VB.NET 2005 *ERROR* DESIGNER LOADER DID NOT PROVIDE ROOT COMPONENT

VB.NET 2005 *ERROR* DESIGNER LOADER DID NOT PROVIDE ROOT COMPONENT

• Vi

  My problem was that after CVS merge, the following line appeared twice in the InitializeComponent:

  this.tsmiKeyboardShortcuts = new System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem();

  
  
  

• hailey

  I discovered another way to get this lovely error. I copied and pasted an existing form, since I needed a very similar design & function, in the same solution. I renamed the new form to something different, and then I proceeded to edit the new form by changing the names of the comboboxes and such to reflect the new data.

  Apparently, not only were the comboxes renamed in my new form but also in the original form. And, well, voila, error. Fantastic.

  
  

• PMC-RNY

  I finally found the culprit. Inside the Window Form Designer generated code region, the very first line was repeated. I don't know exactly how that happend -- after all, that region of code is generated by the Designer and I've never before edited that section. But when I finally noticed the repeated lines, I deleted one and, voila, my form was able to appear in design mode.

  Here's what the region looked like before I manually edited it:

  #region Windows Form Designer generated code

  /// <summary>

  /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify

  /// the contents of this method with the code editor.

  /// </summary>

  private void InitializeComponent()

  {

  this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();

  this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();

  ...<snip>

  The way I look at it, there are at least two "bugs" (or maybe, features) that Microsoft needs to improve.

  1) The auto-generated designer code doesn't always auto-generate correct code. Unfortunately, I can't tell you how this problem occurred in this instance. My form has a wide variety of controls, including splitters, user controls, and third-party controls. We are occassionally adding additional controls to it.

  2) When the designer can't display a form, it does not provide enough information why. I believe that if a form compiles and executes, then the form ought to be displayable by the designer. But even (or actually, especially) if this is not the case, then the designer needs to be more explicit about describing problems it detects.

  
  
  

• TAd_EIF

  Hi!

  
  

  
  

  Has anyone solved this problem in VB.NET 2005 Please help. This bug was very annoying.
  

  
  

• Jahir Saleem

  Martin,

  I had a similar problem. It can be re-produced by doing the following.

  Create a user control that generates an exception in the constructor. Just throw an exception. Then call IDesignerHost.CreateComponent with that user control as the component to re-create.

  The designer just shows the exception. It would be cool if it told you where the exception was generated from. That would help people find where their problem is.

  Exceptions in the user controls at other times than creation will cause the adorners to do the same thing, but only for that specific control.

  Ken

  
  

• MusiMeli

  This error is an annoying demonstration of a lack of attention to detail. Not only does this error violate good development and testing practices, it lacks any meaning. If an error can be any more generic than this, it would be "Something is wrong. The software can't tell you why, but rest assured that due to the poor programming and quality control, you'll never figure it out." This is error should have been fixed a year ago.

  IDIOTS

  
  

• codeburner

  I reported this as a bug while VS2005 was in beta, and was told that it's a feature. :-)

  
  
  

• Shafiq Ur Rahman - MSFT

  Hi,
  
  In case anyone's interested, we had the same error, and this is how we solved it:
  
  The problem for us was that after a branch merge, InitializeComponent() finished up with a line that ended "; ;". The compiler didn't warn us about the possible null statement (sure I remember it doing that in previous version) but the Designer certainly didn't like it.
  
  Removed the stray semi-colon and all is good again.
  
  Good luck,
  
  Ed H
  
  
  

• Jasim Iqbal

  I had to comment out most of the code in the InitializeComponent method and then uncomment it line by line and testing the designer. In my case setting the Text property of the custom control that is derived from a RichTextBox to some 5 character long string was throwing this exception. Once I commented that line out the error was gone. Obviously some code is triggered that throws an exception but within the control I'm not subscribed for any text related events, so why this error is triggered by changing the Text property is a mystery for me so far. At run-time everything is working without a problem.

  P.S. I'm using VS2005 SP1 and working with C#. No 3rd party development tools are involved at this point.

  [EDIT]ok, I know why the Text property was the problem. In the class derived from RichTextBox I was doing some cleaning-up - hiding a few inhereted properties I did not want to show to the user (removing them from PropertyDescriptorCollection) and mistakenly the Text property was among them. It would help if IDE was saying something like "The Text property is hidden in this object and cannot be referenced. Line ###".

  [/EDIT]

  
  

• Simon bridgens

  I'm experiencing the same symptoms in VS2005 (C#). No matter what I've tried, I still get "The designer loader did not provide a root component but has not indicated why" or "Exception of type 'System.ComponentModel.Design.ExceptionCollection."

  Or both.

  First of all, is this an acknowledged bug I have a form design that compiles and executes, so if there's a problem with my code, I need VS2005 to point me in the direction of what *it* thinks the problem is. These error messages provide no help in solving any problem.

  Second, is there an existing workaround Cleaning, rebuilding, reloading, deleting \bin and \obj, ... none of these have helped me to restore the existing form design. How can I continue working on my existing form if I can't even view my existing form

  Any more information out there

  
  
  

• PC MacLeif

  Moving this to the visual studio designer forum..

  The new designer sucks. Basically, if any events your controls fire run code, that code needs to check all variables to make sure they are valid, even if it's not possible at runtime for them to be invalid.

  
  
  

• pcgeek1011

  Hi,

  Thanks for getting back to me.

  1. If you ever find out what the repro steps are please post them so that we can take a look.

  2. We are looking into ways of make the WSOD more useful.

  Martin

  
  
  

• Lingle227

  Hi,

  I have seen this error posted before but haven't been able to repro it. Do you have a repro scenario

  Thanks

  Martin

  
  
  
• VB.NET 2005 *ERROR* DESIGNER LOADER DID NOT PROVIDE ROOT COMPONENT