Is there any guidance on converting existing .NET class libraries to portable libraries?

Question

I have some class libraries with a non-trivial amount of existing code. The class libraries currently target .NET 4.0. Is there any guidance on how to convert these libraries to be portable libraries? From looking at the .csproj, it doesn't appear that there are a lot of differences:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\Portable\$(TargetFrameworkVersion)\Microsoft.Portable.CSharp.targets" />

and

<ProjectTypeGuids>{786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>

Is it a good or bad idea to try converting an existing class library to be a portable library?

Igor Milovanović has a nice tutorial with visuals [here](http://geekswithblogs.net/imilovanovic/archive/2012/08/31/vs2012---how-to-manually-convert-.net-class-library-to.aspx). — Todd Menier, Mar 23 '14 at 15:33

score 67 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 12 '13 at 21:44

67

We also converted existing libraries to portable libraries and it works fine. You have to modify the project file. Replace the following line:

<Import Project="..." />

with

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\Portable\$(TargetFrameworkVersion)\Microsoft.Portable.CSharp.targets" />

Add following line inside a PropertyGroup tag

<ProjectTypeGuids>{786C830F-07A1-408B-BD7F-6EE04809D6DB};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>

And remove following lines from the AssemblyInfo.cs file

[assembly: ComVisible(false)]
[assembly: Guid("...")]

After that, Visual Studio should show you the Tab page "Library" in the project Property page and you can change the target frameworks for the portable library.

edited Aug 12 '13 at 21:44

Anthony Mastrean

21,850
21
110
188

answered Aug 15 '12 at 07:43

DerDani81

987
11
24

3

Just edited a couple of projects (possibly older project file versions), and I also had to add the `` and `` tags to a PropertyGroup as well. Using values of TFVersion -> 4.0 and TFProfile -> 104 worked for me. – markerikson Jul 06 '13 at 04:56
Correction: `TargetFrameworkVersion` should be `v4.0` (note the `v`) – Dmitri Nesteruk Nov 21 '14 at 11:18
1

WinPhone 8.1 is: Profile32 v4.6 – Jimmyt1988 Dec 13 '14 at 01:18
2

I need to add following things under aswell: v4.0 Profile158 – Minh Nguyen Dec 17 '14 at 17:14
2

v4.5, Profile7 -> .NET 4.5+Win 8 – John Gietzen Jun 21 '15 at 02:22
Ditto @markerikson -- probably worth updating the answer. ? – ruffin Oct 28 '15 at 21:10
I had to add also `Profile151 v4.6 {14182A97-F7F0-4C62-8B27-98AA8AE2109A};{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}` – habakuk Jun 14 '16 at 08:33

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 02 '14 at 15:57

4

I created a Visual Studio Extension to automate this. Just search in Visual Studio > 2012 in Extension for "convert to pcl"

The source code is also available on Github.

edited Dec 02 '14 at 15:57

trinaldi

2,872
2
32
37

answered Dec 02 '14 at 15:32

Martin Poehler

41
1

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 25 '13 at 06:10

0

You can delete the <Import Project="..." /> line. Then, when you reload the project, Visual Studio will ask you which frameworks to target. You can then change this later in the project's properties.

answered Apr 25 '13 at 06:10

Owen Johnson

2,416
2
19
23

I thought this would be neat, but unfortunately it didn't work for me. – Kris Coleman Mar 02 '17 at 16:31

Is there any guidance on converting existing .NET class libraries to portable libraries?

3 Answers3

Linked