Shared Source Files Between Projects in VS2003?

Why not create a sperate assembly that contains all the shared classes? Then the server and the client use this dll.
Just add a new project (Class Library) to the solution and move all the shared code into it.

Here's what I recommend:

+ Make a Solution, then make each code branch as a separate folder within that Solution folder.
+ Make a separate folder called 'Common' or something similar that will hold all of your includes and such common to all three projects.

And now there are many different methods of approaching this:
1. Inside your normal code, when including something from the common project, #include "../Common/MyHeader.h"
2. Add your Common directory to the compiler's global directory paths (Tools->Options->Project->Directories) then you can just reference the headers as #include .
3. If this common code also includes source code as well as header files, then many times a library file will be built and placed in, for example, a /Lib folder. After doing this, each of your three projects can include the library functions merely by #include "../Common/LibHeader.h" and by #pragma comment (lib, "MyLib.lib"); or by setting it up for inclusion within the project settings.

Yep. If I were using C++ that's how I would do it. Since it is so easy to do in C++, using the same IDE, I am dumbstruck that the only way to do it in C# is to compile it to a dll or class library... which seems like more effort than should be required.

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Original post by Telamon Yep. If I were using C++ that's how I would do it. Since it is so easy to do in C++, using the same IDE, I am dumbstruck that the only way to do it in C# is to compile it to a dll or class library... which seems like more effort than should be required.

It's not more work than creating a library in C++ (and you don't even need a header file), or am I missing something?

VolkerG: Yeah. If this was C++, I could just change the project settings of the client and server to also look in the common folder for source code. There's no need to make a library.

Whereas the project settings for C# projects don't give that option.

Ever seen what the DirectX SDK C# sample apps do? They create links to a bunch of files in a shared folder.

You can do this by right clicking on the project, choosing Add->Existing Item, locating the item in question *AND* clicking the little arrow next to the Open button and choosing "Link to file..." from the dropdown. Or was this what you meant by "creating little shortcuts"?

I have a feeling the DX SDK samples do this for the educational value of having all the source code in the solution, though. Extracting shared functionality into an assembly referenced by both the server and the client is the *correct* way of doing it.

You have to keep in mind that if you compile the same class into two assemblies, they are *NOT* the same type. Even if they are binary identical, the type identity is closely linked to the assembly identity, which, if you compile the same class into two different assemblies, is not the same. The consequence is that you cannot instantiate Foo from the client and pass it to a method in the server that expects a Foo.

Hey thanks Arild, that was pretty helpful. I'm not looking to send common objects back and forth between the two projects - I'm really just trying to have a GlobalConstants.h file, like I might in a C++ program. Maybe the right way to do it would be to make a class library, but my multiuser stratego server is proving to be a real learning experience for me, so anyway I can structure my code to be easier to change later (after I mess it up) is all to the good.

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Original post by Telamon VolkerG: Yeah. If this was C++, I could just change the project settings of the client and server to also look in the common folder for source code. There's no need to make a library. Whereas the project settings for C# projects don't give that option.

Ah, now I understand! Took some time (it was late) ;)
So you don't actually want to share code, but only constants. But as far as I know, creating a class library is the price you have to pay for using .NET. But think positive, now you can use the constants even from a VB.NET project!

One perhaps not-so-obvious strategy which could equally be used in C++ and C#, is to make the client and server the same executable.

Then you can reuse whatever code you like without having to create separate projects.

Just pass some command-line parameters to the program to make it run as a dedicated server.

Mark