VC++ 6 Project files open as text

[SamWormie]

For some reason, my project files in Visual C++ 6 are openning as text. I get a file full of !MESSAGE... but it won't load my project. Just the text version of my file. My extension is right. IT doe sit with both projects I haev created and those I have downloaded from other sites. What is wrong?

[jonnin]

The project files *are* text. To open the project you really only need to double click on the .dsw file - (file, open, project) should work too, and somewhere is an import:makefile that almost never works, because makefiles are almost never portable.

[SamWormie]

I know the file is actually text. However, it is not supposed to open in VC++ and display as text. I double click on the file. And it opens as text. It's supposed to open all the other files in the project. (workspaces dont' work either, because they load projects, which don't open properly) I actually do know how to use VC++. I lost it when I wiped my computer, and when I reinstalled, this happened. It's like the file type settings are screwy, but I have no idea what to do.

[jonnin]

uninstall, go behind that and delete all the folders that did not die, run regclean-xp or similar tool three or four times, and re-install the program. You can try to patch up the file associations, but I suspect when you associate them with visual studio it will simply try to open them in the editor, the same thing it already seems to be doing. Reinstalling will be faster and will fix everything, if other parts of the software was damaged.

[Danny]

I think it has to do with the default application that is registered for a specific extension in your computer. Check whether .cpp and .h extensions are associated with Visual C++. Most likely, they aren't.

[SamWormie]

Oh, the file types are fine with windows. If I double click it, it opens VC++. the problem is within VC++ itself. The icons are right, and everything is fine. .cpp files open fine, it's just the project files.

[Danny]

I haven't used Visual C++ 6.0 for ages (can't say I miss it...) but I believe that the extensions of the workspace files may have changed somewhere between 5.0 and 6.0. Could it be that you're using older projects, or perhaps newer projects and an older compiler? The easiest way to answer this: did you use this very compiler to create these workspaces on that machine?

[jonnin]

I have .cpp and .h associated with a different program, and 6 still works fine, I don't think thats it. I still think he needs to re-install it.

[Danny]

And while we're at it, I would recommend installing VC++ 7.1...