and Listviews (from an imagelist) lose their bright colors after a while.

I had a button on my form to let the user select a folder (FolderBrowseDialog) and at one time I clicked the button and nothing happened. Then, after searching for about 5 minutes, I realised that the entire button_click event was gone. Two days later I noticed that the TextChanged event of a textbox didn't work anymore. It took me a few minutes, but then I saw that Handles Textbox.TextChanged was missing from the event.

Images added directly to buttons or images added from a resource always look fine, but PNG/ICO images added to TabControls and Listviews (via an imagelist with images loaded at design-time) look fine at first, but after re-compiling the application several times, the colors have faded a little bit. The ColorDepth of the Imagelist is set to Depth32Bit, but it seems like it internally gets set to Depth24Bit/Depth16Bit after a while. The only way to get the bright colors back, is to reload the images again into the Imagelist (bright colors will disappear again after a while). Or to add the images as a Resource and adding the images from the resource to the Imagelist when the application starts.

Three hours ago I noticed that my statusstrip was still there, but the panels were gone, but I didn't get any error messages, because the panels were still 'referenced' in the *.Designer.vb file. Now I just noticed that my menustrip at the top of the form is still there, but all menu options are gone and I have no idea how to get them back other than to re-create the entire menu and removing all references to the old menu options from the *.Designer.vb file.

It seems to get worse and worse. Are my project files getting corrupt? Would it be better to create a new project and copy everything over?

Is there also a way to prevent VS 2010 from automatically saving code? Maybe I'm blind, but I couldn't find anything in the settings. In VB6 I could make (large) changes to the code, try it out and if I didn't like it, I could close the IDE (telling it not to save the changes) and restart it again and I would have my old code back. VS 2010 automatically saves these changes and it has hit me in the head quite a few times. That way I lost code that I wanted to keep, because eventually the old code was better than the changes I made.

Oh, for sanity's sake, please tell me you didn't us the upgrade wizard to convert your vb6 app to .NET... that's really the last thing you should do. It creates more problems than it's worth (as you're finding out) ... it doesn't truly upgrade anything... it just wraps it so that it "runs". But if you used any OCX controls, it still keeps using them.

As much pain as it may cause you to hear this, your best bet is to treat it like new development and start from scratch. Some of the code you may be able to port over with a little tweaking, but it should be done on a case by case basis and not done wholesale.

-tg

Erm no, you're mistaken. I didn't use the upgrade wizard to convert the code, but did it all manually... started a new project, added all the controls and piece by piece converted the VB6 code. The things I didn't know how to do I could easily find by doing a forum/google search. Learning how to use IndexOf instead of InStr and Substring instead of Mid$ and similar things is not exactly difficult.

Edit::

Maybe using the word 'converting' has confused you and I should've used 'porting'. Sorry, English is not my first language.

Much of what you are reporting are things that I have never seen happen. On the other hand, I haven't used the Express version, though I would not expect that to behave all that much differently. The core program is probably the exact same thing. I have noticed oddities in .NET2010, but not all that severe, and certainly not what you are describing. However, some of what you are describing sound like some of the issues that showed up in earlier RC releases. Are you sure that you are using the full, final, release?

I've had a lot of problems with VS 2010 and I know a couple of the very annoying things about it is still there but none of it's like what you describe there chris.

Also, with .Net the default is to save changes so that it can compile & run your app (and components) which means if you want to revert your changes you ctrl+z back as far as you need, or before tampering/making changes you make a copy of the code (or the whole class) so you always have what you had before.

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Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker

Much of what you are reporting are things that I have never seen happen. On the other hand, I haven't used the Express version, though I would not expect that to behave all that much differently. The core program is probably the exact same thing. I have noticed oddities in .NET2010, but not all that severe, and certainly not what you are describing. However, some of what you are describing sound like some of the issues that showed up in earlier RC releases. Are you sure that you are using the full, final, release?

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I downloaded the 693mb ISO from the MS website two weeks ago.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Version 10.0.30319.1 RTMRel
Microsoft .NET Framework
Version 4.0.30319 RTMRel
Installed Version: VB Express

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Originally Posted by JuggaloBrotha

I've had a lot of problems with VS 2010 and I know a couple of the very annoying things about it is still there but none of it's like what you describe there chris.

