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Project dependencies across multiple Visual Studio versions


I have 3 .net projects.

Project1.dll is generated by a VS2008 project.

Project2.dll is generated by a VS2005 project that references Project1.dll.

Project3.dll is generated by a VS2008 project that references both Project1.dll and Project2.dll.

Right now, I build Project1.dll, and manually copy it to the place where Project 2 can pick it up.

Then I build Project2.dll and manually copy it and Project1.dll to the place where Project 3 can pick them up.

Obviously I'm doing something wrong (manual). What is the correct way to keep my projects' references up to date?


Updating Project2 to VS2008 and then creating one solution containing all 3 projects is not an option at this time. We have a 3rd party visualstudio plugin that does not yet work in VS2008. Project2 must stay in VS2005

De-updating Project1 and Project3 to VS2005 and then creating one solution is not an option either. We're relying on C# 3.0 and .net 3.5 features in those projects.


Solution

  • Probably the best option would be to have a common build folder for all three projects. This can be done in the Project Properties-> Build -> Output path. Then point the references to the output folder. That way anytime you build any of the lower projects, the higher projects would have the latest versions. You can set the path per configurations (Debug, Release) as well, so you won't need to change that for each type of build.