Archive
Fix: Delphi error MSBuildToolsPath is not specified for the ToolsVersion …
This is my answer at:
for the issue of Delphi showing on build the error
MSBuildToolsPath is not specified for the ToolsVersion “12.0” defined at “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSBuild\ToolsVersions\12.0”, or the value specified evaluated to the empty string
note that in my case it was also showing underlined unit names in the code editor at uses clause with “Cannot resolve unit name xx”
It is a known issue, documented here: https://community.embarcadero.com/article/technical-articles/16202-msbuildtoolspath-is-not-specified-for-the-toolsversion
This error is caused by incorrect values in the registry. On a 32 OS, run regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSBuild. On a 64 bit OS, run regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSBuild. First, backup this registry key by selecting File | Export. Next, look at the numbers below the ToolsVersions key. Delete any number not found at the MSBuild level. … There is anecdotal evidence to suggest this registry key imbalance is caused by uninstalling some versions of Visual Studio, but it has not been confirmed at this time.
Since I’ve been installing/uninstalling various Visual Studio versions (including previews), guess it has indeed been caused by that
Error “A default tools version “2.0” was specified, but its definition could not be found.” may appear then if you deleted the 2.0 key following the 1st article’s advice. Solution for that one is to edit each value under MSBuild key in the registry locations mentioned for x32 and x64 and change DefaultToolsVersion to 14.0 or other highest MSBuild tools version that is installed
Note that on x64 machine you need to fix these two issues for both x32 and x64 registry locations, since the IDE is 32-bit process and if you fix x64 location only it will fail internally, underlining all Standard units at uses clause in your source code at uses clause and showing “Cannot resolve unit name xx”
Also it may be useful to install this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=48159
This may also be useful to know (copying from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb383985.aspx):
Order of Precedence
The order of precedence, from highest to lowest, used to determine the ToolsVersion is: The ToolsVersion attribute on the MSBuild task used to build the project, if any.
The /toolsversion (or /tv) switch that’s used in the msbuild.exe command, if any.
If the environment variable MSBUILDTREATALLTOOLSVERSIONSASCURRENT is set, then use the current ToolsVersion.
If the environment variable MSBUILDTREATHIGHERTOOLSVERSIONASCURRENT is set and the ToolsVersion defined in the project file is greater than the current ToolsVersion, use the current ToolsVersion.
If the environment variable MSBUILDLEGACYDEFAULTTOOLSVERSION is set, or if ToolsVersion is not set, then the following steps are used:
The ToolsVersion attribute of the Project element of the project file. If this attribute doesn’t exist, it is assumed to be the current version.
The default tools version in the MSBuild.exe.config file.
The default tools version in the registry. For more information, see Standard and Custom Toolset Configurations.
If the environment variable MSBUILDLEGACYDEFAULTTOOLSVERSION is not set, then the following steps are used:
If the environment variable MSBUILDDEFAULTTOOLSVERSION is set to a ToolsVersion that exists, use it.
If DefaultOverrideToolsVersion is set in MSBuild.exe.config, use it.
If DefaultOverrideToolsVersion is set in the registry, use it.
Otherwise, use the current ToolsVersion.
Suggestion: Visual Studio should offer to implement callbacks
I type-in new PropertyMetadata(OnCenterXPropertyChanged) but since I haven’t yet implemented On…, I get a suggestion by the IDE to implement it but it suggests to add field, property or read-only field, not to implement the callback for me with the given name. It can find the method signature needed from the delegate that PropertyMetadata (one of its overloaded versions) expects.
It came to me while I was trying to implement Silverlight’s CompositeTransform for WPF:
public static readonly DependencyProperty CenterXProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("CenterX", typeof(double),
typeof(CompositeTransform),
new PropertyMetadata(OnCenterXPropertyChanged));
for the Compatibility library I maintain at http://github.com/zoomicon/Compatibility. I have used that library a lot in ClipFlair to maintain a common C# source and XAML between Silverlight and WPF projects (I do code sharing between projects via linked files).
Can vote for this suggestion at:
HowTo: Code folding in NetBeans IDE source code editor
As explained near the end of https://ui.netbeans.org/docs/ui/code_folding/cf_uispec.html, the NetBeans IDE source code editor supports custom code folding tags for any language, like below (here defining the code folding tag in a Java comment, obviously need to use specific comment syntax for the respective language).
