The type or namespace name could not be found [duplicate]

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Getting "type or namespace name could not be found" but everything seems ok? (41 answers)

Closed 6 years ago.

I have a C# solution with several projects in Visual Studio 2010. One is a test project (I'll call it "PrjTest"), the other is a Windows Forms Application project (I'll call it "PrjForm"). There is also a third project referenced by PrjForm, which it is able to reference and use successfully.

PrjForm references PrjTest, and PrjForm has a class with a using statement:

using PrjTest;

1. Reference has been correctly added
2. using statement is correctly in place
3. Spelling is correct
4. PrjTest builds successfully
5. PrjForm almost builds, but breaks on the using PrjTest; line with the error:

The type or namespace name 'PrjTest' could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

I've tried the following to resolve this:

1. Removed Resharper (since Resharper had no trouble recognizing the referenced project, I thought it might be worth a shot)
2. Removed and re-added the reference and using statement
3. Recreated PrjForm from scratch
4. PrjForm currently resides inside the PrjTest folder, I tried moving it to an outside folder
5. Loaded the solution on a different computer with a fresh copy of VS 2010

I have done my homework and spent far too long looking for an answer online, none of the solutions has helped yet.

What else could I try?

Answer 1

See this question.

Turns out this was a client profiling issue.

PrjForm was set to ".Net Framework 4 Client Profile" I changed it to ".Net Framework 4", and now I have a successful build.

Thanks everyone! I guess it figures that after all that time spent searching online, I find the solution minutes after posting, I guess the trick is knowing the right question to ask..

Answer 2

In my case I had:

Referenced DLL : .NET 4.5

Project : .NET 4.0

Because of the above mismatch, the 4.0 project couldn't see inside the namespace of the 4.5 .DLL. I recompiled the .DLL to target .NET 4.0 and I was fine.

Answer 3

PrjForm was set to ".Net Framework 4 Client Profile" I changed it to ".Net Framework 4", and now I have a successful build.

This worked for me too. Thanks a lot. I was trying an RDF example for dotNet where in I downloaded kit from dotnetrdf.

NET4 Client Profile: Always target NET4 Client Profile for all your client desktop applications (including Windows Forms and WPF apps).

NET4 Full framework: Target NET4 Full only if the features or assemblies that your app need are not included in the Client Profile. This includes: If you are building Server apps, Such as:

• ASP.Net apps
• Server-side ASMX based web services

If you use legacy client scenarios, Such as: o Use System.Data.OracleClient.dll which is deprecated in NET4 and not included in the Client Profile.

• Use legacy Windows Workflow Foundation 3.0 or 3.5 (WF3.0 , WF3.5)

If you targeting developer scenarios and need tool such as MSBuild or need access to design assemblies such as System.Design.dll

Answer 4

Another thing that can cause this error is having NuGet packages that have been built with a newer version of .NET.

The original error:

frmTestPlanSelector.cs(11,7): error CS0246: The type or namespace name 'DatabaseManager' 
could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?) 

Further up in the log I found this:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets(1605,5): warning MSB3275: The primary reference "[redacted]\DatabaseManager\bin\Release\DatabaseManager.dll" could not be resolved because it has an indirect dependency on the assembly "System.Data.SQLite, Version=1.0.94.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=db937bc2d44ff139" which was built against the ".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" framework. This is a higher version than the currently targeted framework ".NETFramework,Version=v4.0".

The solution was to re-install the NuGet packages:

http://docs.nuget.org/docs/workflows/reinstalling-packages

Answer 5

I solved mine because the other project was coded with .NET 4.5 and the other one was coded 4.0

Answer 6

The using statement refers to a namespace, not a project.

Make sure that you have the appropriately named namespace in your referenced project:

namespace PrjTest
{
     public class Foo
     {
          // etc...
     }
}

Read more about namespaces on MSDN:

• Using Namespaces

Answer 7

I encountered this issue it turned out to be.

Project B references Project A.

Project A compiled as A.dll (assembly name = A).

Project B compiled as A.dll (assembly name A).

Visual Studio 2010 wasn't catching this. Resharper was okay, but wouldn't compile. WinForms designer gave misleading error message saying likely resulting from incompatbile platform targets.

The solution, after a painful day, was to make sure assemblies don't have same name.

Answer 8

It is also possible, that the referenced projects targets .NET 4.0, while the Console App Project targets .NET 4.0 Client Library.

While it might not have been related to this particular case, I think someone else can find this information useful.

Answer 9

The compiled dll should have public Class.

Answer 10

I had the same issue. The target frameworks were fine for me. Still it was not working. I installed VS2010 sp1, and did a "Rebuild" on the PrjTest. Then it started working for me.

Answer 11

Changing the framework to

.NET Framework 4 Client Profile

did the job for me.

Answer 12

For COM/ActiveX references, VS 2012 will show this error right on using statement. Which is quite funny, since it's saying that may be you are missing a using statement.

To solve this: register the actual COM/ActiveX dll even if it's in the neighbor project, and add a reference through COM channel, not project channel. It will add Interop.ProjectName instead of ProjectName as a reference and this solves this strange bug.

Answer 13

Other problem that might be causing such behavior are build configurations.

I had two projects with configurations set to be built to specific folders. Like Debug and Any CPU and in second it was Debug and x86.

What I did I went to Solution->Context menu->Properties->Configuration properties->Configuration and I set all my projects to use same configurations Debug and x86 and also checked Build tick mark.

Then projects started to build correctly and were able to see namespaces.

Answer 14

If your project (PrjTest) does not expose any public types within the PrjTest namespace, it will cause that error.

Does the project (PrjTest) include any classes or types in the "PrjTest" namespace which are public?

Answer 15

just changed Application's target framework to ".Net Framework 4".

And error got Disappeared.

good luck; :D

Answer 16

check your Project Properties, your Reference Paths should be empty like this:

Regards