ASP.NET auto-generate aspx.designer.cs turn off?

Question

Hey all,

As I'm working on a asp.net/c# project, I'm confronted with the foobar.aspx.designer.cs that auto generates it's content. eg, when I'm changing the code/designer, the designer.cs automatically updates it's content.

As I'm bit of a control-dude, I'd like to maintain the code myself. I'm not happy with the overkill of comments I don't need. Like:

    /// <summary>
    /// Form1 control.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// Auto-generated field.
    /// To modify move field declaration from designer file to code-behind file.
    /// </remarks>
    protected global::System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm Form1;

While I'd like to see the following:

    protected global::System.Web.UI.HtmlControls.HtmlForm Form1;
    protected global::System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button Button3;
    etc, etc

(don't mind the naming, ofcourse I'd give it some distinguishing nameing)

How to fix this? I checked google on this one, but couldn't find an answer so quickly...

Answer 1

You could read the comments, they tell you what to do.

Move the declarations to your codebehind and delete the designer file.

But I have to make an observation:

Expression of this kind of concern and especially the expenditure of effort in trying to undo the kindness that VS is showing you belies a degree of naiveté and inexperience.

Perhaps your time would be better spent coding? ;-)

Answer 2

I am not sure if you can disable the automatic generation of this file. Nor if it would be good idea to do so... If you really want (need?) to interfere with it I would rather look for a way to change its behaviour/format. Unfortunately I cannot provide a solution/hint for this either. You might have to look in the field of "custom tools" (for code generation) though.

Why are you so unhappy with the format of the file? I almost never even look at it :) And according to Scott Guthrie the designer file has been introduced in VS 2005 as "a place where Visual Studio is allowed to write 'ugly' code": Tutorial 2: Code-Behind with VS 2005 Web Application Projects.

Edit: Maybe this article by Scott Hanselman could be of any help? T4 (Text Template Transformation Toolkit) Code Generation - Best Kept Visual Studio Secret.