Contains .net 2, 3 and 3.5 applications that reference assemblies built with .net 2,3 and 3.5.

Can you have a .net 3 or 3.5 that references .net 2 assemblies? I had assumed not, but after trying out the Orcas beta on one of my larger website solutions (contains 3 websites, 5 class libraries, 3 nunit test libraries and numerous 3rd party components), I found that you must be able to mix the versions. I had used the "Target Framework" option to change the framework for each of the class libraries, and everything seemed to be working ok. A bit of searching on google turned up this link but not much else in the way of documentation (maybe my searching's not up to scratch). As a result, I decided that I might as work it out myself, so, using VS2005 I created a simple class library to take a message as a constructor and return the message from a function.

public class DotNet2Class { public DotNet2Class(string Message) { this.Message = Message; } private string _Message; public string Message { get { return _Message; } set { _Message = value; } } public string GetMessage() { return "DotNet2 says: " + Message; } }

I built this with VS2005 Then I created 2 more classes that do the same using Orcas, targeting .net 3 and .net 3. Finally, I created three winforms applications, one using VS2005, and the other two using Orcas (again, targeting .net 3 and .net 3.5), each referencing each of the three class libraries. And yes, they all work. The class libraries and applications are here if you want to test them yourself. One thing of note was that when I changed the framework from .net 3.5 to .net 3.0, I had to remove the references to System.Linq and System.Core. I guess they must be part of .net 3.5. [tags]c#, orcas, .net, visual studio[/tags]

(This post relates to .net 2.0) Like many developers, I have a development server, and a release server. My websites usually have a DLL class library that hold the data access functionality, and when I create a TableAdapter, visual studio will store the connection string in the Settings file for that library. The old way (copy and paste) The problem I had was that the connection string would be different for the development (Debug) build and the release build of the website. My original workaround involved some scripts in an msbuild file that copied a stored version of the settings file that contained either the Debug or Release connection string over the top of the of the live Settings file.

MyBuild.msbuild snippet:

<Target Name="Settings_Debug">

<Copy SourceFiles="c:MyLibrarySettingsDebugSettings.settings" DestinationFolder="c:MyLibraryProperties">

<Copy SourceFiles="c:MyLibrarySettingsDebugSettings.Designer.cs" DestinationFolder="c:MyLibraryProperties">

<Copy SourceFiles="c:MyLibrarySettingsDebugapp.config" DestinationFolder="c:MyLibrary\"> </Target> <Target Name="Settings_Release"> <Copy SourceFiles="c:MyLibrarySettingsReleaseSettings.settings" DestinationFolder="c:MyLibraryProperties"> <Copy SourceFiles="c:MyLibrarySettingsReleaseSettings.Designer.cs" DestinationFolder="c:MyLibraryProperties"> <Copy SourceFiles="c:MyLibrarySettingsReleaseapp.config" DestinationFolder="c:MyLibrary\"> </Target> <Target Name="Build_Debug" DependsOnTargets="Settings_Debug"> <MSBuild Projects="c:MyLibraryMyProject.sln" Targets="Clean; Rebuild" Properties="Configuration=Debug"></MSBuild> </Target> <Target Name="Build_Release" DependsOnTargets="Settings_Release"> <MSBuild Projects="c:MyLibraryMyProject.sln" Targets="Clean; Rebuild" Properties="Configuration=Release"></MSBuild> </Target> Command line usage (from the Visual Studio Command Line) msbuild MyBuild.msbuild /t:Build_Release or msbuild MyBuild.msbuild /t:Build_Debug

My actual msbuild file also does things like zip the website output for uploading to the webserver (where I have another script to backup the current website files and unzip the uploaded zip file for deployment), and also contains nunit tests for use with CruiseControl.net This has been working ok for a few months, but it's been bugging me that if I change something in the settings file, I need to create new Debug and Release copies. Also, I would prefer it if the settings were changed in code, rather than relying on what is effectively a "copy and paste" mode of operation. It doesn't document very well if you are looking at the code - you need to dig into the msbuild file to work out what is going on. Changing the settings in code Anyway, after a bit of research, I've discovered that you can change the settings dependent on build type. When viewing the settings, click the button that says View Code. This will create a Settings.cs file In the constructor, add the following:

this.SettingsLoaded +=

Then press [TAB] twice - this will create the following code:

{

this.SettingsLoaded += new System.Configuration.SettingsLoadedEventHandler(Settings_SettingsLoaded);

}

void Settings_SettingsLoaded(object sender, System.Configuration.SettingsLoadedEventArgs e)

{ throw... }

When the settings are first loaded, this event handler is called. Now you can replace the throw with the code to change your connection strings. Using conditional compilation, we can enter the correct connection string.

#if (DEBUG)

this["MyConnectionString"] = "Data Source=myDevelopmentServer;Initial Catalog=MyLocalDatabase; Persist Security Info=True;User ID=aDevUser;Password=aPassword";

#else

this["MyConnectionString"] = "Data Source=myLiveServer;Initial Catalog=MyLiveDatabase; Persist Security Info=True;User ID=aLiveUser;Password=aPassword";

#endif

Note that you have to use the form this["MySetting"] = "abc" rather than the more useful this.MySetting = "abc" as the latter is read-only. Conclusion To me, changing the connection string in code dependant on the build type is a much easier to understand and document. One of my projects has 4 build types (project configurations): Debug, Release, Test and Demo - the test build goes of to a test server and test database, the Demo connects to the client's Demonstration database (rather than their live database). In these cases, I have added some Conditional complation symbols (found on the Build tab of the library properties) - just enter the word. My Settings_SettingsLoaded() now looks more like this:

#if (LOCAL) //a conditional compilation symbol defined in the "Debug" project configuration

this["ConnStr"] = "...DevServer...";

#elif (DEMO) //defined in the "Demo" project configuration

this["ConnStr"] = "...DemoServer...";

#elif (TEST) //defined in the "Test" project configuration

this["ConnStr"] = "...TestServer...";

#elif (LIVE) //defined in the "Release" project configuration

this["ConnStr"] = "...ReleaseServer";

#endif

I still use the msbuild file to select the correct build for the target, but I no longer use the msbuild to copy and paste files around. [tags].net, c#, visual studio [/tags]