Add Reference for WinForms

16 Jul 20264 minutes to read

Syncfusion® Reference Manager is the Visual Studio Add-In for the WinForms platform. It adds the Syncfusion® assembly reference to the project, either from the GAC location or the Essential Studio® WinForms installed location. It can also migrate the projects that contain the old versions of the Syncfusion® assembly reference to newer or specific versions of the Syncfusion® assembly reference. It supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 or higher. This Visual Studio extension is included from the Essential Studio® 2013 Volume 3 release.

NOTE

This Reference Manager can be applied to a project for Syncfusion® assembly versions 10.4.0.71 and later.

Follow the given steps to add the Syncfusion® references in Visual Studio:

Before using the Syncfusion® WinForms Reference Manager, check whether the WinForms Extensions - Syncfusion® is installed or not in the Visual Studio Extension Manager by clicking on Tools -> Extensions and Updates -> Installed for Visual Studio 2017 or lower, and for Visual Studio 2019 or higher by clicking on Extensions -> Manage Extensions -> Installed. If this extension is not installed, please install the extension by following the steps from the download and installation help topic.

  1. Open a new or existing WinForms application.

  2. To open the Syncfusion® Reference Manager Wizard, follow either one of the options below:

    Option 1:
    Click Syncfusion® Menu and choose Essential Studio® for WinForms > Add References… or any other Form in Visual Studio.

    Syncfusion Reference Manager via Syncfusion Menu

    NOTE

    From Visual Studio 2019, Syncfusion® menu is available under Extensions in Visual Studio menu.

    Option 2:
    Right-click the selected project file from Solution Explorer, then select Syncfusion® Reference Manager… from Context Menu. The following screenshot shows this option in Visual Studio.

    Syncfusion Reference Manager add-in

  3. The Syncfusion® Reference Manager Wizard contains the list of Syncfusion® WinForms controls that are loaded.

    Syncfusion Reference Manger Wizard

    Platform Selection: If you launch the Syncfusion® Reference Manager from a Console/Class Library project, the Platform selection option will appear as an option in the Syncfusion® Reference Manager. Choose the required platform.

    Platform selection option in Syncfusion Reference Manger

    Assembly From: Choose the assembly location, either from NuGet packages, the build installed location, or by using the GAC location.

    NOTE

    The installed location and GAC option will be available only when the Syncfusion® Essential Studio® WinForms setup has been installed.

    Assembly location option in Syncfusion Reference Manger

    NOTE

    The GAC option will not be available if you have selected a WinForms (.NET 10.0, .NET 9.0, .NET 8.0, .NET 7.0, and .NET 6.0) application in Visual Studio.

    Version: Choose the build version to add the corresponding version assemblies to the project.

    Assembly location option in Syncfusion Reference Manger

  4. Choose the required controls that you want to include in the project. Then, click Done to add the required assemblies for the selected controls into the project. The following screenshot shows the list of required assemblies for the selected controls to be added.

    Syncfusion Reference Manager new assemblies add information dialog

  5. Click OK. The listed Syncfusion® assemblies are added to the project. Then, it notifies “Syncfusion® assemblies have been added successfully” in the Visual Studio status bar.

    Syncfusion Reference Manager success status in Visual Studio status bar

  6. Then, the Syncfusion® licensing registration required message box will be shown if you installed the trial setup or NuGet packages, since Syncfusion® introduced the licensing system from the 2018 Volume 2 (v16.2.0.41) Essential Studio® release. Navigate to the help topic, which is shown in the licensing message box, to generate and register the Syncfusion® license key in your project. Refer to this blog post to understand the licensing changes introduced in Essential Studio®.

    Syncfusion license registration required information dialog in Syncfusion Reference Manager

NOTE

Syncfusion® provides Reference Manager support for specific .NET Frameworks, which are shipped (assemblies) in the Syncfusion® Essential Studio® setup. So, if you try to add Syncfusion® assemblies to the project and the project framework is not supported with the selected Syncfusion® version assemblies, the dialog appears along with the “Current build v{version} is not supported this framework v{Framework Version}” message.