Form and designer files not linking in Solution Explorer

Question

I can\'t seem to get the form and the designer files to link in my project. They look like this in the Solution Explorer.

Answer 1

I've seen the same problem in Visual Studio 2008. Usually after compiling or closing and re-opening the solution the problem would fix itself. In Visual Studio 2012 I know that I have problems if I try to Add > Existing Item and choose all three files. Typically you only want to add the top level form.cs and VS will automatically include the .designer.cs and .resx files.

Answer 2

Check the project (.csproj) file.

Inside the ItemGroup node, see if the .designer file is associated with the code-behind file. The XML should look something like this:

<Compile Include="FormPrompt.cs">
    <SubType>Form</SubType>
</Compile>
<Compile Include="FormPrompt.Designer.cs">
    <DependentUpon>FormPrompt.cs</DependentUpon>
</Compile>

Answer 3

include the .resx file into the project and in the properties of this file set Custom Tool as ResXFileCodeGenerator

Answer 4

In VS2017 (c#) to solve it, in my case:

1. exclude all file
2. go to folder
3. rename file (all 3 file .cs.Designer.cs .resx)
4. refresh solution
5. add to project back

Answer 5

Check the project (.csproj)

<EmbeddedResource Include="Properties\Resources.resx">
  <Generator>ResXFileCodeGenerator</Generator> Check this
  <SubType>Designer</SubType>
  <LastGenOutput>Resources.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
</EmbeddedResource>

<Compile Include="Properties\Resources.Designer.cs">
  <AutoGen>True</AutoGen> And Check this
  <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
  <DependentUpon>Resources.resx</DependentUpon>
</Compile>