Fixing Visual Studio 2015 after update 3

In case you did not notice, Microsoft released Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 a couple of days ago. I immediately jumped in because I have high hope for better stability – VS2015 update 2 has been crashing more open than I would like.

When I updated my VS on my work computer, all went well and it worked right after that without any problem. However when I finally updated my VS on my home computer, problem appears. Everytime I try to open a solution, it crashes! Rendering my VS2015 totally useless. It’s not a problem I can ignore, and I would avoid reinstall it, unless it’s the last resort.

Digging in the event viewers shed a light on what is wrong:

Application: devenv.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The application requested process termination through System.Environment.FailFast(string message).
Message: Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.CompositionFailedException: An exception was thrown while initializing part "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Diagnostics.DiagnosticAnalyzerService". ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Reflection.Metadata, Version=1.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Diagnostics.AnalyzerFileReference.InitializeDisplayAndId()
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Diagnostics.AnalyzerFileReference.get_Id()
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Diagnostics.HostAnalyzerManager.CreateAnalyzerReferencesMap(IEnumerable`1 analyzerReferences)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Diagnostics.HostAnalyzerManager..ctor(ImmutableArray`1 hostAnalyzerReferences, ImmutableArray`1 hostAnalyzerPackages, AbstractHostDiagnosticUpdateSource hostDiagnosticUpdateSource)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Diagnostics.DiagnosticAnalyzerService..ctor(IDiagnosticUpdateSourceRegistrationService registrationService, IEnumerable`1 asyncListeners, IWorkspaceDiagnosticAnalyzerProviderService diagnosticAnalyzerProviderService, AbstractHostDiagnosticUpdateSource hostDiagnosticUpdateSource)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.RuntimeExportProviderFactory.RuntimeExportProvider.RuntimePartLifecycleTracker.CreateValue()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.ExportProvider.PartLifecycleTracker.Create()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.ExportProvider.PartLifecycleTracker.MoveNext(PartLifecycleState nextState)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.ExportProvider.PartLifecycleTracker.MoveToState(PartLifecycleState requiredState)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.ExportProvider.PartLifecycleTracker.GetValueReadyToExpose()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.RuntimeExportProviderFactory.RuntimeExportProvider.<>c__DisplayClass15_0.<GetExportedValueHelper>b__0()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Composition.DelegateServices.<>c__DisplayClass2_0`1.<As>b__0()
   at System.Lazy`1.CreateValue()
   at System.Lazy`1.LazyInitValue()
   at System.Lazy`1.get_Value()
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.WorkCoordinator.IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor.<>c__DisplayClass15_0.<GetOrderedAnalyzers>b__0(Lazy`2 p)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Linq.OrderedEnumerable`1.<GetEnumerator>d__1.MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source)
   at System.Collections.Immutable.ImmutableArray.CreateRange[T](IEnumerable`1 items)
   at System.Collections.Immutable.ImmutableArray.ToImmutableArray[TSource](IEnumerable`1 items)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.WorkCoordinator.IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor.GetOrderedAnalyzers(Registration registration, IEnumerable`1 providers)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.WorkCoordinator.IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor.GetActiveFileIncrementalAnalyzers(Registration registration, IEnumerable`1 providers)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.WorkCoordinator.IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor..ctor(IAsynchronousOperationListener listener, IEnumerable`1 analyzerProviders, Registration registration, Int32 highBackOffTimeSpanInMs, Int32 normalBackOffTimeSpanInMs, Int32 lowBackOffTimeSpanInMs, CancellationToken shutdownToken)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.WorkCoordinator..ctor(IAsynchronousOperationListener listener, IEnumerable`1 analyzerProviders, Registration registration)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.Register(Workspace workspace)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.Implementation.ProjectSystem.VisualStudioWorkspaceImpl.StartSolutionCrawler()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.Implementation.LanguageService.AbstractPackage`2.Initialize()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.CSharp.LanguageService.CSharpPackage.Initialize()
Stack:
   at System.Environment.FailFast(System.String, System.Exception)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.FailFast.OnFatalException(System.Exception)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.ErrorReporting.FatalError.Report(System.Exception, System.Action`1<System.Exception>)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.CSharp.LanguageService.CSharpPackage.Initialize()
   at System.Lazy`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].CreateValue()
   at System.Lazy`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].LazyInitValue()
   at System.Lazy`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].get_Value()
