Downgrade a VS2008 project?

[bgowland]

The VS developers (in their infinite wisdom) have done something to VS2008 Express editions to break designing SQLite datasets/datatable adapters visually.

I've recently upgraded to VS2008 C# and just found out I can't make some necessary changes to a dataset. :mad:

Has anybody tried reverting a VS2008 project to VS2005? Is it possible?

Cheers,
Brian

[reven]

yeah ive done it, theres not much too it, the only files you should need to change are
*.csproj
*.sln

*.csproj
delete this section

Code:

<FileUpgradeFlags>
    </FileUpgradeFlags>
    <UpgradeBackupLocation>
    </UpgradeBackupLocation>
    <OldToolsVersion>2.0</OldToolsVersion>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v3.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <PublishUrl>publish\</PublishUrl>
    <Install>true</Install>
    <InstallFrom>Disk</InstallFrom>
    <UpdateEnabled>false</UpdateEnabled>
    <UpdateMode>Foreground</UpdateMode>
    <UpdateInterval>7</UpdateInterval>
    <UpdateIntervalUnits>Days</UpdateIntervalUnits>
    <UpdatePeriodically>false</UpdatePeriodically>
    <UpdateRequired>false</UpdateRequired>
    <MapFileExtensions>true</MapFileExtensions>
    <ApplicationRevision>0</ApplicationRevision>
    <ApplicationVersion>1.0.0.%2a</ApplicationVersion>
    <IsWebBootstrapper>false</IsWebBootstrapper>
    <UseApplicationTrust>false</UseApplicationTrust>
    <BootstrapperEnabled>true</BootstrapperEnabled>

and this section

Code:

<ItemGroup>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Client.3.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework Client Profile</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.2.0">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 2.0 %28x86%29</ProductName>
      <Install>true</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.0">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.0 %28x86%29</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
  </ItemGroup>

and change this

Code:

<ProductVersion>9.0.30729</ProductVersion>

back to

Code:

<ProductVersion>8.0.50727</ProductVersion>

and this

Code:

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">

back to

Code:

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

and in the .sln file change this

Code:

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00
# Visual Studio 2008

to

Code:

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 9.00
# Visual Studio 2005

that should do it (i just did a svn compare of when i upgraded a solution, and those were the only differences i could see).

of course you should do this on a copy and not the original

[bgowland]

of course you should do this on a copy and not the original

Yep - most definitely a copy.

Many thanks - I'll give it a try.

Cheers,
Brian

[bgowland]

OK - that was fun. :eek:

Thanks again reven - I think I've done what I needed to do. With the following notes...

In the first .csproj section you mentioned, the only elements I found in the VS2008 version were...

Code:

<FileUpgradeFlags>
    </FileUpgradeFlags>
    <UpgradeBackupLocation>
    </UpgradeBackupLocation>
    <OldToolsVersion>2.0</OldToolsVersion>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v3.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>

...and I had none of the second lot (the BootStrapper stuff). Obviously this all depends on different settings etc.

The <ProductVersion> was still set as 8.0.50727 for some reason so I didn't have to touch that but I did modify the <Project DefaultTargets... line.

There were a few extra bits I had to tweak...

Code:

<Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>2.0</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>2.0</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>

...the VS2008 .csproj file had the required target framework as 3.5 and I wasn't sure how VS2005 would react to that. I also tweaked the <HintPath> for gbpvr and sqlite dlls as I've relocated this during the downgrade.

As for the .sln file - this was where the fun started. The project I downgraded is a sub-project of the dvb radio solution so didn't have a .sln file of its own. To get around this I created an empty VS2005 solution/project of the same name, closed VS2005, copied the VS2008 code files in place, edited the .csproj then edited the new .sln file.

At this point, GUIDs come in to play...

Code:

Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "DvbrLib", "DvbrLib.csproj", "{71CA9F4C-9740-481C-B074-0EC59A1CD45A}"

The first GUID seems to be for the solution and the second for the project so I had to replace the GUID created for the empty project with the one from the existing DvbrLib.csproj. I also tweaked this .sln section...

Code:

    GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
        {71CA9F4C-9740-481C-B074-0EC59A1CD45A}.Debug|x86.ActiveCfg = Debug|x86
        ...
    EndGlobalSection

Anyway, it all opens and builds without errors and I can now use the dataset designer again properly.

Cheers,
Brian