VS2005 can't open form

  • Thread starter Thread starter LJB
  • Start date Start date
L

LJB

I posted this in microsoft.public.vstudio.general this morning but that
group doesn't seem to be very active.

I'm still new with VS2005 and C#. Whenever I try to open one form in my
project in form designer, I get error message "Reference information not
found at c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 8\common 7\ref". I can
view code for this form and the designer works fine on other forms in this
project. I've fetched earlier visions from Source Safe but this form now
always fails to open in designer. Visual Studio 2005 locks up after pressing
OK to the message and must be ended with task manager. To try anything else
in VS results in a message saying VS is very busy and to be sure to tell
Microsoft. Otherwise, the project builds fine and other development machines
can open this form. Any ideas how to solve this?

thanks
LJB
 
Hi,

Take a copy of the designer code and then comment out everything in the
InitializeComponent method. Your form should now open up empty. Then
gradually uncomment sections to renable various controls until it locks up.
I'm suspecting a third party control of some sort referecing something it
can't find.
 
Thanks for the tip. I've narrowed it down to toolstrip or statusstrip. Both
are standard VS items. Uncommenting either one will cause the error. When I
create a new, empty C# windows app and copy just these form files into it, I
get other errors until I comment out the toolstrip button images.

Morten Wennevik said:
Hi,

Take a copy of the designer code and then comment out everything in the
InitializeComponent method. Your form should now open up empty. Then
gradually uncomment sections to renable various controls until it locks
up.
I'm suspecting a third party control of some sort referecing something it
can't find.

--
Happy Coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]


LJB said:
I posted this in microsoft.public.vstudio.general this morning but that
group doesn't seem to be very active.

I'm still new with VS2005 and C#. Whenever I try to open one form in my
project in form designer, I get error message "Reference information not
found at c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 8\common 7\ref". I can
view code for this form and the designer works fine on other forms in
this
project. I've fetched earlier visions from Source Safe but this form now
always fails to open in designer. Visual Studio 2005 locks up after
pressing
OK to the message and must be ended with task manager. To try anything
else
in VS results in a message saying VS is very busy and to be sure to tell
Microsoft. Otherwise, the project builds fine and other development
machines
can open this form. Any ideas how to solve this?

thanks
LJB
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Hm,

Ok, before declaring them corrupt there are a few things you can try.

Comment out all property changes for these two controls in the designer
file. If the form now opens uncomment one line at a time until it breaks.

Delete the controls and drag new ones onto the form.

Create a new solution and drag these controls to a form.

If all these fail I'm afraid you might want to consider a repair of Visual
Studio or .Net Framework 2.0.

--
Happy Coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]


LJB said:
Thanks for the tip. I've narrowed it down to toolstrip or statusstrip. Both
are standard VS items. Uncommenting either one will cause the error. When I
create a new, empty C# windows app and copy just these form files into it, I
get other errors until I comment out the toolstrip button images.

Morten Wennevik said:
Hi,

Take a copy of the designer code and then comment out everything in the
InitializeComponent method. Your form should now open up empty. Then
gradually uncomment sections to renable various controls until it locks
up.
I'm suspecting a third party control of some sort referecing something it
can't find.

--
Happy Coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]


LJB said:
I posted this in microsoft.public.vstudio.general this morning but that
group doesn't seem to be very active.

I'm still new with VS2005 and C#. Whenever I try to open one form in my
project in form designer, I get error message "Reference information not
found at c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 8\common 7\ref". I can
view code for this form and the designer works fine on other forms in
this
project. I've fetched earlier visions from Source Safe but this form now
always fails to open in designer. Visual Studio 2005 locks up after
pressing
OK to the message and must be ended with task manager. To try anything
else
in VS results in a message saying VS is very busy and to be sure to tell
Microsoft. Otherwise, the project builds fine and other development
machines
can open this form. Any ideas how to solve this?

thanks
LJB
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for your help. It turns out the problem was not the form at all.
It appears Form Designer checks some object references before it displays
the form. I have no idea why toolstrip and statusstrip seemed to be the
problem. Nothing on the form referenced this other object and there isn't
anything wrong with it either. It compiles and runs fine but Form Designer
seemed to get confused and would crash VS2005.


Morten Wennevik said:
Hm,

Ok, before declaring them corrupt there are a few things you can try.

Comment out all property changes for these two controls in the designer
file. If the form now opens uncomment one line at a time until it breaks.

Delete the controls and drag new ones onto the form.

Create a new solution and drag these controls to a form.

If all these fail I'm afraid you might want to consider a repair of Visual
Studio or .Net Framework 2.0.

--
Happy Coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]


LJB said:
Thanks for the tip. I've narrowed it down to toolstrip or statusstrip.
Both
are standard VS items. Uncommenting either one will cause the error. When
I
create a new, empty C# windows app and copy just these form files into
it, I
get other errors until I comment out the toolstrip button images.

Morten Wennevik said:
Hi,

Take a copy of the designer code and then comment out everything in the
InitializeComponent method. Your form should now open up empty. Then
gradually uncomment sections to renable various controls until it locks
up.
I'm suspecting a third party control of some sort referecing something
it
can't find.

--
Happy Coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]


:

I posted this in microsoft.public.vstudio.general this morning but
that
group doesn't seem to be very active.

I'm still new with VS2005 and C#. Whenever I try to open one form in
my
project in form designer, I get error message "Reference information
not
found at c:\program files\microsoft visual studio 8\common 7\ref". I
can
view code for this form and the designer works fine on other forms in
this
project. I've fetched earlier visions from Source Safe but this form
now
always fails to open in designer. Visual Studio 2005 locks up after
pressing
OK to the message and must be ended with task manager. To try anything
else
in VS results in a message saying VS is very busy and to be sure to
tell
Microsoft. Otherwise, the project builds fine and other development
machines
can open this form. Any ideas how to solve this?

thanks
LJB
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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