Include dependent project in solution and reference, or no and just reference .dll?

[Ronald S. Cook]

If I choose not to include a dependent project in my solution, but rather
just reference the .dll in that project's bin\debug folder, are there any
negative repercussions?

Or, is it more normal/better to just go ahead and include that project in
the solution?

I'm thinking I would prefer the prior because we have alot of projects and
most main projects reference several other projects and that would be alot
of projects within a solution, maybe unnecessarily?

I think maybe I just don't fully understand any limitations (if any) to just
referencing the .dll. Does it just mean the inconvenience of having to have
2 Visual Studio sessions up at the same time if wanting to work on both
projects simultaneously?

Thanks,
Ron

 

[Mr. Arnold]

If I choose not to include a dependent project in my solution, but rather
just reference the .dll in that project's bin\debug folder, are there any
negative repercussions?
No

Or, is it more normal/better to just go ahead and include that project in
the solution?

If you need to debug the solution, the solution or you're one of these
developers that has to see all of the code for the projects.

I'm thinking I would prefer the prior because we have alot of projects and
most main projects reference several other projects and that would be alot
of projects within a solution, maybe unnecessarily?

People jump between the two all the time. If the project is stable, then one
will go with the Dll. If it's not stable, then one will include the project
so they can look at the code and debug if necessary.

I think maybe I just don't fully understand any limitations (if any) to
just referencing the .dll.

It's compiled/assembly of the code that's being referenced and used whether
or not it's source code being shown in the IDE or is part of the total
assembly.

Does it just mean the inconvenience of having to have 2 Visual Studio
sessions up at the same time if wanting to work on both projects
simultaneously?

You can debug them both at the same time within one VS 2005 solution, and
you can bring in a C# project into a VB solution or VB project into a C#
solution, without having two IDE's running to debug.