"No input sources specified"

Question

I'm upgrading a client's old VB.Net (2003) desktop app, using VS 2019 Community. I've one issue that I cannot resolve. I'm getting a BC2008 error code, with description "no input sources specified".

I've done some googling, and some have found a re-install of VS has somehow done the trick, but hasn't worked for me. I have no idea how to even debug this one. As far as I can tell, the project is the same as the 2003 version before-upgrade.

Any ideas?

Error:

The DataLayer project:

Edit:

Contents of the .vbproj file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="Current" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ProjectType>Local</ProjectType>
    <ProductVersion>7.10.3077</ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{4934644F-F06D-4F6D-B0D1-BF892686E073}</ProjectGuid>
    <SccProjectName>
    </SccProjectName>
    <SccLocalPath>
    </SccLocalPath>
    <SccAuxPath>
    </SccAuxPath>
    <SccProvider>
    </SccProvider>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ApplicationIcon />
    <AssemblyKeyContainerName />
    <AssemblyName>DataLayer</AssemblyName>
    <AssemblyOriginatorKeyFile />
    <AssemblyOriginatorKeyMode>None</AssemblyOriginatorKeyMode>
    <DefaultClientScript>JScript</DefaultClientScript>
    <DefaultHTMLPageLayout>Grid</DefaultHTMLPageLayout>
    <DefaultTargetSchema>IE50</DefaultTargetSchema>
    <DelaySign>false</DelaySign>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <OptionCompare>Binary</OptionCompare>
    <OptionExplicit>On</OptionExplicit>
    <OptionStrict>Off</OptionStrict>
    <RootNamespace>DataLayer</RootNamespace>
    <StartupObject>DataLayer.%28None%29</StartupObject>
    <FileUpgradeFlags>
    </FileUpgradeFlags>
    <MyType>Windows</MyType>
    <UpgradeBackupLocation>
    </UpgradeBackupLocation>
    <OldToolsVersion>0.0</OldToolsVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DocumentationFile>DataLayer.xml</DocumentationFile>
    <BaseAddress>285212672</BaseAddress>
    <ConfigurationOverrideFile />
    <DefineConstants />
    <DefineDebug>true</DefineDebug>
    <DefineTrace>true</DefineTrace>
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <RegisterForComInterop>false</RegisterForComInterop>
    <RemoveIntegerChecks>false</RemoveIntegerChecks>
    <TreatWarningsAsErrors>false</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
    <WarningLevel>1</WarningLevel>
    <NoWarn>42016,42017,42018,42019,42032,42353,42354,42355</NoWarn>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DocumentationFile>DataLayer.xml</DocumentationFile>
    <BaseAddress>285212672</BaseAddress>
    <ConfigurationOverrideFile />
    <DefineConstants />
    <DefineDebug>false</DefineDebug>
    <DefineTrace>true</DefineTrace>
    <DebugSymbols>false</DebugSymbols>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <RegisterForComInterop>false</RegisterForComInterop>
    <RemoveIntegerChecks>false</RemoveIntegerChecks>
    <TreatWarningsAsErrors>false</TreatWarningsAsErrors>
    <WarningLevel>1</WarningLevel>
    <NoWarn>42016,42017,42018,42019,42032,42353,42354,42355</NoWarn>
    <DebugType>none</DebugType>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Import Include="Microsoft.VisualBasic" />
    <Import Include="System" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="MySql.Data.dll" />
    <Content Include="Paperbase.dll" />
    <Content Include="SD.LLBLGen.Pro.DQE.SqlServer.NET11.dll" />
    <Content Include="SD.LLBLGen.Pro.ORMSupportClasses.NET11.dll" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Folder Include="My Project\" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.VisualBasic.targets" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <PreBuildEvent />
    <PostBuildEvent />
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

What version of .NET are you targeting? I'm not sure that VS 2019 can target earlier than .NET Framework 2.0 but those LLBLGen libraries (I haven't used that for a long time) indicate that they are for .NET Framework 1.1. That may not be an issue but, then again, it might be. — jmcilhinney, Jul 12 '21 at 03:49
Can you post a screenshot of the full Solution Explorer for the project, as well as the contents of the project file itself? You might try clicking the Show All Files button and see whether there are any files that are not part of the project that should be. — jmcilhinney, Jul 12 '21 at 03:50
@jmcilhinney I'm targeting .NET 4. I'm hoping the LLBLGen isn't the prob - but quite possibly could be - as the client haven't provided that software in the dev environment I have access to.. Plus, I've not used it before, so didn't want to have to touch it! — brad, Jul 12 '21 at 04:38
@jmcilhinney That is all that is part of that project. There are no actual .vb or other files. The solution contains 2 other projects, however. — brad, Jul 12 '21 at 04:39
You might want to read up on LLBLGen. I have used it but, like I said, that was some time ago. I suspect that it is supposed to be generating the files that the compiler is supposed to be processing but I can't recall exactly how it does that. I think that it might happen automatically as part of the build process, e.g. a pre-build event, and either you haven't got it configured correctly or it's not supported because of the .NET version mismatch. You may need to upgrade to a newer version of that or, if it is no longer supported, you may have to ditch it altogether. — jmcilhinney, Jul 12 '21 at 05:15

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 12 '21 at 03:41

0

It's about the missing source code file. Try to see if all the source code files are available and loaded. The below article from Microsoft says the same thing

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/visual-basic/misc/bc2008

answered Jul 12 '21 at 03:41

Bharat

1,192
7
14

Further to this, I've never encountered the issue myself but the first thing I'd do is make sure that the project file (VBPROJ) actually refers to the source files (VB, etc) that are supposed to be part of the project. – jmcilhinney Jul 12 '21 at 03:47
Yeah thanks, I'd come across that article too, but was like, what's "the source-code file" and how do I work out what it expects? I can see in the .vbproj file (now posted above) that the ItemGroup node mentions 4 .dll files, which are all present, so not sure past that? Could it be simply that there are no actual .vb files in the project, only references to external libraries? – brad Jul 12 '21 at 04:55
OK, so this was the problem. I simply added an empty class file, and the project compiled successfully. Must be a requirement introduced since 2003. – brad Jul 12 '21 at 05:47
I have a similar issue upgrading frm VS2013 to VS2019. It seems that the new version doesn't like projects with no source files. I don't really want to have to add a dummy source code file and have it produce a dummy DL. Is there another way around this ? e.g. is there a different project file type that I can use? – Phil Preen Apr 03 '23 at 13:08

"No input sources specified"

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