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService+WorkCoordinator+IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor+<>c__DisplayClass15_0.<GetOrderedAnalyzers>b__0(System.Lazy`2<Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IIncrementalAnalyzerProvider,Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IncrementalAnalyzerProviderMetadata>)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable+WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089],[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]]..ctor(System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.__Canon>)
   at System.Linq.OrderedEnumerable`1+<GetEnumerator>d__1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].MoveNext()
   at System.Linq.Buffer`1[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]]..ctor(System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.__Canon>)
   at System.Linq.Enumerable.ToArray[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]](System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.__Canon>)
   at System.Collections.Immutable.ImmutableArray.CreateRange[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]](System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.__Canon>)
   at System.Collections.Immutable.ImmutableArray.ToImmutableArray[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]](System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.__Canon>)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService+WorkCoordinator+IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor.GetOrderedAnalyzers(Registration, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.Lazy`2<Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IIncrementalAnalyzerProvider,Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IncrementalAnalyzerProviderMetadata>>)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService+WorkCoordinator+IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor.GetActiveFileIncrementalAnalyzers(Registration, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.Lazy`2<Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IIncrementalAnalyzerProvider,Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IncrementalAnalyzerProviderMetadata>>)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService+WorkCoordinator+IncrementalAnalyzerProcessor..ctor(Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Shared.TestHooks.IAsynchronousOperationListener, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.Lazy`2<Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IIncrementalAnalyzerProvider,Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IncrementalAnalyzerProviderMetadata>>, Registration, Int32, Int32, Int32, System.Threading.CancellationToken)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService+WorkCoordinator..ctor(Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Shared.TestHooks.IAsynchronousOperationListener, System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable`1<System.Lazy`2<Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IIncrementalAnalyzerProvider,Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.IncrementalAnalyzerProviderMetadata>>, Registration)
   at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.SolutionCrawler.SolutionCrawlerRegistrationService.Register(Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.Workspace)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.Implementation.ProjectSystem.VisualStudioWorkspaceImpl.StartSolutionCrawler()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.Implementation.LanguageService.AbstractPackage`2[[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089],[System.__Canon, mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089]].Initialize()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.LanguageServices.CSharp.LanguageService.CSharpPackage.Initialize()
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Package.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsPackage.SetSite(Microsoft.VisualStudio.OLE.Interop.IServiceProvider)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Interop.IVsUIDataSource.Invoke(System.String, System.Object, System.Object ByRef)
   at Microsoft.Internal.VisualStudio.PlatformUI.DataSource.Invoke(System.String, System.Object, System.Object ByRef)
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.PlatformUI.VsCommand.Execute(System.Object)
   at MS.Internal.Commands.CommandHelpers.CriticalExecuteCommandSource(System.Windows.Input.ICommandSource, Boolean)
   at System.Windows.Controls.MenuItem.InvokeClickAfterRender(System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(System.Object, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32, System.Delegate)
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.InvokeImpl()
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.InvokeInSecurityContext(System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at MS.Internal.CulturePreservingExecutionContext.Run(MS.Internal.CulturePreservingExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherOperation.Invoke()
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.ProcessQueue()
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.WndProcHook(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr, Boolean ByRef)
   at MS.Win32.HwndWrapper.WndProc(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr, Boolean ByRef)
   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.DispatcherCallbackOperation(System.Object)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.InternalRealCall(System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)
   at System.Windows.Threading.ExceptionWrapper.TryCatchWhen(System.Object, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32, System.Delegate)
   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.LegacyInvokeImpl(System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority, System.TimeSpan, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)
   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.SubclassWndProc(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)

So System.Reflection.Metadata, Version=1.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a’ was missing.

