'There is no editor available' error in VS

Question

When I tried to select designer view in VS 2010 I get this error:

There is no editor available for 'c:\user\teadrinkinggeek\documents\visual studio 2010\websites\website2\About.aspx'.

Make sure the application for the file type (.aspx) is installed.

I opened a different website and the error is still there.

How do I resolve this?

Answer 1

I tried the devenv /resetskippkgs command with no results. However, after it failed, I played around with the form properties. When I clicked on frmFormName.vb in the Solution Explorer, the properties window showed something different for "build action" than did my other form. I changed this property to "compile" to match my other form. Now, everything is working fine. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

You can also receive this message if the Build Action property is set to None on the (.cs/.vb) file.

Click on the (.cs/.vb) file in your project, look at the Properties Window (press F4 if not visible), make sure that the Build Action property is set to Compile.

Its a really misleading error message in this case.

Answer 3

Sometimes it happens because one of the references of the project are making problems.

Solution:

Build your solution to Identify the reference that is making problems, remove the reference and add it again, after rebuilding your project everything will work fine.

Answer 4

I am very new to VS 2010 and I had this same problem. I spent hours on the net to no avail. Out of desperation I created a new solution and the copied all my existing files into it's directory. I then entered my new app and said "show all files". All my 'old' files were displayed, with "white icons" . I then right-clicked each file and said add to project for each one. I then rebuilt all and everything is back to normal and it did not take long. Hope it can help someone. I know it does not sound to professional, but hey, it works. Arthur Oliver

Answer 5

I switched my target framework for this project from older 2.0 to 4.0 and designer opened.

Answer 6

I've been struggling with this issue with Visual Basic Express 2008 for ages and have tried just about every solution that I came across. As per the solution from Cody Gray I opened a command prompt at c:\program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE and then executed

vbexpress /resetskippkg

When VB Express 2008 opened all was well and I could at last access the form designer window! Worked a treat!!!