The name 'nameof' does not exist in the current context

Question

I'm using VS 2013 with .Net Framework 4.6. I want to use new C# 6 features(For example nameof).But I couldn't found it.

Should I use VS 2015? Or higher .Net Framework?

As far as I know, you cannot use C# 6 in VS2013. You will need to upgrade to 2015 — , Oct 05 '15 at 07:49
afaik, C# Language Feature releases go hand in hand with Visual Studio releases, and aren't backported. — Claies, Oct 05 '15 at 07:49
You should still be able to use .Net Framework 4.6 in Visual Studio 2013, but as you already answered your own question, you need Visual Studio 2015 in order to use C# 6. — Auguste, Oct 05 '15 at 07:56

score 42 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 05 '15 at 07:49

42

Yes, to use C# 6 features, you need a C# 6 compiler. Visual Studio 2013 doesn't have a C# 6 compiler. Visual Studio 2015 does.

There have been Roslyn pre-releases for Visual Studio 2013, but they don't implement the final C# 6: they actually don't implement all the features, and what they do implement is different from the final C# 6 behaviour.

answered Oct 05 '15 at 07:49

6

I'm using VS2015, update 2, and I just started seeing this issue today. It used to work. EDIT: Turns out there was a stupid syntax error in my program, and Visual Studio got confused and decided that it was because `nameof doesn't exist in the current context`. -- Very strange. – BrainSlugs83 Sep 09 '16 at 21:41
@BrainSlugs83 - that was it for me too. A downstream syntax error (this was also in a static method, wonder if that's related) caused nameof() to not be recognized. – Nick Bauer Jul 19 '17 at 20:14

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 05 '15 at 07:50

6

yes you need to use Visual Studio 2015. It's not supported in VS 2013. Related link : https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn986596.aspx

answered Oct 05 '15 at 07:50

amit dayama

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score 6 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

6

In pre-VS2015 you can add the following class to your solution and replace all instances of nameof( with NameOf.nameof(() => as suggested in get name of a variable or parameter

using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;

namespace ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib
{
    public class NameOf
    {
        public static String nameof<T>(Expression<Func<T>> name)
        {
            MemberExpression expressionBody = (MemberExpression)name.Body;
            return expressionBody.Member.Name;
        }
    }
}

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered May 18 '16 at 18:53

ajeh

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5

Terrible solution though. – Bauss May 18 '16 at 18:55
11

Or you can buy me VS 2015 :) – ajeh May 18 '16 at 19:12

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 12 '21 at 12:04

6

Installing this nuget package fixed it for my project.

Install-Package Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform

edited Jul 12 '21 at 12:04

General Grievance

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answered Apr 03 '18 at 18:59

Paulj

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score 4 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

4

You will not be able to use C#6 in VS2013. The compiler will not understand the new C# 6 syntax you are trying to use. How can I add C# 6.0 to Visual Studio 2013?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

1
1

answered Oct 05 '15 at 07:51

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 28 '21 at 07:44

4

I got this error when using DotNetFiddle, I just switched to .NET Core instead of .NET 4.7.X.

answered Oct 28 '21 at 07:44

Jorn.Beyers

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 09 '17 at 00:39

2

If you are getting this error in Teamcity, make the following changes to build step to correct it.

Open your MSBuild step in teamcity
Change the MSBuild version to Microsoft Build Tools 2015
Change the MSBuild ToolVersion to 14.0

answered Mar 09 '17 at 00:39

sree

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Daniel PP Cabral · Answer 8 · 2017-02-06T12:49:43.873

0

In "Package Manager Console" execute "install-package Microsoft.Net.Compilers" with your respective project selected.
Ensure "C# Language Level" is "C# 6.0" in your project settings.

edited Feb 06 '17 at 12:49

answered Oct 21 '16 at 08:12

Daniel PP Cabral

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It's Microsoft.Net.Compiler**s**. Not Microsoft.Net.Compiler. (I can't edit solution below 6 characters) Additionally, after installation C# 6.0 still doesn't exists in the list. – Ercument Eskar Feb 06 '17 at 07:46

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Feb 18 '22 at 03:09

If you get this error and are using the latest .Net it could be because you are using the name of something that isn't a .Net Type. Here's an example:

Original with need to replace HardCoded "BaseUrl".

IConfiguration settingsConfig = new ConfigurationBuilder().AddJsonFile("appsettings.json").Build();
Settings = Options.Create(new Settings
{
  BaseUrl = settingsConfig.GetSection("BaseUrl").Value
});

This causes the error and it doesn't work because the BaseUrl doesn't exist in context:

IConfiguration settingsConfig = new ConfigurationBuilder().AddJsonFile("appsettings.json").Build();
Settings = Options.Create(new Settings
{
  BaseUrl = settingsConfig.GetSection(nameof(BaseUrl)).Value
});

You need to fully qualify or specify a .Net Type that exists, eg:

Settings = Options.Create(new Settings
{
  BaseUrl = settingsConfig.GetSection(nameof(Settings.BaseUrl)).Value
});

The name 'nameof' does not exist in the current context

9 Answers9

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