VS2010: Incompatible Reference when trying to add reference

Question

VS2010: In my newly created project, any time I try to add a reference to any of my other projects or, in this case, MySql.Data...I get an error that says "Incompatible Reference" - "In order to add it you should to change the project's target to a compatible framework first"

My project's target is set to .NET 4 and whether or not the reference I'm trying to add is or isn't set to .NET 4 I still get the error. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks

Answer 1

well I'm not sure what the problem was but if I browse to the physical file to add the reference instead of using the "Recent" or other dialogues in the the Add References window, it works just fine. Never figured out why the other way stopped working for me.

Answer 2

I had the same problem. The problem was resolved by adding the reference to the compiled dll file. It would work for me, but I got curious why this worked and the reference of the project doesn't.

I checked the project that I wanted to reference. In this project two more projects are referenced. I resolved the error by doing the following:

1. Added the project (x) to my solution that I liked to reference
2. Added the projects (ref1 and ref2) that are referenced in the reference project (x).
3. Added the reference (x) to the consumer project
4. No error occurred.

I hope this helps you in the future.

Regards,

Stefan