Getting assemblies to show in the .NET tab of Add Reference

Question

When working with Visual Studio and adding a reference to a project you are presented a window with multiple tabs; .NET, Project, Recent, and Browse. What is needed to get an item listed under the .NET listing?

We have items in the GAC which we thought would get them listed there, but they are not. We are looking for methods to be able to get more consistent reference paths for assemblies in our applications across a very large development team.

Answer 1

You need to make a registry entry to tell Visual Studio which folders to show assemblies for. This article explains how to do it:

http://www.platinumbay.com/blogs/dotneticated/archive/2008/09/02/add-reference-and-the-gac.aspx

We don't use the GAC anymore as it is a cumbersome process that wasn't giving benefit to our team members. We solve the consistent path issues using project references for our own assemblies. Third party assemblies go in a folder within the solution and we reference the assemblies in the projects from there. This way everyone has them in the same path with no worries.

Answer 2

You need to add a registry key like:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders\MyAssemblies]@="C:\MyAssemblies"

You can see more on this at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306149

Answer 3

This is probably a VFAQ, even though I'm quite new here. The basic concept here is that the list of assemblies is loaded based on a setting in the Registry.

All you need to do is to add a registry subkey which points to the location of the assembly under the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\AssemblyFolders\

If MyAssemblyFolder is the name of your folder where your Assembly to be added resides, create a subkey with any name and within it, add a String key with the complete path to your MyAssemblyFolder.

Answer 4

I've created a tool which is completely free, that will help you to achieve your goal. Muse VSReferences will allow you to add a Global Assembly Cache reference to the project from Add GAC Reference menu item.

Regards,

Muse VSExtensions