Tag Archives: Visual Studio

Using Themes in Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop

Posted on by
Reply

I just want to post some information that took me while to find. Check out the original article here with pictures and more information.

1) First, download the zip file http://www.alinconstantin.net/download/VS2012Themes.zip – it contains the 7 pkgdef files defining the colors of the default themes from Matt’s extension.

2) Now, create a folder under “%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\WDExpressExtensions”, and lets name it “Themes”. Unpack the zip file in that folder.

3) Open a ‘Developer Command Prompt for VS2012” window. In the command line, type “wdexpress.exe /updateconfiguration”. This will make Visual Studio to read the pkgdef files on next restart, and import the color themes into registry.

4) Launch Visual Studio Express, and now you should be able to see the new themes and switch them in Tools/Options dialog, Environment/General tab

Source

Changing the PlatformTarget in Visual C# Express

Posted on by
1

Some project types in Visual C# Express (Empty Project) will not allow you to change the PlatformTarget from the UI. You can still change the target platform though by editing the .csproj file in a text editor. Close the project and open it up in your favorite text editor (I use Notpad++). The .csproj file is really just a XML file. You should see somewhere in the file something like:

	<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
		....
	</PropertyGroup>
	<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
		....
	</PropertyGroup>

Inside the PropertyGroup elements, add the PlatformTarget element:

	<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
		....
		<PlatformTarget>x86*</PlatformTarget>
	</PropertyGroup>
	<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
		....
		<PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
	</PropertyGroup>

Save the file and open your project back up. Your project’s output should now target only x86.