// <editor-fold desc="isUserStudent"> —————————————-
public static boolean isUserStudent(PortletRequest request)
throws NamingException, PortletServiceUnavailableException, PumaException, SQLException
{
return isUserStudent(new DbAccess().getConnection(), request);
}public static boolean isUserStudent(Connection connection, PortletRequest request)
throws NamingException, PortletServiceUnavailableException, PumaException, SQLException
{
return !StringUtils.isNotPresent(getUserStudentId(connection, request));
}
public static boolean isUserStudent(int studentId, PortletRequest request)
throws NamingException, PortletServiceUnavailableException, PumaException, SQLException
{
return isUserStudent(studentId, new DbAccess().getConnection(), request);
}public static boolean isUserStudent(int studentId, Connection connection, PortletRequest request)
throws NamingException, PortletServiceUnavailableException, PumaException, SQLException
{
return (String.valueOf(studentId).equals(getUserStudentId(connection, request)));
}
public static String getUserStudentId(Connection connection, PortletRequest request)
throws NamingException, PortletServiceUnavailableException, PumaException, SQLException
{
return DbStudent.getStudentId(connection, Puma.getUserName(request));
}// </editor-fold>————————————————————-
This shows up in NetBeans like below when folded:
You can also optionally specify defaultstate="collapsed" at the code folding tag so that when the file is opened that region appears collapsed.
Fix: Java ServletException: IncompatibleClassChangeError
was getting an error like the following at your JavaEE Servlet (Portlets are also Servlets under the hood btw):
javax.servlet.ServletException: javax.portlet.PortletException: java.lang.Throwable: java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: : incorrect call to interface method
at first I thought the issue was with:
<bean:message class=”someCSSstyleClass” key="someMsgKey"/>
and used instead:
<span class="someCSSstyleClass"><bean:message key="someMsgKey"/></span>
in case the “class” attribute at bean:message tag was meaning a Java class instead of a CSS class
But, kept on getting the same error…
Then I tried a “Clean and Build” instead of just “Build” action at NetBeans IDE and errors poped up. Had refactored an abstract class to an interface and seems NetBeans was only compiling parts of my code which can cause tricky to debug errors.
So whenever you see strange runtime errors, especially when refactoring some older project, make sure you use “Clean and Build” (sometimes called “Rebuild”) in your IDE to be safe.
Fix: Visual Studio opens class diagram in XML editor with double click
Recently, to save myself sometime after having renamed some interfaces/classes in the ClipFlair project sourcecode, I right-clicked one of the class diagrams (.cd files) in it at Visual Studio’s “Solution Navigator” (this is an enhanced Solution Explorer addon) and using “Open With…” I opened up the diagrams with the XML editor to do a rename-all operation for the respective class names.
However, after saving the project I found out that from then on, that specific .cd file was opening up as XML file when double-clicked instead of opening up as a Class Diagram in the respective designer pane. Using Open With dialog would open it as a Class Diagram when asked to specifically, but using the checkbox to always open up as Class Diagram wouldn’t help fix the double-click problem for that specific .cd file (others would open up fine as class diagrams, not as XML files, when double-clicked).
I just managed to fix that issue by right clicking the file node in solution navigator’s tree and and excluding that file from the project (not deleting!), then saving the project, closing the solution containg the project and adding the file (via “Add existing file”) again after having reopened the solution. I could also possibly have right clicked selected “Unload project” after saving it and then select to reload it again, think that would have worked too.
Using VisualHG addon for Visual Studio I commited the changes to the Mercurial repository used by ClipFlair on Codeplex, which showed me that the file difference that did the fix was the following in the .csproj project file:
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="Diagrams\Windows.cd" />
- <None Include="Diagrams\Windows.Views.Interfaces.cd">
- <SubType>Designer</SubType>
- </None>
+ <None Include="Diagrams\Windows.Views.Interfaces.cd" />
<None Include="Diagrams\Windows.Views.ViewModels.cd" />
</ItemGroup>
That is instead of that marked-as-bold entry above (marked by the diff tool with – prefix), the line marked with + prefix should be used instead. This is obviously some bug in Visual Studio 2010, it’s nice to know though that you can easily take the project offline and edit the .csproj to fix it (or remove the .cd file, save the project, reload it and add the file again).
George Birbilis @zoomicon 