No new DLL in VS2008 project

[DeShark]

I have a web site project that was last built in May of 2009. I made a copy and tried to build it with VS2008.. it builds... but I don't get a new DLL. The project is a web site with VB code behind the aspx pages. Any idea what I need to do here? I am getting very frustrated with this.

[Frinavale]

A new DLL is only created if code changes are detected or there is nothing already built.

Have you tried publishing the website?

[DeShark]

I have made changes to both .aspx and the .vb support files. It should rebuild the dll right? It is not doing that. I am running Windows 7 and VS2008. I also tried VS2010. Same thing.

[DeShark]

I have even debugged it with a breakpoint in the .vb code. When it hits the breakpoint... the call stack refers to the .dll. Why won't this damn thing compile a new copy of the .dll???

[Frinavale]

What makes you think a new DLL isn't being compiled?
Have you tried deleting the files in the bin folders?
If you do this, and recompile, you should see that a new DLL has been generated.

-Frinny

[DeShark]

I don't think they are being compiled because they are still dated 2009. Yes I have tried deleting them.. then I get reference errors.. from the inherits= at the top of the .aspx page. I thought deleting them and rebuilding would work too. There is a reference setup to the DLL. Seems like a catch 22. Any ideas? This is really bizzare!

[DeShark]

I've even tried it on a different machine to make sure it wasn't my PC. Same thing. :(

[Frinavale]

What is the DLL that you are talking about?
What's it called?

-Frinny

[DeShark]

it's named after my project... jld06.dll. I also have jld06.pdb and jld06.xml in the bin folder. All dated 5/6/2009.

[Frinavale]

Ok, so you have an ASP.NET project called "jld06".

When you build the project you don't get any errors but you are not seeing an updated jld06.dll in the bin folder.

Just out of curiosity, what are the current configuration settings for the Build action for Visual Studio...what does your build action do?

Does it produce files in the release folder in the bin folder or does it produce files in the debug folder in the bin folder?

[Frinavale]

Wait a second!

Based on the fact that you're getting errors when you delete the bin folder, I have a feeling you don't have the actual project.

I think you might just have the files that were produced from a publish done in 2009.

Does your project have a .sln file?

-Frinny

[DeShark]

Yes I have a project called jld06. Not sure about the build action. I see release and debug options. Neither bin or debug files get updated. I have files in both but they are 2009.

Yes I have a .sln file I am using to open the project. As well as a .vbproj file. Would it be easier to email or chat about this?

[Frinavale]

I cannot accept anything like that right now due to the configuration that I am using at the moment. If you want to attach it to this thread I can download it later when I'm using a different configuration that allows me to do what you're suggesting.

[Frinavale]

One more thing, did you transfer this project from over the network?
Or, are you trying to use the project remotely??

[DeShark]

I've tried VS2008 and VS2010 with the same results. I had a local copy of the project that I had saved from the last time I modified it. I tried that one and I downloaded a copy from the production web server. Same results. I am doing all my work on local machines.

[Frinavale]

I'm just wondering if there is some sort of trust thing going on that is preventing you from building your application.

If your project isn't too large, try creating a completely new project.

Then go through and "add existing items" to it...one by one pulling in the code from the other project...but even then I would be wondering about trust stuff. So if that doesn't work, try recreating the pages and copy/paste the code into the newly created pages.

-Frinny

[DeShark]

Trust thing? What kind of trust issue could there be? You think its related to the project file? Ok I will try making a new project/sln and add the existing items. They refer to the old project with the Inherits= statement in the aspx files. What should I do about that?

[DeShark]

Creating a new project seems to make a difference. I made a new project and started adding things.. it is building now and acting like a real project now. Wow.. I would really like to know why the original ceased to act properly. Very odd.

[DeShark]

Yep that got it. I was able to push through getting the code tweaked to build properly in the new project. Sure would like to know how I could have fixed the project I had. Thanks for your insight.

[Frinavale]

I'm pretty sure it has something to do with what Windows does to projects that originated from across a network. If Windows determines this is the case, it gives it a Low Trust setting and visual studio will let you look at the code but it won't let you compile it just in case there is something malicious in there.

I've see this happen before with a friend of mine...and I have seen messages when I open projects that I download off the internet...but I've never compiled them so I never ran into the problem personally.

I'm sure there's a way to fix your original project but I don't know what it is. Since I knew that I wouldn't be available to help research the topic when we were talking, I thought it would be quickest for you to just create a new project and add "existing items" from the old project into it.

If you take the time to figure out how to fix the problem, please share it!



-Frinny