How do I add an existing form from another VB.NET project to my new VB.NET project? I have several forms that I want to reuse.

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How do I add an existing form from another VB.NET project to my new VB.NET project? I have several forms that I want to reuse.

Marc Menzel 121

How do I add an existing form from another VB.NET project to my new VB.NET project? I have several forms that I want to reuse. Do I just Select the Add Existing Item and select the desired Form.vb file in my existing VB.NET project?

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

2022-04-27T05:32:44.14+00:00

Hi @Marc Menzel ,
May I know if you have got any chance to check my answer? I am glad to help if you have any other questions.
Marc Menzel 121 Reputation points

2022-04-27T08:06:30.963+00:00

I figured out how to had existing forms from another VB.NET project to my current VB.NET project. Thanks.

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

2022-04-27T05:32:44.14+00:00

Hi @Marc Menzel ,
May I know if you have got any chance to check my answer? I am glad to help if you have any other questions.
Marc Menzel 121 Reputation points

2022-04-27T08:06:30.963+00:00

I figured out how to had existing forms from another VB.NET project to my current VB.NET project. Thanks.

Answer 1

Jiachen Li-MSFT 34,221 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Marc Menzel ,
First make sure that the name of the form does not conflict with the existing form, and then copy the vb, Desiner.vb, and resx files related to the form to the target directory.
Choose Show All Files, and you will see the form in Solution Explorer.

Include In Project and it will automatically recognized as a form.

Best Regards.
Jiachen Li

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David Eisenbeisz 1 Reputation point

2022-04-22T21:54:41.763+00:00

This is the method I have used many times in the past, but I would also add that after copying the three files to you project directory, you will need to add the form to your project. The way I do it is to select "add existing item" from the project drop down menu, then navigate to the project directory and select the three files that you just copied. Click OK and you should be off and running with your form, but you will probably need to do some editing. Since you aren't working in the originals, you can edit as you like and not affect the source project.
Hal Totten 5 Reputation points

2024-03-15T17:44:10.28+00:00

This method works the best. Just copying then adding the files as an existing item will cause problems. I beat my head against a wall looking for multiple public sub new references in a form because the code generator will set the designer to a partial class unless Jiachen Li's method is used.

Answer 2

LesHay 7,141

Hi
Can be tricky, at least in my experience. You can right click on your project in Project Explorer and choose Add existing item, then navigate and choose the Form you want to add. Depending on what you have imported, you may have a lot of cleaning up to do. You will also need to consider renaming your own Form to prevent naming clash (trying to Add new Form1 to a project already with a Form1 will not work).

David Eisenbeisz 1 Reputation point

2022-04-22T21:56:28.113+00:00

I think this will make the original files part of your project, will it not? I think you might want to copy the files first, as suggested by JiachenLiMFST-9349.

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How do I add an existing form from another VB.NET project to my new VB.NET project? I have several forms that I want to reuse.

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