Also, with .Net the default is to save changes so that it can compile & run your app (and components) which means if you want to revert your changes you ctrl+z back as far as you need, or before tampering/making changes you make a copy of the code (or the whole class) so you always have what you had before.

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Thanks. I need to get used to making copies or commenting out code before making changes. With VB6 it was faster to make the changes directly and if it didn't work properly, then without saving to close/restart the IDE.

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I had a button on my form to let the user select a folder (FolderBrowseDialog) and at one time I clicked the button and nothing happened. Then, after searching for about 5 minutes, I realised that the entire button_click event was gone

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Now while i can't explain most of you symptoms, in this instance you haven't been cutting and pasting your controls at all have you ? to move them on to a panel or something else ??

No, not as far as I can remember. I did copy and paste a Listview but not the button, which is on a TabControl.


I'll start a new project and manually add (not copy) all the forms, classes, modules and controls again, copying the names, sizes and locations from the current project. Then copy over all the code and see if that fixes the problems.

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Originally Posted by Chris001

Thanks. I need to get used to making copies or commenting out code before making changes. With VB6 it was faster to make the changes directly and if it didn't work properly, then without saving to close/restart the IDE.

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I remember those days, but .Net is a different tool (different product) which means it works differently. I think there's a way to make it so it never saves the project when it's created and it won't save changes until you actually click the save button, but I've never had a need to use that feature since I've always saved my code before running it (even in vb6 I would save it before running it, you never know when it's going to crash and all those changes are gone cause you didn't save it).

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Originally Posted by NeedSomeAnswers

Now while i can't explain most of you symptoms, in this instance you haven't been cutting and pasting your controls at all have you ? to move them on to a panel or something else ??

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That's my first guess, in vb6 to move a control into or out of a container (groupbox, panel, etc) you had to cut & paste it to move it, which worked because the Handles clause didn't exist till .Net

When it comes to making changes and saving the old, there's no better thing than source control software. Before making any big changes simply commit the source as a new revision, make changes, and if you need to revert back any specific part (or all), it's a matter of couple of clicks.

VisualSVN Server is free (extremely easy to set up) and requires no additional software (like Apache etc), based on the latest Subversion. And using either VisualSVN add-in (payed) or AnkhSVN (free) it integrates completely with Visual Studio.

Tools -> Options -> Project and Solutions -> Build and Run ... first option...change it.

-tg

Thank you, techgnome.

I've created a new project with all the controls and copied over the code from the previous project and so far it works fine.

I got the same problem again with the images.

This is the image when I add it to the TabControl:
http://i53.tinypic.com/20ua3vo.png
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ekjjpc.jpg
This is how it looks after an hour and compiling the application several times:

As you can see the first image is a little bit brighter. I managed to fix it by adding the images as a resource and loading them into the Imagelist when the application starts.

Image links are broken....

Try uploading them to VBF instead.

-tg

Something on your computer must be blocking tinypic.com
Both images work fine for me even after clearing my browser cache, but here they are.

An other problem I have now is that I had an ImageList on the form named "imgTabs". I removed the ImageList from the project, closed/restarted the IDE and now I can't add a new ImageList named "imgTabs", because VS says it already exists :ehh:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by techgnome

Oh, for sanity's sake, please tell me you didn't us the upgrade wizard to convert your vb6 app to .NET... that's really the last thing you should do.

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In another thread you said this:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by techgnome

I'm going to give you the same advice I've been giving people for the last 7 years regarding this: Visual Studio does come with an "upgrade wizard" (VS2010 is the first on that doesn't) ...

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So does Visual Studio 2010 Express come with the wizard while the full version does not?

To be honest, I've never used the upgrade wizard... I've only seen it's aftermath.... as far as it not being in VS2010... that was heresay... I heard it from another source. Although... it wouldn't surprise me to find out that is true... so who knows... whether it's there or not.... point is that it shouldn't be trusted.

-tg

It can be good for a laugh, but that's about all.

I have VS 2010 ultimate, and I don't think the upgrade wizard is in it. Or maybe I didn't look hard enough for it. I don't use it anyway so...

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Originally Posted by baja_yu

I have VS 2010 ultimate, and I don't think the upgrade wizard is in it. Or maybe I didn't look hard enough for it. I don't use it anyway so...

