'Reference to a non-shared member requires an object reference' after adding a new value to Application Settings

Question

'Reference to a non-shared member requires an object reference' after adding a new value to Application Settings

moris27 56

If I add a new settings to my application Settings(VB.NET,NET 4.7.2),I got 142 errors:

`BC30469	Reference to a non-shared member requires an object reference`

on every code that uses My.Settings

If I use notepad++ and manually add the new value to Settings.Designer.vb and Settings.settings,there is no error

that worked fine,I think the problem is form recent VS updates

thanks for any clue

Settings.Designer.vb:

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

' <auto-generated>

'     This code was generated by a tool.

'     Runtime Version:4.0.30319.42000

'

'     Changes to this file may cause incorrect behavior and will be lost if

'     the code is regenerated.

' </auto-generated>

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Option Strict On

Option Explicit On





Namespace My

    

    <Global.System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute(),  _

     Global.System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCodeAttribute("Microsoft.VisualStudio.Editors.SettingsDesigner.SettingsSingleFileGenerator", "17.6.0.0"),  _

     Global.System.ComponentModel.EditorBrowsableAttribute(Global.System.ComponentModel.EditorBrowsableState.Advanced)>  _

    Partial Friend NotInheritable Class Settings

        Inherits Global.System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase

        

        Private Shared defaultInstance As Settings = CType(Global.System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase.Synchronized(New Settings()),Settings)

....        



    <Global.Microsoft.VisualBasic.HideModuleNameAttribute(),  _

     Global.System.Diagnostics.DebuggerNonUserCodeAttribute(),  _

     Global.System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute()>  _

    Friend Module MySettingsProperty

        

        <Global.System.ComponentModel.Design.HelpKeywordAttribute("My.Settings")>  _

        Friend ReadOnly Property Settings() As Global.Application.My.Settings

            Get

                Return Global.Application.My.Settings.Default

            End Get

        End Property

    End Module

End Namespace

Settings.settings :

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

<SettingsFile xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2004/01/settings" CurrentProfile="(Default)" GeneratedClassNamespace="" GeneratedClassName="Settings">

  <Profiles />

  <Settings>

    <Setting Name="Server_Name" Type="System.String" Scope="User">

      <Value Profile="(Default)">localhost</Value>

...

</Settings>

</SettingsFile>

Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-20T01:39:41.32+00:00

Hi @moris27 ,

Have you tested it in a new project?

Could you please provide more information about your Visual Studio?
moris27 56 Reputation points

2023-06-20T04:23:41.0666667+00:00
Hi

I use the latest version of Visual Studio 2022.I've tested in a new project and it works,but in this case seems that in Settings.Designer.vb it creates another class name MySettings insted of Settings.

also I see another change in new project,file Settings.settings:

<SettingsFile xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2004/01/settings" CurrentProfile="(Default)" GeneratedClassNamespace="My" GeneratedClassName="MySettings" UseMySettingsClassName="true">

in my project:

<SettingsFile xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2004/01/settings" CurrentProfile="(Default)" GeneratedClassNamespace="" GeneratedClassName="Settings">

If I manually change Settings.settings and Settings.Designer.vb as in new project, it seems to work but,in production, my app doesn't recognize user settings(and there are some)

new values:

<userSettings> <Application.MySettings> <setting name="Server_Name" serializeAs="String"> <value>localhost</value>

old:

<userSettings> <Application.Settings> <setting name="Server_Name" serializeAs="String">

thanks
Fried Parrot 0 Reputation points

2024-10-17T15:17:28.28+00:00
I just fix the My.Settings.Save() to My.Settings.Default.Save() and it works. Note the same err just happened after I change my project framework from .NET2.0 to .NET3.5

I am confused and the interpretation from gpt are as follows :

Default Instance Reference of My.Settings:

My.Settings is a shortcut in Visual Basic for accessing application settings, and it typically refers to the default instance of the Settings class.

This instance is usually auto-generated, allowing us to conveniently access and save user and application settings.

Settings.Default as an Explicit Instance:

In the Settings.Designer.vb file, the Default property is usually defined like this:

Public Get Return End End

Default is a static (Shared) property that returns the default instance of the Settings class (defaultInstance). Therefore, calling My.Settings.Default.Save() ensures that the Save() method is called on this default instance.

Why My.Settings.Default.Save() Solved the Problem:

When you directly call My.Settings.Save(), the compiler might get confused because Save() is a non-static method, and My.Settings is a class-level shortcut (even though it represents an instance).

However, when you explicitly use My.Settings.Default.Save(), you are essentially instructing the compiler to call the Default property of Settings and use that instance to invoke the Save() method. This approach aligns with the requirement for referencing non-static members, thus avoiding the BC30469 error.

So I think may be compiler confused the non-static method and instance (sounds ridiculous), or there is small modifications between different framework.

