The VS 2008 (include VWD 2008) cannot switch to design mode. The display area of the designer will be dead (see screen shot). I've tried reinstall them a lot of time and the files should be ok.
I even tried to remove the folder "Microsoft Web Designer Tools" and the VS 2008 and VWD behave the same. I tried remove and reinstall WebDesignCore.exe too. The system has Office XP installed. No frontpage.
The application works well in a VMWare I installed on the same machine.
Should I manually remove some registry entries before reinstall?
I assume VM does not have Office XP installed? The issue may be in Office 2000. We did some testing and FP 2003 does not seem to be the issue. In fact, I have it on my home machine along with VS 2005 and 2008 and everything works. It appears the issue may
be with older versions of Office, like 2000 or XP. Designer may not be compatible with them.
I was experiencing the same problem with VS 2008 not being able to switch to design view. For me, the issue was with VS 2008 loading an older version of the fpcutl.dll file. It needs version 12.0.4518.1066 to run correctly, which is located in the following folder
\Program Files\Microsoft Web Designer Tools\VWD. It was trying to load version 11.0.6551.0 when I could not get VS 2008 to view aspx pages in design.
Try doing a search on your computer for the file to see if there are two different version of the file on your workstation.
Thanks very much, I finally solve the problem by overwriting the file FPCUTL.DLL in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10" with the one under
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Expression\Web Designer.
This problem has frustrated me since the release of VS 2008.
Don't replace it. Instead, make sure you have Program Files\Microsoft Web Designer Tools\VWD
before path to Office 2000/XP folder in the system path. Office should still work, it does not use path-based DLL discovery.
I have a similar problem but only when trying to open the split-page object relational designer for LINQ to SQL classes in VWD Express 2008.
I tried each of your suggestions:
1. Verified there is no path to MS Office shown in My Computer / Properties / Advanced / Environment Variables
2. Copied the suspect dll file mentioned in your article, overwriting the dll file of the same name in Office 10 and 11. Office 12 (2007?) was installed as a trial and uninstalled; there is still a folder there but the suspect dll file is not in that folder.
Also have Office 97 installed (just Access 97 to play with database hookups in VWD).
3. In addition I turned off my anti-virus/anti spyware protection temporarily (PCTools Spyware Doctor with AV).
( I think I have all the latest versions and patches for everything.)
Rebooted after the above with AV still off. Still has the same result.
Please put any replies into very simple terms, I'm just learning here (the only reason I'm fooling with LINQ is to follow the examples in a "Dummies" book to try and get some inkling of how it works).
nkw
Member
97 Points
54 Posts
VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 04:05 PM|LINK
The VS 2008 (include VWD 2008) cannot switch to design mode. The display area of the designer will be dead (see screen shot). I've tried reinstall them a lot of time and the files should be ok.
I even tried to remove the folder "Microsoft Web Designer Tools" and the VS 2008 and VWD behave the same. I tried remove and reinstall WebDesignCore.exe too. The system has Office XP installed. No frontpage.
The application works well in a VMWare I installed on the same machine.
Should I manually remove some registry entries before reinstall?
Mikhail Arkh...
All-Star
33139 Points
6083 Posts
Microsoft
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 05:14 PM|LINK
I assume VM does not have Office XP installed? The issue may be in Office 2000. We did some testing and FP 2003 does not seem to be the issue. In fact, I have it on my home machine along with VS 2005 and 2008 and everything works. It appears the issue may be with older versions of Office, like 2000 or XP. Designer may not be compatible with them.
------------------------------------------------------------
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Michael Knis...
Member
8 Points
21 Posts
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 05:46 PM|LINK
I was experiencing the same problem with VS 2008 not being able to switch to design view. For me, the issue was with VS 2008 loading an older version of the fpcutl.dll file. It needs version 12.0.4518.1066 to run correctly, which is located in the following folder \Program Files\Microsoft Web Designer Tools\VWD. It was trying to load version 11.0.6551.0 when I could not get VS 2008 to view aspx pages in design.
Try doing a search on your computer for the file to see if there are two different version of the file on your workstation.
Michael Knis...
Member
8 Points
21 Posts
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 05:48 PM|LINK
I forget to post a link to the my thread. It is a long one: http://forums.asp.net/t/1191630.aspx
nkw
Member
97 Points
54 Posts
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 06:10 PM|LINK
Thanks very much, I finally solve the problem by overwriting the file FPCUTL.DLL in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10" with the one under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Expression\Web Designer.
This problem has frustrated me since the release of VS 2008.
Michael Knis...
Member
8 Points
21 Posts
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 06:15 PM|LINK
No problem. Just make sure by replacing the file in the Office10 folder does not make any of the office components not work correctly.
Mikhail Arkh...
All-Star
33139 Points
6083 Posts
Microsoft
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 14, 2007 10:09 PM|LINK
Don't replace it. Instead, make sure you have Program Files\Microsoft Web Designer Tools\VWD before path to Office 2000/XP folder in the system path. Office should still work, it does not use path-based DLL discovery.
------------------------------------------------------------
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Mikhail Arkh...
All-Star
33139 Points
6083 Posts
Microsoft
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 15, 2007 01:17 AM|LINK
I made a blog post on the issue http://blogs.msdn.com/mikhailarkhipov/archive/2007/12/14/compatibility-problem-between-vs-2008-and-office-2000-and-how-to-fix-it.aspx
------------------------------------------------------------
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
RaeKC
Member
101 Points
366 Posts
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Dec 01, 2008 10:14 PM|LINK
PseudoGeek
Member
8 Points
16 Posts
Re: VS 2008 cannot switch to design mode
Jan 21, 2009 05:21 AM|LINK
I have a similar problem but only when trying to open the split-page object relational designer for LINQ to SQL classes in VWD Express 2008.
I tried each of your suggestions:
1. Verified there is no path to MS Office shown in My Computer / Properties / Advanced / Environment Variables
2. Copied the suspect dll file mentioned in your article, overwriting the dll file of the same name in Office 10 and 11. Office 12 (2007?) was installed as a trial and uninstalled; there is still a folder there but the suspect dll file is not in that folder. Also have Office 97 installed (just Access 97 to play with database hookups in VWD).
3. In addition I turned off my anti-virus/anti spyware protection temporarily (PCTools Spyware Doctor with AV).
( I think I have all the latest versions and patches for everything.)
Rebooted after the above with AV still off. Still has the same result.
Please put any replies into very simple terms, I'm just learning here (the only reason I'm fooling with LINQ is to follow the examples in a "Dummies" book to try and get some inkling of how it works).