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I am thinking about getting VS2010 Ultimate from school to see what it is like.

Upgrade wizard is truly awful. It fried a few of my programs back in the day. After a few months of learning VB.NET though, it only took me about a week to re-write the whole lot of them. Some I went back to years later and rewrote again while laughing at my totally amateurish early-days .NET code before I knew of things like Dictionaries, instanced Class objects, inheritance, LINQ and UserControls.

Few personal projects are large enough that a complete rewrite wouldn't be faster. .NET forces you to program in a true object-oriented fashion; and honestly, the sooner you learn how that works, the better a programmer you'll be.

Now a have a new major problem. I spent two months rewriting my application and when I load the project I get this message:

Quote:

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Some bytes have been replaced with the Unicode substitution character while loading file G:\Application\Application\
MainForm.Designer.vb with Unicode (UTF-8) encoding. Saving the file will not preserve the original file contents.

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The backup I made of the project has the same. When I click OK and let it load, then MainForm.Designer.vb contains this. The bottom half of that file is just gibberish.

vb.net Code:

'
        'lvwSearch
        '
        Me.lvwSearch.Anchor = CType((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top Or System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom), System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)
        Me.lvwSearch.FullRowSelect = True
        Me.lvwSearch.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(3, 5)
        Me.lvwSearch.Name = "lvwSearch"
        Me.lvwSearch.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(650, 389)
        Me.lvwSearch.TabIndex = 16
        Me.lvwSearch.UseCompatibleStateImageBehavior = False
        Me.lvwSearch.View = System.Windows.Forms.��]f�%�)��oêZk�Ix�
�㓅'�j33_XX�š5l�W����;f~���ϡ��Ǟ��o�-1R�����f�w\ܑ�n�~~�Ի��G��wo���ab�ER�8@(�M�u���,��;_��@��
c�.�����~\��g@��      ��r�!!�p���I)��s�&S�   �@��w���#�>�y4�F�y^ʂ�p+4�1��U5���;��"����͕U����'�c�eY�  둒$AR�3$&6��ƥKe�_�l����Sdeu��~04ܣ�䁦��rr������PY)#]ۤ&
*&(R�'M%usK����pu���s$v�����_��23_T������� P��J���� uA h�׀���h���陎}������`'"Й��IIi�km$!W���n2o�jc��,��`j��xpP���n���DQQ/l�$���<�}@=x��D�n=�ի�4��UD#��K�R�����AAA�u
��Jq��]uJhsQ舠=@}�&�f۲ŝ���S��������d��{������1��ю��&���� MG��͛͢O�Ų����~4�/��Res3C�I�z��P:M��al|`t��xB�=|&��vv�l""��YY���|9n�� 3�I�s������.VG@�

open the file in Notepad... see what's in that location. Sounds like something went sideways. Honestly, I don't know how or what happened or how to fix it. Perhaps looking at it in Notepad will reveal something that the IDE couldn't translate.

-tg

Notepad shows exactly the same.

Code:

---

        '
        'lvwSearch
        '
        Me.lvwSearch.Anchor = CType((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top Or System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom), System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)
        Me.lvwSearch.FullRowSelect = True
        Me.lvwSearch.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(3, 5)
        Me.lvwSearch.Name = "lvwSearch"
        Me.lvwSearch.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(650, 389)
        Me.lvwSearch.TabIndex = 16
        Me.lvwSearch.UseCompatibleStateImageBehavior = False
        Me.lvwSearch.View = System.Windows.Forms.]f%)oêZkIx g`J'GK/WO}66
ش}}B|`@cTٮ74Zq hqL,d[Vr]>(E\

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How much do you think you have lost? For the file to be scrambled at that point, you have lost some of the property settings for some of the controls, and you have very likely lost the lines that add those controls to the Form.Controls collection, as well as a bunch of lines that declared the variables WithEvents. I can understand that this is a vexing event, and I have never seen it happen after using VS2010 for many months (feels like a couple years, but I guess it can't be, since I never used a beta release) on many projects. I suppose it could be a network issue, if your G: drive is not local. I have much less experience using VS over a network. In any case, by determining how many of your controls are displayed in the good portion, and how many of your controls are not mentioned in the good portion, you may find it easier to rebuild that file by hand....though as I write this, I realize that the only alternative I can see is to throw out the form and start that one over from scratch.

