Change C# version for existing project

Question

For the life of me I cannot find out how to view or change the C# version in my project. I'm using VS2010 and C# .Net 2.0 and have found (from an error message) that the project is using ISO-2 C#. (Note, I don't even get the option to choose a version when creating a new project.)

I have Googled the hell out of this problem and found nothing at all, other than discussions about different versions.

Can anyone tell me how I can change the version of C# my project is using?

What about navigating to Solution Explorer, right click on the project and select properties. Change the version in Target Framework drop down. — Jibяaᴎ Khaᴎ, Jul 07 '14 at 09:51
@JibranKhan isn't that just changing the .Net framework version though? I was under the impression that they weren't necessarily linked. — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Jul 07 '14 at 09:55
For ISO-2 etc see [http://stackoverflow.com/q/9174223/2655508](http://stackoverflow.com/q/9174223/2655508) — Heslacher, Jul 07 '14 at 09:57
It is actually proportional to C# version also, so changing framework means you are also changing c# version. — Jibяaᴎ Khaᴎ, Jul 07 '14 at 09:57
@JibranKhan I don't want to change .Net version. I just want to change the version of C#. If this isn't possible then I'll have to reconsider, but what I've read suggests that I should be able to do this — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Jul 07 '14 at 09:59
@Heslacher Thanks for the link. I'd already seen that but unfortunately don't have a language version setting in advanced build settings. — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Jul 07 '14 at 09:59
@Heslacher That would probably be fine, but ideally I just want to ensure that it's C# 3 (I don't believe I can go any higher without changing .Net version). — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Jul 07 '14 at 10:09

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

As far as I know, C# version is tied to .Net version.

Numbers of versions are not the same, but if you want extra features like lambda, late binding etc, you need to up your .Net version.

.Net Versions:

1.0 - released in 2002

1.1 - released in 2003

2.0 - released in 2005, with a new CLR (to handle generics and nullable types) and compilers for C# 2 and VB 8.

3.0 - released in 2006, this is just 2.0 plus new libraries: Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Workflow Foundation, and Cardspace

3.5 - released in 2007, this is 3.0 plus new libraries (primarily LINQ and some extra "base" libraries such as TimeZoneInfo) and new compilers (for C# 3 and VB 9)

4 - released in 2010, this includes a new CLR (v4), new libraries, and the DLR (Dynamic Language Runtime)

4.5 - released in 2012, this allows for WinRT development on Windows 8 as well as extra libraries - with much wider async APIs

C# versions:

C# 1

C# 2, introducing generics, nullable types, anonymous methods, iterator blocks and some other more minor features

C# 3, introducing implicit typing, object and collection initializers, anonymous types, automatic properties, lambda expressions, extension methods, query expressions and some other minor features

C# 4, introducing dynamic typing, optional parameters, named arguments, and generic variance

C# 5, introducing asynchronous functions, caller info attributes, and a tweak to foreach iteration variable capture

info can be found here:

http://csharpindepth.com/articles/chapter1/versions.aspx

you can change the c# version if you'd like to. Right click on project, select properties ---> build ---> advanced ---> language version

but this can be really tricky.

Check here:

Difference between compiling as C# 3.0 or ISO-1 or ISO-2?

That page actually states that .Net version and language version aren't linked to each other - `Some C# 3 features can be used freely in .NET 2.0` - which is exactly what I want to do. — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Jul 07 '14 at 10:03
In response to your edit - I don't have the language version options available for some reason. — Reinstate Monica Cellio, Jul 07 '14 at 10:05
Maybe describe in more detail why would you want to do this and what kind of project is it? — avidenic, Jul 07 '14 at 10:37

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

1

If you want to change the version of C# from ISO-2 to default you can open the project file in your favourite editor and search for the line:

<LangVersion>ISO-2</LangVersion>

and change it to

<LangVersion>default</LangVersion>

or if you want to use C# 3.0 change it to

<LangVersion>3</LangVersion>

For using another .NET version you would right click your project -> properties and on the application tabpage you need to change the target framework platform.

For the C# version numbers please see: https://stackoverflow.com/a/247623/2655508

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Community

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answered Jul 07 '14 at 10:12

Heslacher

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Thanks, but unfortunately there is no project file. This is a web site, not a web application (I believe that's the reason for the lack of project file). – Reinstate Monica Cellio Jul 07 '14 at 10:29

Change C# version for existing project

2 Answers2