Nathan Jones

Ever been stuck working in VB.NET 2005 or 2008 with a project created in VB.NET 2003? Aside from language differences, you’re stuck with forms that except for resources are in one file. Not only is this ugly, but it makes the IDE slower, since it redraws when it detects any changes to a file that has designer info.

So I started hunting about for a quick solution to convert this over (why isn’t this automatic MS?) and found a great solution by Duncan Smart, on his blog here. I’ve modified it to work with VB and tested and ran it in VB 2008. Duncan’s didn’t seem to work right on VB code when iterating through the class members, but there does seem to be little predictability when it comes to using the macro system. I also added some extra error checking and a restore-on-error feature.

Here’s the code for the macro. Instructions for usage are in the comments on the top. Sorry for the sometimes sloppy style–I wrote it quick and dirty.

Imports System
Imports EnvDTE
Imports EnvDTE80
Imports EnvDTE90
Imports System.Diagnostics

Public Module ExtractWinFormsDesignerFile

    ' -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' Extract WinForms Designer File Visual Studio 2005/2008 Macro
    ' -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    ' Extracts the InitializeComponent() and Dispose() methods and control
    ' field delarations from a .NET 1.x VS 2003 project into a VS 2005/8
    ' style .NET 2.0 partial class in a *.Designer.VB file. (This tested to work
    ' with VB only.)
    '
    ' To use:
    '  * Copy the methods below into a Visual Studio Macro Module (use
    '    ALT+F11 to show the Macro editor)
    '  * Select a Windows Form in the Solution Explorer
    '  * Run the macro by showing the Macro Explorer (ALT+F8) and double
    '    clicking the 'ExtractWinFormsDesignerFile' macro.
    '
    ' Duncan Smart, InfoBasis, 2007
    ' From: http://blog.dotsmart.net/2008/05/20/converting-visual-studio-2003-winforms-to-visual-studio-20052008-partial-classes/
    ' Modified and updated by Nathan Jones, 2010
    ' See: http://www.nathanpjones.com/
    ' -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Sub ExtractWinFormsDesignerFile()

        Dim item As ProjectItem = DTE.SelectedItems.Item(1).ProjectItem
        Dim sourceFileName As String = item.FileNames(1)
        Dim sourceDir As String = System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(sourceFileName)
        Dim origCode As String
        Dim bareName As String = System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(sourceFileName)
        Dim newDesignerFile As String = sourceDir & "\" & bareName & ".Designer.vb"

        If IO.File.Exists(newDesignerFile) Then
            MsgBox("Designer file already exists!")
            Exit Sub
        Else
            If MsgBox("You are about to extract designer code from:" + vbCrLf + _
                      vbCrLf + _
                      "    " + sourceFileName + vbCrLf + _
                      vbCrLf + _
                      "To the following file:" + vbCrLf + _
                      vbCrLf + _
                      "    " + newDesignerFile + vbCrLf + _
                      vbCrLf + _
                      "MAKE SURE TO BACK UP FIRST!", _
                      MsgBoxStyle.OkCancel Or MsgBoxStyle.DefaultButton2 Or MsgBoxStyle.Question, _
                      "Confirm") = MsgBoxResult.Cancel Then Exit Sub
        End If
        origCode = System.IO.File.ReadAllText(sourceFileName)

        Dim codeClass As CodeClass
        Dim namespaceName As String

        codeClass = findClass(item.FileCodeModel.CodeElements)
        namespaceName = ""
        If codeClass.Namespace IsNot Nothing Then
            namespaceName = codeClass.Namespace.FullName
        End If

        Dim initComponentText As String
        Dim disposeText As String
        Dim fieldDecls() As String
        Try
            initComponentText = extractMember(codeClass.Members.Item("InitializeComponent"))
        Catch
            MsgBox("Error extracting InitializeComponent!")
            Exit Sub
        End Try
        Try
            disposeText = extractMember(codeClass.Members.Item("Dispose"))
        Catch
            MsgBox("Error extracting Dispose! Will restore source file.")
            System.IO.File.WriteAllText(sourceFileName, origCode)
            Exit Sub
        End Try
        Try
            fieldDecls = extractWinFormsFields(codeClass, initComponentText)
        Catch
            MsgBox("Error extracting field declares! Will restore source file.")
            System.IO.File.WriteAllText(sourceFileName, origCode)
            Exit Sub
        End Try

        Dim finalCode As String

        finalCode = IIf(namespaceName <> "", "Namespace " + namespaceName + vbCrLf + vbCrLf, "") + _
                    "<Global.Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices.DesignerGenerated()> _" + vbCrLf + _
                    "Partial Class " + codeClass.Name + vbCrLf + _
                    "    Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form" + vbCrLf + _
                    vbCrLf + _
                    disposeText + vbCrLf + _
                    vbCrLf + _
                    fieldDecls(0) + vbCrLf + _
                    vbCrLf + _
                    initComponentText + vbCrLf + _
                    fieldDecls(1) + vbCrLf + _
                    "End Class" + vbCrLf + _
                    IIf(namespaceName <> "", vbCrLf + "End Namespace" + vbCrLf, "")

        ' Now write the new designer file

        System.IO.File.WriteAllText(newDesignerFile, finalCode)

        Dim newProjItem As ProjectItem = item.ProjectItems.AddFromFile(newDesignerFile)
        Try
            newProjItem.Open()
        Catch
        End Try
        Try
            DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.FormatDocument")
        Catch
        End Try

        MsgBox("Code separated successfully!" + vbCrLf + _
               "You may have residual comments or code regions in the source " + vbCrLf + _
               "class that should be deleted or moved to the new Designer.vb class.", _
               MsgBoxStyle.Information, _
               "Complete")

    End Sub

    Function findClass(ByVal items As System.Collections.IEnumerable) As CodeClass

        For Each codeEl As CodeElement In items

            If codeEl.Kind = vsCMElement.vsCMElementClass Then

                Return codeEl

            ElseIf codeEl.Children.Count > 0 Then

                Dim cls As CodeClass = findClass(codeEl.Children)
                If cls IsNot Nothing Then
                    Return findClass(codeEl.Children)
                End If

            End If

        Next

        Return Nothing

    End Function

    Function extractWinFormsFields(ByVal codeClass As CodeClass, ByVal initComponentsCode As String) As String()

        Dim member As CodeElement
        Dim fieldsCode As String
        Dim components As String
        Dim initComponentsCodeForComp As String = initComponentsCode.ToLower

        fieldsCode = ""
        For i As Integer = codeClass.Members.Count To 1 Step -1

            member = codeClass.Members.Item(i)

            If member.Kind = vsCMElement.vsCMElementVariable Then

                Dim field As CodeVariable = member

                If field.Type.TypeKind <> vsCMTypeRef.vsCMTypeRefArray Then

                    If field.Name.ToLower = "components" Then

                        ' We'll insert this separately
                        components = extractMember(field)

                    ElseIf initComponentsCodeForComp Like ("* Me." + field.Name + " = New *").ToLower Then

                        fieldsCode = extractMember(field) + vbCrLf + _
                                     fieldsCode

                    End If

                End If

            End If

        Next

        Return New String() {components, fieldsCode}

    End Function

    Function extractMember(ByVal memberElement As CodeElement) As String

        Dim memberStart As EditPoint = memberElement.GetStartPoint().CreateEditPoint()
        Dim memberText As String = String.Empty

        memberText += memberStart.GetText(memberElement.GetEndPoint())
        memberStart.Delete(memberElement.GetEndPoint())

        Return memberText

    End Function

End Module