This is my main form that has the most controls and by looking at the controls that are still listed correctly, it looks like half of them are gone. MainForm.resx gives the same message. The G: drive is a local drive.

I just did a search on all my other drives and luckily I found a backup from two weeks ago. The design of the form hasn't changed in those two weeks, only the code and MainForm.vb with all the code is still fine.

I renamed MainForm.Designer.vb / MainForm.resx and copied over the same files from the backup on the other drive and everything seems fine now. Phew, that saved me a lot of work!

From now on I'll start making 10 backups. In six years I never had any problems with VB6 and with VB 2010 Express it's always a surprise what will happen next :rolleyes: I enjoy surprises, but not these kind of surprises.

Source Safe.... or TFS .... or even SVN or some other source/version control repository would be a good idea IMHO.

-tg

I'll have a look at those. Thanks.

You do seem to be cursed with your version of 2010. I had a bizarre issue in the first week or so that I had tried it where the code colors became the backcolor for that text as well as the forecolor, which resulted in a pretty rainbow of colored lines equal to the length of the lines of code. Soon after that VS2010 crashed. The problem has never come back, though, and I have had no other problems like what you have mentioned, despite pretty extensive use of the program.

Only problem I had with VS2010 was when I was porting an XNA application I wrote in VB2008 over to it. It totally mucked up the project file it refused to acknowledge that certain references of mine actually existed. I deleted the reference libraries, re-added them, nothing. New projects would work just fine.

I ended up making a new project and added all my existing project files to it, added all my old references to it, and it worked fine. I dunno, but I must have spent four hours trying to get VS2010 to recognize what was right in front of it.

Doesn't MS release any updates for VS 2010 Express? My version is: 10.0.30319.1 RTMRel

This version was released 7 months ago (April).

::edit::

I just see they released Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 Beta a week ago. Hopefully that will solve most of the issues.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chris001

The backup I made of the project has the same. When I click OK and let it load, then MainForm.Designer.vb contains this. The bottom half of that file is just gibberish.

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Is that from a file that is auto generated by Visual Studio? Not the form by those other files that are generated automatically. If so you might want to delete them and all the files associated with them and put everything back into your project. That is what had to do when the auto generated file for my database stuffed up. After I replaced the files the project worked as it should have.

I think you have a hardware problem. I would start by testing the RAM. If that is fine then try saving to a different hard drive.

RAM is fine, tested it last night with Memtest86. One of my hard drives is dying and causes a sudden reboot sometimes, so I need to get a new one this week. I'm not sure... maybe I had the project open when the computer rebooted and it caused the corruption, but the project files are on another drive.

I would recommend just installing it again, but not using the ISO.

I'll try that this week when I have the new hard drive.

A dying hard drive would certainly contribute to this. I have an aversion to using the Designers because I have found them unreliable, but they shouldn't be that unreliable.

If you're looking into source control solutions, you should avoid Visual SourceSafe, it is an incredibly bad system that cannot be trusted. Use something like Subversion, Mercurial or git. If you were using a non-Express version I'd point out that they all have add-ons to give you integration into Visual Studio just like VSS, but the Express edition doesn't include source control integration.

Hello, I would like to say that I have had the same problems with the image lists and dissapearing menus.

In my case, it might have been that I had a lot of controls inside other controls on my form (splitcontainer with controls with other split containers with other controls and so on. Multiple menus and more! :eek:). The form was getting very slow to load and modify, the split containers splitters were moving on each load of the form in the designer and so they eventually had all to be repositioned.

What I did was to start a new form (and got rid of the old afterwards) and make controls for each inner sections wich resulted in about 30-40 controls wich are loaded at the start of the program (not in the designer). So now, the editing is much quicker and the forms contain much less code and are easier to control. And the menus are still there (for now).

When I had a menu dissapear, I did a search on the text of the menu name and found the menu in the designer file (wich I don't know how to open other than open the file directly or make a search in .NET). And I found that the menu was still there but was missing a reference. So I manually added the reference and the menu came back. I don't remember what the reference was, but it should be rather easy to find and correct. I recommend learning a little about the designer files since it may help you in some cases.

And for the image lists, I replaced them with pictures but this might not work depending on what you need them for.

Hope this helps.