Dependency graph of Visual Studio projects

Question

I'm currently migrating a big solution (~70 projects) from VS 2005 + .NET 2.0 to VS 2008 + .NET 3.5. Currently I have VS 2008 + .NET 2.0.

The problem is that I need to move projects one by one to new .NET framework ensuring that no .NET 2.0 project references .NET 3.5 project. Is there any tool that would give me a nice graph of project dependencies?

Answer 1

I needed something similar, but didn't want to pay for (or install) a tool to do it. I created a quick PowerShell script that goes through the project references and spits them out in a yuml.me friendly-format instead:

Function Get-ProjectReferences ($rootFolder)
{
    $projectFiles = Get-ChildItem $rootFolder -Filter *.csproj -Recurse
    $ns = @{ defaultNamespace = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" }

    $projectFiles | ForEach-Object {
        $projectFile = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
        $projectName = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty BaseName
        $projectXml = [xml](Get-Content $projectFile)

        $projectReferences = $projectXml | Select-Xml '//defaultNamespace:ProjectReference/defaultNamespace:Name' -Namespace $ns | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Node | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "#text"

        $projectReferences | ForEach-Object {
            "[" + $projectName + "] -> [" + $_ + "]"
        }
    }
}

Get-ProjectReferences "C:\Users\DanTup\Documents\MyProject" | Out-File "C:\Users\DanTup\Documents\MyProject\References.txt"

Answer 2

Update: ReSharper since version 8 has built-in 'View Project Dependencies' feature.

ReSharper version prior to 8 has Internal feature to show dependency graphs in using yFiles viewer. See quick manual in the bottom of the post.

Howto

1. Install yEd tool from here.
2. Run VS with /resharper.internal command line argument.
3. Go to ReSharper/Internal/Show Dependencies.
4. Specify projects that you want to include to the 'big picture'.
5. Uncheck 'Exclude terminal nodes...' unless you need it.
6. Press 'Show'.
7. Use hierarchical layout in yEd (Alt+Shift+H)
8. Provide feedback =)

Answer 3

Have you tried NDepend? It'll shows you the dependencies and you can also analyze the usability of your classes and methods.

Their website:

http://ndepend.com

Answer 4

Made the powershell scripts .etc. posted here into a dotnet tool.

Try DependenSee

to install

• Make sure you have dotnet 5 runtime installed

• Make sure you have dotnet 6 runtime installed

• run dotnet tool install dependensee --global

• once installed, run dependensee "path/to/root/of/csproj/files" "path/to/output.html"

• By default it doesn't include nuget packages, but can be enabled with -P switch

• to see all options, run dependensee with no args.

HTML output looks like this

For Continuous Integration Scenarios

There are command line options allowing you to output XML or JSON for further processing, either writing them to a file or writing to Standard Output allowing to pipe the output to other command line tools without touching the filesystem if necessary.

Answer 5

You can get a project dependency graph easily using Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, scan to 5 minutes into this video to see how: http://www.lovettsoftware.com/blogengine.net/post/2010/05/27/Architecture-Explorer.aspx

In Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate: Architecture | Generate Dependency Graph | By Assembly.

Answer 6

I wrote a tool that might help you. VS Solution Dependency Visualizer analyzes project dependencies within a solution and create a dependency chart from this information, as well as a text report.

Answer 7

I had a similar issue, but it was further complicated because several projects were referencing different versions of the same assembly.

To get an output that includes version information and checks for possible runtime assembly loading issues, I made this tool:

https://github.com/smpickett/DependencyViewer

(direct link to github release: https://github.com/smpickett/DependencyViewer/releases)

Answer 8

You can create a dependency graph of your projects in VS 2010 Ultimate. Architecture Explorer lets you browse your solution, select projects and the relationships that you want to visualize, and then create a dependency graph from your selection.

For more info, see the following topics:

How to: Generate Graph Documents from Code: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409453%28VS.100%29.aspx#SeeSpecificSource

How to: Find Code Using Architecture Explorer: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409431%28VS.100%29.aspx

RC download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=457bab91-5eb2-4b36-b0f4-d6f34683c62a.

Visual Studio 2010 Architectural Discovery & Modeling Tools forum: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsarch/threads

Answer 9

The Powershell solution is the best. I adapted it into a bash script that works on my machine (TM):

#!/bin/bash

for i in `find . -type f -iname "*.csproj"`; do
    # get only filename
    project=`basename $i`

    # remove csproj extension
    project=${project%.csproj}

    references=`cat $i | grep '<ProjectReference' | cut -d "\"" -f 2`
    for ref in $references; do
        # keep only filename (assume Windows paths)
        ref=${ref##*\\}

        # remove csproj extension
        ref=${ref%.csproj}

        echo "[ $project ] -> [ $ref ]"
    done

done

Answer 10

To complete the eriawan answer on graphs generated by NDepend see screenshoots below. You can download and use the free trial edition of NDepend for a while.

More on NDepend Dependency Graph

More on NDepend Dependency Matrix:

Disclaimer: I am part of the tool team

Answer 11

You can create a nice graph of the references in your projects. I've described the way I did it on my blog http://www.mellekoning.nl/index.php/2010/03/11/project-references-in-ddd/

Answer 12

If you simply want a dependency graph I've found this is one of the cleanest ways to get one:

Dependency Analyser

Answer 13

VS 2019 has renamed dependency graph module to Code Map

here is official documentation : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/modeling/map-dependencies-across-your-solutions?view=vs-2019

Answer 14

If you're looking for a way that doesn't require any external tools, you can navigate to a project's obj/project.assets.json file. This file is generated during build, and has a hierarchical JSON structure of the dependencies (both project references and nuget packages).