Accepted answer

1 additional answer

Your answer

Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-20T01:39:41.32+00:00

Hi @moris27 ,

Have you tested it in a new project?

Could you please provide more information about your Visual Studio?
moris27 56 Reputation points

2023-06-20T04:23:41.0666667+00:00

Hi

I use the latest version of Visual Studio 2022.I've tested in a new project and it works,but in this case seems that in Settings.Designer.vb it creates another class name MySettings insted of Settings.

also I see another change in new project,file Settings.settings:

<SettingsFile xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2004/01/settings" CurrentProfile="(Default)" GeneratedClassNamespace="My" GeneratedClassName="MySettings" UseMySettingsClassName="true">

in my project:

<SettingsFile xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2004/01/settings" CurrentProfile="(Default)" GeneratedClassNamespace="" GeneratedClassName="Settings">

If I manually change Settings.settings and Settings.Designer.vb as in new project, it seems to work but,in production, my app doesn't recognize user settings(and there are some)

new values:

<userSettings> <Application.MySettings> <setting name="Server_Name" serializeAs="String"> <value>localhost</value>

old:

<userSettings> <Application.Settings> <setting name="Server_Name" serializeAs="String">

thanks
Fried Parrot 0 Reputation points

2024-10-17T15:17:28.28+00:00

I just fix the My.Settings.Save() to My.Settings.Default.Save() and it works. Note the same err just happened after I change my project framework from .NET2.0 to .NET3.5

I am confused and the interpretation from gpt are as follows :

Default Instance Reference of My.Settings:

My.Settings is a shortcut in Visual Basic for accessing application settings, and it typically refers to the default instance of the Settings class.

This instance is usually auto-generated, allowing us to conveniently access and save user and application settings.

Settings.Default as an Explicit Instance:

In the Settings.Designer.vb file, the Default property is usually defined like this:

Public Get Return End End

Default is a static (Shared) property that returns the default instance of the Settings class (defaultInstance). Therefore, calling My.Settings.Default.Save() ensures that the Save() method is called on this default instance.

Why My.Settings.Default.Save() Solved the Problem:

When you directly call My.Settings.Save(), the compiler might get confused because Save() is a non-static method, and My.Settings is a class-level shortcut (even though it represents an instance).

However, when you explicitly use My.Settings.Default.Save(), you are essentially instructing the compiler to call the Default property of Settings and use that instance to invoke the Save() method. This approach aligns with the requirement for referencing non-static members, thus avoiding the BC30469 error.

So I think may be compiler confused the non-static method and instance (sounds ridiculous), or there is small modifications between different framework.

Answer 1

Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @moris27 ,

It is possible that an update to Visual Studio caused it to not resolve old settings correctly.

You can try to modify your project to the same format as the new project.

Best Regards.

Jiachen Li

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and upvote it.

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moris27 56 Reputation points

2023-06-20T06:20:17.5066667+00:00

Hi, in this case production app doesn't recognize old user settings file like db connection path,etc,If I update my app there will be couple unhappy users
Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-20T06:56:02.6133333+00:00

Hi @moris27 ,

There is a temporary solution, you can try to change the Settings in the following line of code in Settings.Designer.vb to MySettings, and then change the Settings everywhere the red squiggly line appears to MySettings.

Partial Friend NotInheritable Class Settings

This will temporarily resolve the error, but if you modify the setting from the project's property, the new designer file will overwrite and cause the error to reappear.

This may be a bug in Visual Studio, and it is recommended that you report this issue back to the Visual Studio Developer Community.
moris27 56 Reputation points

2023-06-20T17:39:10.1466667+00:00

Hi,I 've changed the code and also I've upgraded the user config file given by :

System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(System.Configuration.ConfigurationUserLevel.PerUserRoamingAndLocal).FilePath

thanks
Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-06-21T07:03:23.7866667+00:00

Hi @moris27 ,

If this answer helps you, you can accept it as the answer to the question.

If you have reported this issue on the Developer Community, you can provide a link to it here.

Thank you for your cooperation.
Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-07-11T06:11:50.3066667+00:00

Hi @moris27 ,

May I know which version of Visual Studio was your project originally created on?

We need some information to locate this issue.

Thank you for your cooperation.
moris27 56 Reputation points

2023-07-11T07:00:22.08+00:00

Hi,the project is an older one but got the error on previous version of VS 2022 17.6.4,now is works,I've edit the file with notepad as above steps.thanks

Answer 2

Wayne 0

Recently I encounter same error while converting a project from VS2019 to VS2022, I use below method to solve it:

Search for keyword "My.Settings", replace all with "My.MySettingsProperty.Settings".

That's all.

Philip Koh 0 Reputation points

2024-08-04T20:03:59.33+00:00

It seems that this stops the error, but now my settings don't seem to be saved from one session to the next.

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'Reference to a non-shared member requires an object reference' after adding a new value to Application Settings

1 additional answer

Your answer