Using a solution as a DLL to another (vb.net)

Question

I don't know if there's a way to achieve this, but I have a solution with its references on a single form page (made with ext.net, by the way) and wanted to use it as a reference to another project.

Is this possible?

Edit: I think it was a poor question afterall. I have a solution with 3 different projects (web, entity and bals) and it's all good there. They all work together for a single form page. Now, I want all of that stuff to be inside another project, which is inside another solution, and call that page with its references from this other solution I'm trying to get it in.

Answer 1

To call an object (or a form) from your original solution in your new solution, you need to add references to Web, Entity and Bals.

There's 2 way to add a reference. You can add a reference to the compiled DLL / EXE or, if you have the source project, you can include the project in your solution (File -> Add -> Add Existing Project) and then add reference to that project.

If I understand your question, you would like to link an entire Solution instead of each projects individually. This can be done by changing the Add Existing Project filter from All Projects Files to Solution Files. This will allow you to import every project from the given .sln file.

However, this is a one shot deal operation that will import the projects at a given time. If you add or remove a project from your original solution after you linked them, you will have to do the same in your new solution.

Answer 2

When adding a reference to a project, you can select another project within the same solution or you can select a compiled DLL. If you have a library project in one solution and an application project in another solution then your only choice is to build the library project and then reference the compiled DLL in the application solution.

That said, there's nothing to stop you adding the same project to multiple solutions. You can add the library project to the same solution as the application project without removing it from its current solution and then you can work on it at the same time as the application, including debugging both at the same time. The application project can then reference the library project instead of the compiled DLL.