It's useful for answering questions like "why the hell is this project DLL being pulled into the build directory?"

Answer 15

I've checked all the answers but none of the options were satisfying to me so I wrote my own tool to preview project-project dependencies.

https://github.com/Audionysos/VSProjectReferencesViewer

It's early stage but it worked for my needs :)

Answer 16

This extended version of the PS Script from Danny Tuppeny shows both Project and External references:

Function Get-ProjectReferences($rootPath)
{
  $projectFiles = Get-ChildItem $rootPath -Filter *.csproj -Recurse
  $ns = @{ defaultNamespace = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" }

  $projectFiles | ForEach-Object {
    $projectFile = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
    $projectName = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty BaseName
    $projectXml = [xml](Get-Content $projectFile)

    $projectReferences = $projectXml | Select-Xml '//defaultNamespace:ProjectReference/defaultNamespace:Name' -Namespace $ns | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Node | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "#text"
    $projectReferences | ForEach-Object {
        "PR:[" + $projectName + "]:[" + $_ + "]"
    }
  }

  $projectFiles | ForEach-Object {
    $projectFile = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
    $projectName = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty BaseName
    $projectXml = [xml](Get-Content $projectFile)

    $externalReferences = $projectXml | Select-Xml '//defaultNamespace:Reference/@Include' -Namespace $ns
    $externalReferences | ForEach-Object {
        "ER:[" + $projectName + "]:[" + $_ + "]"
    }

  }

}

Get-ProjectReferences "C:\projects" | Out-File "C:\temp\References.txt"

It will give a colon-separated file that can be opened and analysed in Excel.

Answer 17

This extended version of the PS Script from Danny Tuppeny shows references for both csproj and vcxproj files, and also supports

-Depth - maximum dependency chain length

-Like - prints only dependency chains starting with projects with name -like $Like

-UntilLike - cuts dependency chains on projects with name -like $UntilLike

-Reverse - prints reversed dependency chains ([proj] <- [referencing proj])

[CmdletBinding()]
param (
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [string]$RootFolder = ".",
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [string]$Like = "*",
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [string]$UntilLike = "*",
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [switch]$Reverse,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
    [int]$Depth=1
)

$arrow = if ($script:Reverse) { "<-" } else { "->" }

Function PrintTree ($projectNameToProjectNameList, $projectName, $maxDepth = 1, $prefix = "")
{
    $print = $script:UntilLike -eq "*" -or $projectName -Like $script:UntilLike
    $stop = $projectNameToProjectNameList[$projectName].count -eq 0 -or $maxDepth -eq 0 -or ($script:UntilLike -ne "*" -and $projectName -Like $script:UntilLike)
    
    if ($stop) {
        if ($print) {
            $prefix + "[$projectName]"
        }
    } else {
        $prefix += "[$projectName] $arrow "
        --$maxDepth
        $projectNameToProjectNameList[$projectName] | % { PrintTree $projectNameToProjectNameList $_ $maxDepth $prefix }
    }
}

Function Get-ProjectReferences ($rootFolder)
{
    $projectFiles = Get-ChildItem $rootFolder -Filter *.csproj -Recurse
    $projectFiles += Get-ChildItem $rootFolder -Filter *.vcxproj -Recurse
    $ns = @{ defaultNamespace = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" }
    
    $projectGuidToProjectName = @{}
    $projectNameToProjectReferenceGuidList = @{}

    $projectFiles | ForEach-Object {
        $projectFile = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName
        $projectName = $_ | Select-Object -ExpandProperty BaseName
        $projectXml = [xml](Get-Content $projectFile)
        
        $projectGuid = $projectXml | Select-Xml '//defaultNamespace:ProjectGuid' -Namespace $ns | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Node | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "#text" | % { $_ -as [Guid] }
        $projectGuidToProjectName[$projectGuid] = $projectName

        $projectReferenceGuids = $projectXml | Select-Xml '//defaultNamespace:ProjectReference/defaultNamespace:Project' -Namespace $ns | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Node | Select-Object -ExpandProperty "#text" | % { $_ -as [Guid] }
        if ($null -eq $projectReferenceGuids) { $projectReferenceGuids = @() }
        $projectNameToProjectReferenceGuidList[$projectName] = $projectReferenceGuids
    }

    $projectNameToProjectReferenceNameList = @{}
    foreach ($projectName in $projectNameToProjectReferenceGuidList.keys) {
        $projectNameToProjectReferenceNameList[$projectName] = $projectNameToProjectReferenceGuidList[$projectName] | % { $projectGuidToProjectName[$_] } | sort
    }
    
    if ($script:Reverse) {
        $projectReferenceNameToProjectNameList = @{}
        foreach ($projectName in $projectNameToProjectReferenceNameList.keys) {
            foreach ($projectReferenceName in $projectNameToProjectReferenceNameList[$projectName]) {
                if (!$projectReferenceNameToProjectNameList.ContainsKey($projectReferenceName)) { $projectReferenceNameToProjectNameList[$projectReferenceName] = @() } 
                $projectReferenceNameToProjectNameList[$projectReferenceName] += $projectName
            }
        }

        foreach ($projectName in $projectReferenceNameToProjectNameList.keys -Like $script:Like) {
            PrintTree $projectReferenceNameToProjectNameList $projectName $script:Depth
        }
    } else {
        foreach ($projectName in $projectNameToProjectReferenceNameList.keys -Like $script:Like) {
            PrintTree $projectNameToProjectReferenceNameList $projectName $script:Depth
        }
    }
}

Get-ProjectReferences $RootFolder