But why? and missing from where? A quick search shows that it was used for Roslyn, and dnx uses version 1.1. Visual Studio 2015 also crashes if I try to open Tools => Text Editor => C# => Advanced, where the Roslyn options are. So the problem was Roslyn unable to load an assembly it needs, then the entire VS crashes. Lame!

It seems unable to just reinstall Roslyn alone, so my best bet is to put the correct System.Reflection.Metadata version … somewhere. It’s not clear that where should it be – so I should put it in the most common place – the GAC – Global Assemblies Cache.

This is an attempt to fix:

First, I need to have the assembly. This will require nuget 3.x to run, so you can download the latest version (3.4.4 at this time of writing) from here.

nuget install system.reflection.metadata -version 1.2.0

And then open your Developer command prompt for VS2015, and cd to the lib folder of downloaded package, for me it’s D:\Downloads\System.Reflection.Metadata.1.2.0\lib\netstandard1.1, and run the famous gacutil to install the assembly to GAC:

D:\Downloads\System.Reflection.Metadata.1.2.0\lib\netstandard1.1>gacutil -i System.Reflection.Metadata.dll
Microsoft (R) .NET Global Assembly Cache Utility.  Version 4.0.30319.0
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Assembly successfully added to the cache

Open my solution again and it works! It might be not the best solution, but it works and I don’t have to reinstall VS2015, so I won’t complain.

The best trailers of E3 2016

E3 is undoubtedly the biggest gaming event of the year – where companies show off their best games and hardware for the next year. And as other gamers, I pay my close attention to this event, waiting to see what will be my next game. It’s worth noting that I am highly selective – I only play 3-4 games a year, max, so I need to decide carefully what to play and what to skip. But it won’t hurt to watch the trailers, right

Titanfall 2, EA

Titanfall was a great game. It might not be a legendary game, but it was fun. It’s unsurprising EA and Respawn game were going to make Titanfall 2, but I’m surprised that they added a “Single player mode”. After a wave of multiplayer-only games, such as The Division and Overwatch, it’s a good sign for the coming back of Single player. Let’s hope the story will be good enough to get you into multiplayer mode:

Continue reading “The best trailers of E3 2016” →

Things I wish I knew before playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

The game was released 1 year ago – still – it’s a masterpiece to be played. If you’ve never played it, play it now – it’s easily one of the best games in years, if not decades. The storyline with twists will keep you thinking in a while (no decision is clearly better or worse, and your choices will definitely make impacts on the ending), while the graphic is still one of best in any games, and the gameplay will keep you excited. If you played it – it’s now time to replay it, with new expansions, Heart of Stones and Blood and Wine. They are some of best expansions ever released.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Truth be told, I was new to The Witcher and Wild Hunt was the first game I played in the series. Now I’m playing it again and sometimes I feel really stupid for not knowing something earlier – thing might have been much easier in my first play.

Continue reading “Things I wish I knew before playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt” →

Git in easy steps – branch

This is the third part in a series

Git in easy steps – the basic

Git in easy steps – amend and stash

Git in easy steps – branch

Then what is a branch in Git, actually? A branch in Git is simply pointer to the hash of a commit (which will be the HEAD commit of that branch), and a name of your branch, of course. That means creating a branch in Git is extremely cheap and is almost instantous.

Now if you look back at the branch tree in Git Extensions, you will see a linear tree. (It’s not something you usually see in your working environment, but we’re new anyway.). You can see that the name of the branches and the commit message are in bold.

For the commit, it means the commit is the HEAD commit of a active branch. A commit will always point to it parent (or its parents, in case of a merge). When you know the HEAD commit, you can know how does your branch look like, down to the initial commit (which has no parent).

Continue reading “Git in easy steps – branch” →

Git in easy steps – amend and stash

This is the second part in a series

Git in easy steps – the basic

Git in easy steps – amend and stash

Git in easy steps – branch

Fixing your commit:

Sometimes, you make a mistake committing something. A file can be missing, or the indentation is not perfect, or you had a typo in your commit message. If you are using some other source control softwares such as Team Foundation Server you’re done with that. The only option you have is to check in another change set to fix your previous one (in case you have a typo in your commit message, be done with that). Git is so much more powerful in terms it allows you to rewrite history.

