Visual Studio Design View - form is blank

Question

I have a C# project with two forms. All compiles well. When I run the project, all forms are drawn as they are expected to.

A couple of days back, the DesignView of

Answer 1

Your project file has become invalid.

A valid project entry for a form looks like this:

  Form


  Form1.cs

Yours though is missing the DependentUpon line - which is why the code and designer files appear separately in the project, instead of being connected:

  Form

If you add in the missing line, the form displays correctly in design mode:

  Form


  mainForm.cs

And to tidy up the resource file:

  mainform.cs

In order to fix this, you can just edit the csproj in an editor, or to do it in Visual Studio:

1. Back up the files
2. Right-click the project and choose "Unload Project"
3. Right-click the unloaded project and choose "Edit [ProjectName].csproj"
4. Make your changes, and close the file.
5. Right-click the unloaded project and choose "Reload Project"