VB.NET namespace issue regarding explict (named) vs. implicit (global or root) namespaces

Question

I have a solution that contains many projects all using the same root namespace. No code files explicitly name a namespace. So lets say the root namespace is ExampleRootNamespace.

Now a problem comes into play when I want to add an explicitly named namespace to one of the code files I am working on. I want to be able to isolate this code from the rest of the assembly to be able to run FxCop against it. So I add something like Namespace Interfaces.CSV to the code file.

This causes any code that references this assembly to need to say Imports ExampleRootNamespace.Interfaces.CSV. So far so good. I can even run FxCop against the assembly. The problem now is that in other assemblies I cannot say any longer things like:

Public class frmInputBoolean Inherits
 ExampleRootNameSpace.frmFormTemplate

Visual Studio is now asking me to rename the namespace to:

Public class frmInputBoolean Inherits
     Global.ExampleRootNameSpace.frmFormTemplate

There are hundreds of errors related to this. So my questions are:

1) Why would basically naming a namespace under the root for the first time cause issues with the program?

2) Are there any workarounds to this issue without renaming?

I also want to add that with regards to ExampleRootNamespace.Interfaces.CSV I am not referencing this anywhere in the codebase. I'm currently just referencing it from a unit test project. So I don't see why adding this namespace causes an issue.

Answer 1

In C# try utilizing the USING operator with your namespace.

using ExampleRootNamespace = newExampleRootNamespace;

On the ones that have the global issue.

sadly, I do not believe an easy solution exists for you in VB.NET

Answer 2

Well, it appears this may be a bug in Visual Studio 2008. As the code has not changed but the problem with the required Global prefix is no longer there.

I say this because I checked out one of the offending code files and tried to add (as Meakins suggested):

Imports ExampleRootNamespace = Global.ExampleRootNamespace

When I did this two things happened.

1) The error highlighting and error correction suggestions were removed and ExampleRootNamespace was recognized by Visual Studio. Also the code now compiles.

2) Imports ExampleRootNamespace = Global.ExampleRootNamespace is not valid because of the use of Global in the imports statement. Visual studio says: "'Global' not allowed in this context; identifier expected." This Means that this line of code will not compile. So I removed it all together. Oddly enough despite it not being there (and thus the code returning to as before) there are no more errors.

I also restarted visual studio (but after doing the above). This is quite odd if you ask me!