Hi,
I want to produce some examples of use of an API that people can download and run. I want to package the examples as Visual Studio projects that people can just double-click and run the examples. I run VS 2008, what steps will I need to take to make the examples able to run in VS 2005 and possibly later versions such as 2010?
Are there any tools that could help me produce different project files for each version?
I used Developer Express controls in the past, and they're a great example of a company with loads and loads of sample code that has to run in multiple VS versions. They simply create their sample code for the lowest version of VS they support (2005) and leave it up to the user to run the Project Conversion Wizard.
Visual Studio 2008 and 2005 project/solution files are not compatible (backwards or forwards), as you may already have figured out. You will need a copy of Visual Studio 2005 in order to create compatible project files assuming there aren't any tools out there that will do that conversion. (I am not aware of any.)