Why does visual studio not support file path characters allowed by Windows 10?

Jon Okie 1

You can't use certain characters in paths of projects used within Visual Studio. These are characters supported by Windows 10. For example, your path cannot have a word in parentheses. I wish Microsoft would fix stuff like this. It makes me skeptical that Microsoft can lead the way into the future of development (ie .Net) when then can't seem to get simple things like this working (or fixed).

1 answer

David Lowndes 4,721 Reputation points

2021-02-27T11:04:07.187+00:00

Please be specific about what you've found that doesn't work for you.

For example, a quickly created C++ console project/solution named ConsoleApplication[{(2)}] can be created, but fails to build for me, resulting in:

1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: ConsoleApplication[{(2)}], Configuration: Debug Win32 ------
1>ConsoleApplication[{(2)}].cpp
1>ConsoleApplication[{(2)}].vcxproj -> C:\Users\David\Source\Repos\ConsoleApplication[{(2)}]\Debug\ConsoleApplication[{(2)}].exe
1>Set-Content : Could not find a part of the path 'C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Debug\vcpkg.applocal.log'.
1>At D:\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\applocal.ps1:12 char:5
1>+ Set-Content -Path $copiedFilesLog -Value "" -Encoding UTF8
1>+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1> + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\WINDOWS\SysW...kg.applocal.log:String) [Set-Content], DirectoryNotFoundException
1> + FullyQualifiedErrorId : GetContentWriterDirectoryNotFoundError,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SetContentCommand
1>
1>Split-Path : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null.
1>At D:\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\applocal.ps1:40 char:39
1>+ $baseTargetBinaryDir = Split-Path $baseBinaryPath -parent
1>+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1> + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Split-Path], ParameterBindingValidationException
1> + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SplitPathCommand
1>
1>Split-Path : Cannot bind argument to parameter 'Path' because it is null.
1>At D:\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\applocal.ps1:58 char:35
1>+ $targetBinaryDir = Split-Path $targetBinaryPath -parent
1>+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1> + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [Split-Path], ParameterBindingValidationException
1> + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationErrorNullNotAllowed,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.SplitPathCommand
1>
========== Rebuild All: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========

Is that the same thing that you experienced?
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1 person found this answer helpful.
Sam of Simple Samples 5,546 Reputation points

2021-03-01T15:13:01.85+00:00

The question says paths of projects so I assume not file names.

David Lowndes 4,721 Reputation points

2021-03-01T15:36:50.223+00:00

The name of the solution/project appears in the path.
And that error above seems to be vcpkg specific - without the vcpkg option all's OK AFAICS.

Jon Okie 1 Reputation point

2021-03-01T19:37:44.827+00:00

This is the latest bug report I have made on this issue: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/errors-not-reported-in-error-list-in-vbnet-project/1014270

Jon Okie 1 Reputation point

2021-03-01T19:40:55.213+00:00

The latest comment says that it is unlikely this will be fixed. This is indicative of Microsoft's thinking. It keeps on creating new stuff without much regard for whether or not what's already there works well. Their systems don't work particularly well together. There is no MS ecosystem. It's a patchwork and they have trouble coordinating. Things like what characters are supported in their operating system should be taken into account by the Visual Studio team, but they are not.

David Lowndes 4,721 Reputation points

2021-03-01T20:49:05.73+00:00

I see nothing in your bug report that provides information on how to reproduce the problem you've had, maybe I don't get to see everything there?

If I create a VB .NET FW console project with a name with () in it, it builds fine for me.

1>------ Build started: Project: Vb(test)App, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------ 1> Vb(test)App -> C:\Users\David\Source\Repos\Vb(test)App\bin\Debug\Vb(test)App.exe ========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

No difference if I rename the folder to be more similar to what you refer to in your bug report either:

1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: Vb(test)App, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------ 1> Vb(test)App -> C:\Users\David\Source\Repos\(VbtestApp)\bin\Debug\Vb(test)App.exe

Viorel 119K Reputation points

2021-03-01T21:08:14.653+00:00

Try typing some wrong statement (syntax error). Then Error window will not show the correct line and double-clicking will not work as expected.

Jon Okie 1 Reputation point

2021-03-01T22:41:24.31+00:00

DavidLowndes-6766, thank you for your input, but I don't think you paid attention to the problem reported. The details are in my bug report. As you have pointed out, creating a solution (in VS 2017) with a single VB.net project with zero compile errors works just fine. It's when there is a mix of projects (VB.Net and C#), and when a compile error occurs in the VB.Net project (and they both live under a folder where somewhere in the path you have parentheses like "(Dev)").

Jon Okie 1 Reputation point

2021-03-01T22:41:36.257+00:00

If you want to give it a try, create a solution with one VB.Net project and one C# project. Have the VB.Net project reference the C# project. Create a class definition in the C# project and invoke it in the VB.Net project. Compile everything and it should be ok. Now, make sure to close your VB.Net code windows, and then change the name of the C# class to something else. Compile and you should get the error listed in the output pointing to "Line 1" that does absolutely nothing when double-clicking.

Now imagine this scenario with a solution with close to 100 mixed projects and hundreds of thousands of lines of code. If it's alright with you, I'd like to continue on with my frustration with Microsoft.

David Lowndes 4,721 Reputation points

2021-03-01T23:06:50.27+00:00

Ah, ok, that clarifies it.

If the path doesn't contain any (), the error output is like this:

1>C:\Users\David\Source\Repos\VbtestApp\Module1.vb(4,9): error BC30451: 'UtterRubbish' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.

But with the (), it's confused:

1>C:\Users\David\Source\Repos\(VbtestApp,9)\Module1.vb(4): error BC30451: 'UtterRubbish' is not declared. It may be inaccessible due to its protection level.

It appears that whatever code is composing the output string is dumb in assuming it can add the column position (the ",9") prior to the first ")" in the string - though it seems dumb to me that it's having to do that after the line number has already been added in the first place. I'd have expected the string to be done in 1 formatting operation.

David Lowndes 4,721 Reputation points

2021-03-01T23:24:30.723+00:00

AFAICS the issue doesn't arise with native C++ projects or C# .NET projects - the error output is correctly produced, so I'd guess that it's a VB specific issue.
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Why does visual studio not support file path characters allowed by Windows 10?

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