Adding ColinsALMCorner.CustomBuildTasks.dll to Toolbox causes 'could not load file or assembly' error

Question

I am adding this custom build task to my TFS 2010 build workflow, however when attempting to add it (ColinsALMCorner.CustomBuildTasks.dll) to the toolbox, I get error:

'Could not load file or assembly file 'ColinsALMCorner.CustomBuildTasks.dll' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported'.

I have added all of its dependencies to (I admit, this is probably redundant):

1) the same location where the ColinsALMCorner.CustomBuildTasks.dll resides, which is ..\BuildProcessTemplates\CustomActivities

2) in the Public Assemblies folder: Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies

And I have the build definition xaml file correctly importing the ColinsALMCorner.CustomBuildTasks namespace

Although the activity is set to target .Net 4.5, the documentation says that TFS 2010 / .Net 4.0 is supported, so I assume this should all be possible.

My Questions:

Is this possible with TFS 2010 / .Net 4.0 development environment? My concern is that the error message isn't telling the real story, for example maybe it is able to find it, however just not the right version of the assembly.

Is it likely that since the DLL targets .Net 4.5 I need to have all of its referenced dll's also be the 4.5 version? For example, it references Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client however I only have the version 10.0.0.0 (which I assume the .Net 4.5 version of this might be 11.0.0.0)

Answer 1

Here was the solution, in short story format: I installed Visual Studio 2012. Result: I was able to add ColinsALMCorner.CustomBuildTasks to my workflow in Visual Studio 2010 without error. I assume this means there was a 2012 (v11.0.0.0) DLL or two required to use the activity in 2010, despite the fact that the requirements state:

Team Foundation Build 2010, 2012 or 2013