Razor Syntax gives errors in View before compiling (No intellisense)

Question

I was going through the list of NuGet Packages and I was updating everything things like bootstrap, jQuery, etc. but while I was doing that, I unthinkingly updated Microsoft.Owin and another package (might have been EF or something else) and it was a major version update...woops.

I had to jump through hoops by deleting my project, getting an older version from source control and getting everything back to the right versions. Everything is back to normal and I have one last issue. Razor Syntax.

When I open up any of my views...anywhere in the project, I get this:

Notice how anything using Razor is marked with red error squiggle. They each say "The name '' does not exist in the current context".

When I close the file, no errors are shown. Also, when I run the project, there are no issues and everything works PERFECT. The problem is, I have no intellisense and it doesn't recognize any of my razor helpers.

Here are the specifications for my project:

EntityFramework 6.0
Microsoft.Owin 2.1.0.0
Owin 1.0.0
System.Web.Mvc 5.2.2.0
System.Web.Razor 3.0.0.0

In my packages folder I also have:

Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.5.2.2
Microsoft.AspNet.Razor.3.2.2
Microsoft.WebPages.3.2.2

I've modified my WebConfig to fix multiple errors and it now has the following code in it:

<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5.1">
      <assemblies>
        <add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Helpers, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=5.2.2.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
      </assemblies>
    </compilation>

and under: <runtime><assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">

I have these:

<dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="WebGrease" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.5.2.14234" newVersion="1.5.2.14234" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.Core" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Newtonsoft.Json" publicKeyToken="30ad4fe6b2a6aeed" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.5.0.0" newVersion="4.5.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Owin.Security.OAuth" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-2.1.0.0" newVersion="2.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Owin" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-2.1.0.0" newVersion="2.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Owin.Security" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-2.1.0.0" newVersion="2.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Owin.Security.Cookies" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-2.1.0.0" newVersion="2.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.2.1.0" newVersion="3.0.3.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Razor" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.2.2.0" newVersion="5.2.2.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>

And on each of the View folders in my project I have the following code inside of the Web.Config file:

<configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="system.web.webPages.razor" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorWebSectionGroup, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
      <section name="host" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
      <section name="pages" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorPagesSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>

Along with this code:

    <system.web.webPages.razor>
    <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
    <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Optimization"/>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="IcapOrg" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
  </system.web.webPages.razor>

I have tried uninstalling it, re-installing, upgrading, downgrading, removing and adding assemblies, and many more things I've started to forget. I'm not really sure where to move on from here. I can keep coding but it's just going to be a real pain without intellisense. Thank you in advance for any help.

B

Are you using ReSharper? I had R# give me Razor errors until I upgraded the Resharper.ExternalAnnotations package to version 8.2.2001.1. You can access the extensions through the ReSharper > Extension Manager... menu option. – Dutiful

I am not using ReSharper. Thanks for asking! – B

Answer 1

After days of searching, I finally found this page: MVC Razor view Intellisense broken in VS 2013/2015/2017

In my Views > Web.Config file I found this code:

 <system.web.webPages.razor>
    <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
    <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Optimization" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Helpers"/>
        <add namespace="IcapOrg" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
  </system.web.webPages.razor>

Which, as you can see, has the wrong version of MVC on it. I had previously only checking the <sectionGroup> tags for the proper version of RAZOR but I neglected the fact that MVC also needs the proper version. Switching the version to:

<host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=5.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

Solved my problem. This reminds me to always look over my code VERY carefully.

NOTE: As you can see in the question, the version says 5.0.0, and this one says 4.0.0. Different Web.Config files in my different view folders all had different versions written down. Extremely weird.

B

Strange indeed. We had to do the opposite and use 5.0.0.0 as version instead of 5.2.0.0 as we actually use... – Tatary

Answer 2

I have spent days digging around on this problem and now waiting for my hair to grow back. But alas persistence.

Visual Studio 2013 Update 4, targetFramework 4.5.1 System.Web.Mvc 5.2.2.0

Ensure web.config files (in the root directory and view directory(ies)) are utilizing the proper versions for mvc and razor as explained above. However if the razor intellisense problem still exists, begin by checking your installed packages.

Easiest way is to create a new solution, and install / update packages one by one to identify the problematic packages.

In my case updating the solution's Webgrease / Modernizr / ANTLRv3 packages via nuget to version 1.6.0 / 2.8.3 / 3.5.0.2 caused all the problems and self-induced male pattern baldness.

Cacciatore