Import remote DLL every time VS starts?

Question

I am somewhat responsible for a common code base at work. It becomes very frustrating pushing out updates to the libraries simply because people don't keep track of that stuff or when old projects need updates, a lot of the times it contains the old DLL and the person in charge of changes doesn't include the latest version. The result ends up being that our code base is fragmented with new/old versions. I want to MAKE SURE that when a project is worked on, it is using the lastest DLLs.

Is there a way in visual studio to set the DLL to import every time? I noticed that once the DLL is in place, even if you update the DLL file, you have to reimport to get the lastest goodies. Is there a way for maybe Visual Studio to reimport it on every start? The DLL will sit on a shared drive, so when I push out new updates I can simply update the DLL on the shared drive and it gives everyone the lastest version automatically.

That's pretty messed up. No cure for that other than actually *forcing* the DLL updates. — Hans Passant, Jul 12 '12 at 22:54

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 12 '12 at 21:58

0

Even if this is possible, people would have to restart their visual studio to get the updated driver. I tend to leave my workspaces and projects open for days. So it would not help if I were in your office.

Sounds better to me to implement a version control system (ie SVN) and either commit the DLL or the code itself and let people update/recompile as they want. Usually people learn to update and commit often to avoid complicated merge conflicts.

Or do you already have your code under version control?

answered Jul 12 '12 at 21:58

Avada Kedavra

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Thats one of the problems we are having, we currently are trying to get some kind of versioning like P4 or TFS but no luck yet. So we are looking for some kind of alternative. – Serguei Fedorov Jul 12 '12 at 22:03
I see. Proper version handling is probably all you need. It will save you tons of work and open up loads of possibilities. I would never start/enter another project without it, even if I'm working on my own. Imagine if you release a version 1.0 to one customer and then later on 1.5 to another, and you are working on the 1.6 release. Now enters a bug in the 1.0 version, how do you know what code that was compiled? Its hell without control. The time your team takes to implement it and learn it you will have back in no-time, and it will be your best friend soon. – Avada Kedavra Jul 12 '12 at 22:11

Import remote DLL every time VS starts?

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