Why is my Configuration Manager blank in Visual Studio?

Question

Recently, on a few solutions I've been working on, the Configuration Manager dialog displays empty fields for 'Configuration' and 'Platform', and 'Build' is always unchecked. Changing values and saving the configuration doesn't fix the issue.

This does not happen on all solutions (when creating a new one, for example, this problem doesn't occur). Why could this be happening, and how do I fix it?

Screenshot (project names censored):

Answer 1

I have experienced the same problem (adding an Oracle Database project to my solution).

To fix the problem you should edit the solution file (.sln). Find the Oracle Database project (search for oradbproj). You should find something like this:

Project("{218574D1-FF94-4B95-8577-A6D58C11C315}") = "MyOracleDatabase", 
"MyOracleDatabase\MyOracleDatabase.oradbproj", "{41823BBF-36F6-42AC-9C41-119241BAAFEC}"
    EndProject

Later, in the same .sln file search for the begining of the section "GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution". There would be many entries like these:

{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU

Copy them an replace the GUID with the second one in the previos "oradbproj" line ({41823BBF-36F6-42AC-9C41-119241BAAFEC} in the previous example):

{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
{CE85B8BD-1BCF-468C-AA0B-B869B87A66D5}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
{41823BBF-36F6-42AC-9C41-119241BAAFEC}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
{41823BBF-36F6-42AC-9C41-119241BAAFEC}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
{41823BBF-36F6-42AC-9C41-119241BAAFEC}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
{41823BBF-36F6-42AC-9C41-119241BAAFEC}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU

Now you can save the .sln file. If you edited the .sln file from outside the Visual Studio having it opened, coming back to Visual Studio it would prompt to reload the solution. Click Yes and wait. That is!!!

Answer 2

After digging into it for longer than I’d like to admit, I’ve found that the culprit is an Oracle Database project (.oradbproj). Apparently, when it was added to the Solution, Visual Studio didn’t create mappings between the Solution configurations and the Project configuration for the database project. Adding the mappings manually seems to fix the problem. I copied the mappings from another project (in the ProjectConfigurationPlatforms section of the Solution file), and then replaced the GUID with the one that corresponds to the database project. After making that change, saving it, and then re-opening the Solution, everything looks good!