How can I manually prevent a file from automatically loading in the designer when I open a solution?

Question

I have a Visual Studio 2005 BIDS project that exports about 30 database tables from one system database, to another database.

Occasionally I need to add a table to my exportation process. Also, since the genesis of the SSIS Package project, I've had to update it maybe 8-12 times. Each time I haven't had any troubles with the Visual Studio Designer or loading the project.

Today I needed to add another table to the exportation project but there is a problem. When I open Visual Studio 2005 and open the project, the designer window tries to open my package.dtsx file but VS just hangs and never actually loads the file to the designer. If I try to interact with the VS window, a ballon pops up from the Windows task pain stating that "Microsoft Visual Studio is Busy."

My package and my VS project has been working fine since my last deployment to the SQL Server. This is a new issue, and I've never seen it before.

Is there a way that I can modify my Visual Studio solution file(s) so that my Package.dtsx file doesn't automatically load into the designer?

Alternatively, is there some method, procedure, utility, etc. that I can use that may be able to clean up my Visual Studio Solution or Project?

Ultimately I need to solve the problem with my Package file, but I know that can be a bit of a vague problem with such limited information. For now, I'd prefer to be able to open up my Visual Studio solution without having my file automatically load into the designer.

Answer 1

Based on your comment, delete or move the .suo file. That is the file that contains all your opened files in your project solution.

By default, the DelayValidation property on the Control Flow Tasks are set to False. That means every time, you open a package, all the connection managers will be validated to make sure that they are still valid.

If I am dealing with a large package, I usually prefer to set the DelayValidation property at least on the DataFlow tasks to True so that the validation of the connection managers used inside the DataFlow task happen only during package execution and not every time I open it.

Read more about the DelayValidation property in the following MSDN link.

DtsContainer.DelayValidation Property

Coming back to your problem, make sure that no packages are open when you close the solution. That way when the solution is opened next time, it won't try to load any package in IDE.

If that doesn't work, right-click on the SSIS project and select Properties. Make sure in the Debugging section, the StartObjectID property is not set to any particular package in the solution. Below screenshot was taken from SSIS 2008 R2 that VS 2008 Shell.

Hope that is what you are looking for.

Answer 2

Look for .suo file in your solution folder. It contains user specific information about Visual Studio environment regarding your solution.

Delete it and Visual Studio will not automatically open any package or file when You open solution. Feel free to delete it since it does not contain any information needed for packages/projects/solution to function.