Share via


Troubleshooting Extensibility Issues

This topic describes issues that might occur when you extend Distributed System Designers in Visual Studio Team System Architecture Edition.

  • Creating and Exporting Custom Prototypes

  • Importing and Installing Custom Prototypes

  • Deleting Prototypes from the Toolbox

  • System Definition Model (SDM) SDK Issues

Creating and Exporting Custom Prototypes

The following issues might occur when you create custom prototypes.

Permission Requirements

If you are running Visual Studio on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP, you must have at least Power User permissions to create custom prototypes for all users. If you are running Visual Studio on Windows Vista, you must have administrator permissions. If you want to export a prototype to a restricted location, you must provide administrator credentials to export the prototype to that location.

For more information, see the following topics:

Prototype File with the Same Name Already Exists

If the prototype that you are trying to create has the same file name as an existing prototype file, Visual Studio displays the following message:

"VS1021: The prototype file already exists in the Toolbox: <file name>. To overwrite this file, click OK."

Prototype File is Missing

If the prototype's .*prototype file is missing when you try to export the prototype, Visual Studio displays the following message:

"VS1011: Cannot find the prototype file for this toolbox item: <path and file name of prototype>."

To work around this issue, follow these steps.

To export a prototype when the associated file is missing

  1. Drag the prototype to the diagram from the Toolbox.

  2. Add the resulting shape on the diagram to the Toolbox.

  3. Export the prototype from the Toolbox.

For more information, see How to: Export Custom Prototypes from Distributed System Designers.

Importing and Installing Custom Prototypes

The following issues might occur when you import custom prototypes created in Distributed System Designers or install custom prototypes created from the System Definition Model (SDM) Software Development Kit (SDK). For more information, see How to: Import or Install New Custom Prototypes.

Permissions Requirements

If you are running Visual Studio on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP, you must have at least Power User permissions to import custom prototypes for all users. If you are running Visual Studio on Windows Vista, you must provide administrator credentials to import a custom prototype for all users on your computer.

To install custom prototypes created in Distributed System Designers or from the SDM SDK, you must have power user or administrator permissions to add the appropriate registry keys for those prototypes.

Prototype Contains Office Applications whose Template Property Displays a Path

If you import a prototype that was created from an earlier version of Distributed System Designers, and that prototype contains one or more Office applications, the Template property of those applications might show a path instead of the template name.

To fix this issue, change the Template property to the template you want.

Updating the Registry for .sdmdocument Files

If you add or remove .sdmdocument files for prototypes created from the SDM SDK, and you update the registry to reflect those changes, Visual Studio does not refresh these files if you only close and reopen a designer. It uses the files from the cache instead.

To resolve this issue, close and reopen Visual Studio to refresh the .sdmdocument files loaded by Visual Studio.

Note

Visual Studio loads .sdmdocument files when you first open Visual Studio. When you first open a Distributed System Designer, Visual Studio saves these files to the cache.

Prototype is Invalid or Corrupted

If the prototype that you are trying to import is not a valid prototype file or is corrupted, Visual Studio displays the following message:

"VS1010: Visual Studio cannot import the selected file. It is not a compatible prototype file. Select a compatible prototype file."

Valid prototype files have a .*prototype file name extension.

Prototype with the Same Name Already Exists

If the prototype that you are trying to import already exists in the Toolbox, Visual Studio displays the following message:

"VS1021: The prototype file already exists in the Toolbox: <file name>. To overwrite this file, click OK."

Prototype is Already Imported

If the source and destination of the prototype file that you are trying to import are the same, Visual Studio displays the following message:

"VS 1020: Visual Studio cannot import the selected file. The prototype in the file has already been imported."

Toolbox Appears Empty

If the Toolbox appears empty, confirm that the PrototypesFolder1 registry value does not contain an empty or incorrectly formatted value (administrator permissions required).

If you are running Visual Studio on Windows XP, confirm that the PrototypesFolder1 registry value contains the following values:

Prototype file type

Registry location

Confirm PrototypesFolder1 contains

Custom prototype files for your use only

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\EnterpriseTools\DesignerPrototypeFolders

<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\ DesignerPrototypeFolders\Prototypes\

Custom prototype files that for other users

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\EnterpriseTools\DesignerPrototypeFolders

…\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes\

If you are running Visual Studio on Windows Vista:

Prototype file type

Registry location

Confirm PrototypesFolder1 contains

Custom prototype files for your use only

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\EnterpriseTools\DesignerPrototypeFolders

<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes

Custom prototype files that for other users

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\EnterpriseTools\DesignerPrototypeFolders

…\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes

Default Application or Logical Server Name Does Not Match that Specified in DefaultRootName Property

When you use the SDM SDK to create a custom prototype, Visual Studio might not use the name that was specified by the DefaultRootName property in the SDM design data as the default name for applications and logical servers on the diagram surface. Instead, their shapes display the name "Application1" or "GenericServer1".

To work around this issue, follow these steps.

To change the default name

  1. After you use protogen.exe to generate the initial prototype, install the prototype.

  2. Open the appropriate designer and drag the prototype from the Toolbox to the diagram surface.

    The corresponding shape appears on the diagram.

  3. Rename the shape on the diagram with the default name that you want.

  4. Create a prototype from the renamed shape.

  5. Export the renamed prototype and distribute it.

For more information, see the following topics:

Deleting Prototypes from the Toolbox

The following issues might occur when you delete prototypes from the Toolbox.

Prototypes Reappear in the Toolbox

If you delete a prototype from the Toolbox and restart Visual Studio, the prototype might reappear in your Toolbox.

To work around this issue, you must delete the supporting .adprototype or .lddprototype file and reset the Toolbox.

Note

You must have administrator permissions to delete any files located in restricted locations.

If you are running Visual Studio on Windows XP:

  • Find and delete the custom prototype file that you created for your use only at the following location:

    …\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\DesignerPrototypeFolders\Prototypes

  • Find and delete the custom prototype file that you created for other users at the following location:

    …\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes

If you are running Visual Studio on Windows Vista:

  • Find and delete the custom prototype file that you created for your use only at the following location:

    …\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes

  • Find and delete the custom prototype file that you created for other users at the following location:

    …\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes

System Definition Model (SDM) SDK Issues

If you install or uninstall Visual Studio Team System 2008 Architecture Edition on a computer that has Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Architects and the Visual Studio 2005 SDM SDK installed, the Visual Studio 2005 SDM SDK version of Protogen.exe might stop functioning.

To fix this issue, use one of the following workarounds. Before you use these workarounds, be sure to back up any registry key information or files that you will change or delete. This is a precaution in case you need to restore the information.

  • If you installed Team System 2008 Architecture Edition, edit the registry key in the following location so that it points to the Visual Studio 2005 prototype folder: 

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\EnterpriseTools\DesignerPrototypeFolders

    If you uninstalled Team System 2008 Architecture Edition, add a new registry key to the specified location as follows:

    Name = "PrototypesFolder1"

    Value = <Path to Visual Studio 2005 prototype folder>

  • If you installed Team System 2008 Architecture Edition, replace the *.prototypetemplate files in the following location with the Visual Studio 2005 version of those files. If you uninstalled Team System 2008 Architecture Edition, create the following location if it no longer exists:

    …\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools\DesignerPrototypes\Prototypes

  • Uninstall Team System 2008 Architecture Edition and delete the following registry location:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0

See Also

Other Resources

Extending Distributed System Designers