To fix a commit, make a change, then commit as usual, but this time, Select the “Amend commit” checkbox:

Always think twice before doing this

Continue reading “Git in easy steps – amend and stash” →

Git in easy steps – the basics

This is the first part in a series

Git in easy steps – the basic

Git in easy steps – amend and stash

Git in easy steps – branch

Why Git Extensions.

The war of version control systems was over. Git has won. And that is not an over-statement. CSV, SVN, TFS were the past. Mercurial was close, but GitHub put the end of it. The popular of open source platform makes Git an unambiguous choice for almost every developer in the field . Even BitBucket, the service which once known for Mercurial, supports Git for now. If you start a new project today, Git should be your first and foremost option – well, unless your boss says otherwise.

But the end of a war does not mean everything else is settled. The war of Git clients continues. How many Git clients do we have? I lost count, but at least: Git bash (with comes as the default), TortoiseGit, SourceTree, and of course, Git Extensions. It reminds me a lot of the JavaScript frameworks’ war recently: “There are too many frameworks out there, let’s create a new one to rule them all”. Of course, Git clients’ war is in much smaller scale (You won’t see new Git clients every week), but that does not make it less intense. Git clients are used in a daily basis, and it really affects your productivity, and in some way, your moral as well.

Continue reading “Git in easy steps – the basics” →

Learn Git in … 30 days

Recently I stumbled on a tutorial named Learn git in 30 minutes. While there is nothing wrong with that tutorial, it’s actually pretty accurate, and clear and easy to follow – thumbs up to the author about the writing – I have great concerns about how should we learn Git.

Git is not that easy.

Don’t get me wrong, Git is a great tool, perhaps the greatest developers’ tool since C language. Where I work at, we switched from Team Foundation Server to Git two years and a half ago, and I’ve never looked back – Git does things right where TFS did wrong. It really helped my life, as a developer, easier.

But everything comes at a cost.

As powerful and flexible as it is, Git is also complex and easy to mess up. It can be your best tool, but it can also be your worst nightmare, when something goes wrong.

Continue reading “Learn Git in … 30 days” →

Unable to import .bacpac files exported from Azure

Update: I found a faster, more reliable way to import, here

Today when I tried to import a .bacpac file from a customer, I ran across this issue:

Could not load schema model from package. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Dac)

——————————
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Internal Error. The internal target platform type Sql120DatabaseSchemaProvider does not support schema file version ‘2.6’. (File: D:\supportcases\something.bacpac) (Microsoft.Data.Tools.Schema.Sql)

I’m using SQL Server 2014, Developer edition. Searching for the error returns no matched result. However, as the file was exported by Azure v12, we can assume Microsoft should have done something to support the latest version (2.6) in Management Studio.

Continue reading “Unable to import .bacpac files exported from Azure” →

Configure Apache with Load-balancer / Proxy

If your Apache website is under a load-balancer or proxy, some features might not work very well. The proxy, for example, might “hide” the true IP from clients, the address your application sees in REMOTE_ADDR attribute (PHP, for example) will be the IP of the proxy renders IP-ban in .htaccess useless.

If such things happen, time to do some configuration. First, you need to enable the mod_remoteip module to handle requests through a proxy. It will allow you to “rewrite” some headers in the request to make your web application to know the true client IP.

Continue reading “Configure Apache with Load-balancer / Proxy” →

The beauty of new promotion system

This is going to be a relatively short post. If you are using Episerver Commerce 9, you probably know that we are working on a new promotion system. It’s still BETA, but some of our customers already use it, and from what I heard they are really happy with it.

One of the reasons we create a new promotion system is the old one is not developer-friendly. Have you ever tried to create a promotion in old system, by code?

This is an “simple” example of how to create a new campaign and a couple of promotions:
Continue reading “The beauty of new promotion system” →