关于Eyeshot Pro 2021在Visual Studio 2017/2019工具箱中无法正常显示控件的技术咨询

Hey Jürgen, sorry to hear you're stuck with this frustrating issue—let's walk through some practical fixes that usually get Eyeshot controls showing up in your VS toolbox.

Start with the Basics #

• Make sure you installed Eyeshot Pro as an administrator. Visual Studio needs elevated permissions to register toolbox controls, so a standard install might have skipped critical registration steps. If you didn't install with admin rights, uninstall Eyeshot, restart your PC, then reinstall with admin privileges.
• Double-check that Eyeshot Pro 2021 supports your VS versions (it’s officially compatible with 2017 and 2019, but it never hurts to confirm the devDept compatibility notes just to be safe).

Reset the VS Toolbox First #

Corrupted toolbox state is a common culprit:

1. Open your Visual Studio instance.
2. Right-click anywhere in the Toolbox pane and select Reset Toolbox.
3. Restart VS completely and check if the Eyeshot controls appear.

Manual Add Controls (The Correct Approach) #

If resetting didn’t work, let’s ensure you’re adding the DLLs properly:

1. Right-click the Toolbox and choose Choose Items....
2. Switch to the .NET Framework Components tab.
3. Click Browse and navigate to your Eyeshot installation directory (default path is something like C:\Program Files\devDept Software\Eyeshot Professional 2021\Bin\Net48—pick the folder matching your project’s target .NET Framework version).
4. Select the core Eyeshot DLLs: devDept.Eyeshot.dll, devDept.Eyeshot.Control.dll, and any related DLLs you need (like devDept.Eyeshot.Translators.dll).
5. Click OK and check if the controls now appear in the Toolbox. If not, verify the DLL version matches your project’s target framework (e.g., don’t use Net48 DLLs with a .NET 4.7 project).

Resolve the "Registry Entry Already Exists" Error #

This usually points to leftover registry entries from a failed install or partial uninstall:

1. Uninstall Eyeshot Pro 2021 via Apps & Features in Windows Settings.
2. Open the Registry Editor (regedit—run as admin).
3. Backup your registry first (File > Export) just in case something goes wrong.
4. Delete these registry keys:
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\devDept Software
   • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\devDept Software
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\[Your VS Version Number]\ToolboxControlsInstaller (look for any Eyeshot-related entries here and delete them)
5. Restart your PC, then reinstall Eyeshot Pro as an administrator.

Register DLLs to the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) #

If all else fails, manually registering the Eyeshot DLLs to the GAC can help VS detect them:

1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Navigate to your Eyeshot Bin directory:

   cd "C:\Program Files\devDept Software\Eyeshot Professional 2021\Bin\Net48"
   

3. Run these commands to register the core DLLs:

   gacutil /i devDept.Eyeshot.dll
   gacutil /i devDept.Eyeshot.Control.dll
   

4. Restart VS and try adding the controls again.

If none of these steps work, check the VS Activity Log (Help > About Microsoft Visual Studio > Copy Info, then locate the log file) for specific toolbox registration errors—it might clue you into a hidden compatibility issue.

内容的提问来源于stack exchange，提问作者Jürgen Becker