Circular References in Visual Studio

[Keith F.]

Visual Studio doesn't allow circular references between projects. I have a
situation where I need to allow 2 projects to reference each other.
Is there any way to make Visual Studio allow this?

I realize the best way is to restructure the solution so the circular
reference isn't necessary, which I intend to do. But at the moment, I'm
looking for a quicker work-around if there is one.
Thanks....
Keith F.

[Ryan Riddell]

Nope. Look at the problem a little closer and you'll see why.

Say you have projects A and B.

A needs something from B and B needs something from A.
A is compiled first, so it goes and grabs the contents of B as it is linked.
In this process it checks B for any dependencies and finds A. As a result
it grabs the contents of A and looks for dependencies and finds B... See
where this is headed?

Same reason if you have two classes C and D. And C is a child of D, that is
C inherits D. D cannot also inherit C. This is sort of the same idea.

Inheritance / references are simply ways of reusing code. What I would
suggest is putting these reused controls in a separate 'class library' then
have both A and B reference the new library L.

HTH

"Keith F." wrote:

Visual Studio doesn't allow circular references between projects. I have a
situation where I need to allow 2 projects to reference each other.
Is there any way to make Visual Studio allow this?

I realize the best way is to restructure the solution so the circular
reference isn't necessary, which I intend to do. But at the moment, I'm
looking for a quicker work-around if there is one.
Thanks....
Keith F.

[George]

Do not reference project.

Reference compiled DLL.

It will be a quick workauround.
George
My Site - Body Jewelry
"Keith F." <Keith [e-mail]> wrote in message news:22**********************************@microsof t.com...
Visual Studio doesn't allow circular references between projects. I have a
situation where I need to allow 2 projects to reference each other.
Is there any way to make Visual Studio allow this?

I realize the best way is to restructure the solution so the circular
reference isn't necessary, which I intend to do. But at the moment, I'm
looking for a quicker work-around if there is one.
Thanks....
Keith F.

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\) [MVP]]

George has an interesting solution which will work, but "working" is a
relative term here. You could end up consuming resources if you truly run
circles.

One other possibility, which adds a bit of weight, but can add a safety
measure, is creating a passthrough class with the method signatures
necessary from the other project. Realize that true circular references will
still be dangerous, even with a passthrough class, if you do not add a
safety net if it starts running in circles.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA

************************************************
Think Outside the Box!
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"Keith F." <Keith [e-mail]> wrote in message
news:22**********************************@microsof t.com...

Visual Studio doesn't allow circular references between projects. I have a
situation where I need to allow 2 projects to reference each other.
Is there any way to make Visual Studio allow this?

I realize the best way is to restructure the solution so the circular
reference isn't necessary, which I intend to do. But at the moment, I'm
looking for a quicker work-around if there is one.
Thanks....
Keith F.