Upgrading Projects from Earlier Versions of Visual C++
By using Visual C++ 2010, you can open and save a project that was built in Visual C++ version 6 or later. Visual C++ will convert the project automatically. The upgrade process creates project files that have the extension .vcxproj, and does not remove old project files (.dsp, .vcproj).
In addition, Visual C++ 2010 uses a completely new build system, MSBuild. This build system replaces VCBuild, the build system introduced in Visual Studio 2005.
You can usually upgrade and build projects and solutions successfully without performing manual changes.
However, in some cases warnings and error messages might appear in the log during the upgrade process. These might be due to differences between the old and new build systems, changes to the languages, or changes to the libraries.
To simplify resolving these messages, solve the build system issues first, and the code issues second by using the following process:
Install Visual C++ 2008 and Visual C++ 2010 side by side.
In Visual C++ 2010, open and upgrade the solution.
For each project, open project Properties. Choose the Visual C++ 2008 toolset by expanding Configuration Properties, selecting General, and in the Platform Toolset drop-down, choosing v90.
Build the solution. Make changes and build again until the build is successful.
For each project, choose the Visual C++ 2010 toolset by setting Platform Toolset to v100. .
Clean and build the solution. Make changes and build again until the build is successful.
Because of differences between the Visual C++ 2008 and Visual C++ 2010 build systems, the order in which macros are defined with the old system might produce different results with the new system. Watch the log for indications of this problem and change the order as necessary.
Any change to the new project file will cause the old project file to become obsolete.
Visual C++ will ask for confirmation when you attempt to convert a project that you have already converted. Converting a project again deletes the previously generated project file, and therefore any changes to files that you made after the earlier conversion might be lost.
For more information about changes to the build system, see Build System Changes.
For more information about modifying parts of a project, see the following topics:
For additional information, see:
Upgrade Previous Visual C++ Enterprise Edition Projects
Data sources have their own project in Visual C++. You do not need a C++ project; your project can consist solely of data sources, and you can edit and debug the stored procedures within the data sources.
The data sources appear as a separate database project in Server Explorer. You can switch to Server Explorer by clicking the Server Explorer tab. When you open a project built in a previous version of Visual C++ Enterprise Edition, a database project is automatically created for the data sources. This project appears in Solution Explorer, along with the C++ project that once contained the data sources.