Convert to web application error - could not parse aspx file

Question

I occasionally get errors in my aspx files which are caused by problems with the designer file. When this happens I delete the designer file, right click on the aspx file and select "Convert to Web Application".

Usually regenerating the designer file works perfectly, however sometimes I get an error which simply says "Could not parse the file pathToFile.aspx". When this happens there are no useful errors displayed in the error panel which would indicate what the problem is.

I got this error a little while ago, did some searching and found a blog which explains how to get round this problem. It suggests closing the file, cleaning the project, rebuilding then tring again. VS should now give you a more useful error message which pinpoints the problem. This has worked for me in the past, but doesn't work all the time.

Has anyone found a better way of identifying the problem in the aspx file when the "Could not parse file" error is displayed?

Answer 1

I've still not managed to find out why this problem is occurring. VS just seems to be tying itself in knots. However I have found another solution which works when the solution mentioned in my question does not. Simply copy the aspx and code behind into notepad, delete the files from your project, recreated them and copy the code back in. Why does this work? I have no idea