Circular dependencies

Question

I have 2 projects.

Project#2 has a reference to Project#1

Now I need to reference Project#2 in Project#1, but vs.net is complaining about a circular dependency.

Is there a way out of this?

Answer 1

Absolutely not. Circular dependencies are a indication of bad design. I don't mean to be harsh. There are some ways out of this.

1) You can refactor common code to another project, say Project#0

2) You can fix your design, which is probably the way to go.

Uncle Bob has a good article on Packaging Principles which includes the Acyclic Dependencies Principle. http://www.objectmentor.com/resources/articles/granularity.pdf. Read this to know why cyclic dependencies are a bad thing.

Answer 2

Refactor your projects to take the common elements out into a "Project #0" which both Project #1 and Project #2 reference.

Answer 3

Merge the two into one or redesign.

Answer 4

This points to a problem in your design. If there is a genuine need for two or more of your types to be mutually aware then they should exist in the same assembly.

Answer 5

No. Structure your projects properly. Try using some sort of ordering based on abstraction - low-level to high-level.

Answer 6

A circular dependency means that these are no longer two independent projects (because there it is impossible to build only one of them).

You need to either refactor so that you have only a one way dependency or you should merge them into a single project.

Answer 7

Circular reference can be done as seen in a previous question, but you should not do it for the reasons everybody already stated here.

Answer 8

I really don't mean to be a smart-aleck, but better program design is the answer.

Answer 9

This seems to be a design flaw, nothing else. Re-design is the solution.

Answer 10

I don't think it is a good solution but still we can do by following these steps

• add the reference
• browse and
• go to Debug folder of dll project,
• find the .dll and Add .