VS2005 can't open form

microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp

16 Jun 2009 7:57 PM

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

17 Jun 2009 6:16 AM

Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]

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]

Show quoteHide quote

"LJB" wrote:

> 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
>
>
>

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17 Jun 2009 4:07 PM

LJB

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.

Show quoteHide quote

"Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]" <MortenWenne***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:C286DC9C-F9C8-442A-AFB2-17320F3B9BF5@microsoft.com...
> 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" wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>

18 Jun 2009 7:06 AM

Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]

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]

Show quoteHide quote

"LJB" wrote:

> 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 [C# MVP]" <MortenWenne***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:C286DC9C-F9C8-442A-AFB2-17320F3B9BF5@microsoft.com...
> > 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" wrote:
> >
> >> 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
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>
>

30 Jun 2009 6:22 PM

LJB

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.

Show quoteHide quote

"Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]" <MortenWenne***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:D647484F-9E4A-4D12-B7A8-EE2CD6CDC0FB@microsoft.com...
> 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" wrote:
>
>> 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 [C# MVP]" <MortenWenne***@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:C286DC9C-F9C8-442A-AFB2-17320F3B9BF5@microsoft.com...
>> > 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" wrote:
>> >
>> >> 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
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>>