Renaming things in Visual Studio

August 14, 2007 at 7:03 am | Posted in Visual Studio | 9 Comments

Many newcomers to Visual Studio experience the problem of breaking their application after renaming something.  I certainly have!  First, there are many different names that are used to tag different things (see list below); second, there are multiple ways of renaming things and the impact on the IDE are not always clear to the novice; third, renaming things can sometimes confuse the Designer and your program because of references to names in the Designer generated code and helper files.

Here are some general guidelines that work for me:

1. It is always easier to name things when you first add them to your project. This includes everything from the initial project name to the controls you drag to your form from the toolbox.

2. Before renaming things like Classes, UserControls, NameSpaces, Assemblies etc, back up your project. This can be easily done in the Windows Explorer by making a copy of the Solution Folder for the project (found in your VS Projects Folder).

3. To change the name of something in your user code such as NameSpace, Class or UserControl, select an instance of the name in your code editor and use the Refactor > Rename function. You may have to rebuild the solution after this to get things back to normal.

4. To change the name of the Solution File or Project File, use the Solution Explorer and right click > Rename.

Here is a list of various high-level names that one might want to manage:

Solution Folder – this is the name of the top folder in the ..\Visual Studio 2005\Projects Folder. Change in Windows Explorer. Note that it is possible that this will confuse the Recent Projects Start Page but you should be able to use Open …Projects to find it.

Project Folder – this is the name of the folder(s) inside the Solution Folder with project data. (A solution can have more than one project.) Change in Windows Explorer. Note that it is possible that this will confuse the Recent Projects Start Page but you should be able to use Open …Projects to find it.

Solution File – the name of the solution. Change in the Solution Explorer, right-click Rename. Note that it is possible that this will confuse the Recent Projects Start Page but you should be able to use Open …Projects to find it.

Project File – the name of the project. Change in the Solution Explorer, right-click Rename. Note that it is possible that this will confuse the Recent Projects Start Page but you should be able to use Open …Projects to find it.

Assembly Name – as found in Properties > Application. This will be the name of your .exe file. Change in the Properties >Application dialog.

NameSpace – also in Properties >Application and in your code. This is useful for keeping your class and control names distinct from other code bases. Change using the Refactor.

Title – as found in Properties>Application>Assembly Information. This will be put in the title bar of the AboutBox. Change in the Assembly Information Dialog.

Product – also as found in Properties>Application>Assembly Information. This will be a name listed in the AboutBox. Change in the Assembly Information Dialog.