Thursday, April 29, 2010

Changing default framework profile in VS2010 projects

Today I figured out how to hack the default framework profile in VS2010 (so as NOT to use the Client Profile by default on 4.0 projects).

A little background: I'm all for the idea of the Client Profile in .NET 4, but Visual Studio forces you to use it by default on many projects targeting .NET Framework 4.0. This alone is merely annoying, since you can easily change the profile under the Project Properties window. However, this annoyance becomes fatal to another of my favorite Visual Studio features: throwaway projects. If you want a throwaway project that targets the full 4.0 framework profile, well, too bad. Changing the framework profile requires saving the project, and the version target selector on the New Project dialog doesn't let you choose a profile. Poop.

I've filed a Connect suggestion to see if we can get a first-class fix- by all means, go vote for it here.

Meantime, I use throwaway projects many times a day, and about half the time I need stuff that's not in the Client Profile. Here's the fix:

Disclaimer: this involves minor hackage to your Visual Studio 2010 install. I am not responsible if it breaks a future service pack, kicks your dog, or causes a tear in the space-time continuum.

Let's take a visit to VS2010's ProjectTemplates directory. It's under Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates. Here you'll find a number of directories. I'm going to hack the C# Console Application, since that's my usual project of choice, but the technique should work on any project that defaults to the Client profile. The C# Console Application project template is under CSharp\Windows\1033(or the LCID of your installed locale)\ConsoleApplication.zip.

Extract the consoleapplication.csproj template file, and open it in the editor of your choice. Find the line that says $if$ ($targetframeworkversion$ >= 4.0), and remove the "Client" from inside the TargetFrameworkProfile element below it. If you're feeling saucy, you can just remove the whole $if$ to $endif$ block. Save the hacked template, and replace the one in the ConsoleApplication.zip file (I had to use 7zip for this- Explorer's zip integration thought the file was corrupted).

This isn't the end, though- Visual Studio caches its project templates, so to see your changes, you have to ask it to rebuild the cache. Open the VS2010 command prompt, and type

devenv.exe /setup


It'll silently crank away for a bit, then return. Run VS2010 and create a new project using one of the templates you hacked, and check the Project Properties window. If all went well, you should see it targeting .NET Framework 4 instead of the Client Profile. Sweet!

Hope this helps someone out...

UPDATE: Nathan Halstead posted a comment to the Connect issue for this one, suggesting that "devenv.exe /setup" is the recommended safe way to refresh the project template cache (I've made the change inline), and that overwriting the template shouldn't negatively affect VS servicing (other than repairs/updates might overwrite the hacked version). He suggested creating a copy of the project template with a different name to avoid the servicing overwrite issue. Thanks, Nathan!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post; great work.
Overall, MS are doing a pretty good job with VS, but every now and then, they really screw up. Somebody just wasn't thinking straight...

Unknown said...

Thanks for this!

Unknown said...

Sorry to zombie this. For the express edition, the devenv.exe step won't work. Instead open a command prompt and cd to the location of vcsexpress.exe. On my machine this is c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE. Then execute vcexpress.exe /resetsettings.

Nilspirat said...

If you leave backup copies of the old zip packages, just make sure they don't have zip extensions. It seems all zip files in the template directory are opened during "devenv /setup"