There is a good chance that this problem can be cured by using a technique described in DevForce "Classic" Installation Guide.  You will need to adjust this technique for differences for the names used in DevForce "Classic" and "DevForce EF".  BTW, the Addins directory for Vista is C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\MSEnvShared.

Check for “bad” Add-in

ð    Launch Visual Studio

ð    Select Tools ► Add-in Manager … from the menu.

Add-in Manager probably shows that the IdeaBlade Object Mapper is present as in the following

Visual Studio “remembers” the last time it tried to use this Add-in and it can’t load what it remembers.

Copying a new version of the Object Mapper Add-in on top of the old copy won’t work. Visual Studio won’t try to load it again until we make it forget about this Add-in.

The trick is to

·         Rename the IdeaBlade.DevTools.Orm.AddIn file temporarily,

·         convince Visual Studio that it is gone,

·         restore the Add-in file name, and

·         cause Visual Studio to discover it anew.

The AddIns Directory

Visual Studio looks for an XML file in its “AddIns” directory.

That directory varies depending upon your edition of Visual Studio and how you installed it.

The preferred location is:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\AddIns

Alternatively, the directory may be in the user’s directory space at

%HOMEPATH%\My Documents\Visual Studio 8\AddIns

Jiggle the Object Mapper AddIn file

We can proceed now that we know where Visual Studio keeps its Add-in information.

ð    Exit Visual Studio.

ð    Navigate to the Visual Studio “AddIns” directory

ð    Rename IdeaBlade.DevTools.Orm.AddIn to IdeaBlade.DevTools.Orm.AddInXX

ð    Confirm for Windows that it is OK to change the file extension.

ð    Launch Visual Studio.

ð    Select Tools ► Add-in Manager … from the menu.

ð    Verify that “IdeaBlade Object Mapper” is no longer listed.

ð    Exit Visual Studio.

ð    Restore IdeaBlade.DevTools.Orm.AddInX back to IdeaBlade.DevTools.Orm.AddIn

That should do it. Now we verify that the Object Mapper is installed.

ð    Launch Visual Studio again.

ð    Look for “IdeaBlade Object Mapper” at the top of the Tools menu.

Probably should mention first that I'm running Vista x64.  The "Documents and Settings" path obviously doesn't apply in that case... but I get the idea.

There is an entry labeled "DevForce EF Object Mapper" in the Add-in Manager and it's checked (on).  The description states "IdeaBlade DevForce Object Mapping Tool".  But there's no entry in the Tools menu.

All 14 of my IdeaBlade.* assemblies in the GAC report version 4.1.2.0 (do you guys really have to GAC the assemblies?!)

The Visual Studio settings in Tools->Options->Environment->Add-in/Macros Security appear pretty stock.  My Add-in File Paths include:
- %ALLUSERSDOCUMENTS%\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\Addins
- %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\Addins
- %APPDATA%\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\Addins
- %VSAPPDATA%\Addins
- %VSCOMMONAPPDATA%\Addins
- %VSMYDOCUMENTS%\Addins

I did a search for "IdeaBlade.DevTools.OM.AddIn.v4.dll" on my machine and found it in two spots:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\IdeaBlade DevForce EF
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\AddIns

I doubled checked both of these files and they are version 4.1.2.0.

I did a search for "IdeaBlade.DevTools.OM.AddIn.AddIn" on my machine and found it in one spot:
- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\AddIns

So I explicitly added "c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\MSEnvShared\AddIns" to the "Add-in File Paths" to make sure that path is covered.  Restarted Visual Studio and still no luck.

Any ideas?