When working in enterprise development there are occasions when you have a solution file with 10 or more projects in it all using private assemblies. When a low level assembly's location changes you end up with a solution file with 10 or more broken references. The macro listed below is designed to save you from the pain staking task of fixing each reference one by one. When the macro listed below is run it will display a window file dialog at which point you will point to the new location of the assembly. Next the macro will walk through each project file and update the reference to the assembly you choose if there is one.
In order to run the macro you need to navigate to the "TOOLS" menu and choose macro IDE. Next choose File --> Add New Item. From the dialog screen choose a new module. Finally cut and paste the entire code listed below inside the code window overwriting the default module framework that is listed.
Imports EnvDTE
Imports System.Diagnostics
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars
Imports System.Windows
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System
Public Module Module1
Public Class WinWrapper
Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window
Overridable ReadOnly Property Handle() As System.IntPtr Implements
System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window.Handle
Get
Dim iptr As New System.IntPtr(DTE.MainWindow.HWnd)
Return iptr
End Get
End Property
End Class
Public Sub UpdateReference()
Dim startDir
Dim newAssembLocation
Dim outdirectory As String
Dim stemp, Macroprojname As String
Dim prjSolution As EnvDTE.Project
Dim openfile As Forms.FileDialog
Dim result As Forms.DialogResult
Dim tlbimppath As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey
Dim winptr As WinWrapper
winptr = New WinWrapper
openfile = New Forms.OpenFileDialog
'set the initial directory to SystemDrive
startDir = System.Environment.SystemDirectory()
startDir = Left(startDir, InStr(startDir, "\", CompareMethod.Text))
openfile.InitialDirectory = startDir
If openfile.ShowDialog(winptr) = result.OK Then
newAssembLocation = Right(openfile.FileName,
Len(openfile.FileName) - Len(System.Environment.CurrentDirectory) - 1)
End If
Dim myProj As Integer
Dim prjVSProject As VSLangProj.VSProject
Try
For myProj = 1 To DTE.Solution.Projects.Count
prjVSProject = DTE.Solution.Projects.Item(myProj).Object
If prjVSProject Is Nothing Then
MsgBox("Unable to get reference to solution file")
Exit Sub
End If
Dim myRef As VSLangProj.Reference
' Strip off the .dll ext so we can use the find command
newAssembLocation = newAssembLocation.Replace(".dll", "")
myRef = prjVSProject.References.Find(newAssembLocation)
If Not myRef Is Nothing Then
' remove the old reference
myRef.Remove()
' add the new one
prjVSProject.References.Add(openfile.FileName)
Else
' We did not find a reference to this assembly here
End If
Next
Catch err As System.Exception
End Try
End Sub
End Module