How can I upgrade from 2.X to 5.X in Visual Studio Professional 2019 ?

[Kerry]

Can tell more details step by step? I am a novice.
Thank you so much.

[fabricio.murta]

Hello @Kerry!

First you'd need to upgrade thye NuGet Packages references. You can use Visual Studio 2019 "NuGet Package Manager dialog" for that. Basically, the Newtonsoft.Json and Ext.NET (or Ext.NET MVC) packages should be updated to their latest.

Then, inevitably some breaking changes might happen in the pages. There can be as much code you should update as you have gone "beyond defaults" in your project.

For instance, if you only use simple Grid Panels with mostly Ext.NET specifications (server-side) and few (or no) custom JavaScript (client-side) code, most of the code you'd need to update will promptly be pointed by intellisense as you let Visual Studio re-evaluate the files you open on screen.

On the other hand, if you heavily changed components' behavior via client-side extensions, overrides, or custom handlers, you'd have to fully build (solving the server-side syntax changes) and then hands-on debugger to the pages. Usually browser's developer tools (f12) can help you with most (if not all) troubles you could find there.

But then, only in a case-by-case basis you can evaluate what every individual page will need of changes (if any) to ensure they are fully upgrade to Ext.NET 5.

Unfortunately we are talking about years of development so breaking changes will be there. How difficult it is going to be really depends how deep on customization your solution went with Ext.NET 2.x.

Hope this helps!

[Kerry]

25365

I already install ext.net, but can't get the ext.net tools in toolbox. What did I miss or what can I do now?
Thank again.

[fabricio.murta]

Hello @Kerry!

What toolbox are you specifically referring to? Designer view?

[Kerry]

25366 Yes,like this.

I don't have anything in my toolbox, I try to search "Ext.net"in toolbox ,but still nothing.
25367

[fabricio.murta]

Hello again @Kerry!

The toolbar components are not automagically installed and appended to Visual Studio as you install/upgrade the NuGet package. You have to follow some manual steps to create it. Unfortunately, the NuGet subsystem doesn't allow this installation to happen. But the bright side is, it is not that complex to add the items to toolbox.

Here is a thread with the step-through that worked for me: Installing on VS2008 (https://forums.ext.net/showthread.php?12&p=43&viewfull=1#post43)

The change actually is that, instead of looking for 'coolite' you'd be entering 'Ext.NET' instead. I believe these instructions readme mentioned in the thread was lost between Coolite and Ext.NET 1 release, but the steps seems the same, given the proper name replacement (coolite => Ext.NET).

In the search I given to the forums, I couldn't find specific instructions for Ext.NET to be more objective. It may be a problem that Ext.NET now resides within the project's packages/ directory (and is not an installation system-wide as I believe Coolite was back then).

Anyway, I'm transcribing the instructions from the thread above and just changing the Coolite references to Ext.NET.



----------------------------------------------------------
MANUAL TOOLBOX INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
----------------------------------------------------------

The following steps are required to manually install the Ext.NET controls into your Visual Studio Toolbox.

1. Open Visual Studio

2. Open an existing or create a new web Project.

3. Open or create a new .aspx page.

4. Open the ToolBox panel. Typically located on the left side in a fly-out panel (Ctrl + Alt + x).

5. Create a new "Coolite" Tab, by...
a. Right-Click in the ToolBox area.
b. Select "Add Tab".
c. Enter "Ext.NET".

6. Inside the "Ext.NET" tab, Right-Click and select "Choose Items...".

7. Wait the the ".NET Framework Components" Tab to load, then click the "Browse" button.

8. Navigate to and select the Ext.NET.dll file, choose open.

NOTE: The Ext.NET DLL will typically be under your project's 'packages/' directory, containing other NuGet packages, something like:

YourProject\Packages\Ext.NET.5.2.0\lib\net46\Ext.N et.dll

9. The component items should now be added to the list and pre-checked. You can confirm by sorting the list by "Namespace" and scrolling to "Ext.Net"

10. Click "OK". The icons should be added to your ToolBox. You should now be able to drag/drop an Ext.NET component onto your WebForm.

11. Enjoy.


Hope this helps!

EDIT: as you are going into a transition between Ext.NET 2.x to 5.x, I suggest you create a tab after Ext.NET's version (like Ext.NET 5.2.0 so that you can discern between Ext.NET versions the component you are pulling from the toolbox complies to. They should mostly be the same, but there will be new components (and removed/renamed as well) that will not be interchangeable between the two toolbox tabs.

[Kerry]

I know how to do. Will try it later.Thanks again.