title: Unable to get the designer view window back using windows forms with Visual Studio 2010
body: <p>I am in process of writing a C# Windows Forms application using Visual Studio Express 2010 ENU SP1.  Further VS specifics are at the bottom of this post.  I recently made some changes using the designer view to the layout and then decided that I did not want the changes so I closed the designer window.  The code window was still up when I closed the project and the changes were saved any way.  I don't care about the changes because the layout can be restored easily except for the fact that I cannot find any way to reopen the visual designer window.  To get the window back I have tried the following:</p>
  
  <p>Shift F7</p>
  
  <p>Right click in the designer code window</p>
  
  <p>Double click the designer file under the solution explorer</p>
  
  <p>Select the designer file under the solution explorer and use the context menu to bring up the file</p>
  
  <p>I have an evaluation copy of the VS 2010 Team and it displays exactly the same behavior when utilizing my project</p>
  
  <p>I have tried a backup copy of the project but it displays the same problem in both the Express and Team versions</p>
  
  <p>I have been all over the MSDN, VS forum, and the internet at large and not found any solutions</p>
  
  <p>When I first started the project I did rename the Form1.cs file from within the solution explorer because I wanted to have a different name than Form1 for the application.  When doing this it asked the following:</p>
  
  <p>"You are renaming a file.  Would you like to perform a rename in this project of all references to the code element 'projectname'?</p>
  
  <p>I replied yes.  So now I don't have a Form1.cs file but a file with my "projectname.cs" and the designer file named "projectname.Design.cs.  This is the only change that I made that I can think of that might be relevant.  I did try renaming it back to Form1.cs but that also did not resolve the problem.</p>
  
  <p>I have to say that I am new to using Visual Studio.  So far I like it quite a bit but I am dead in the water right now and unless I can get this resolved I will lose two weeks worth of work.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks,
  -Tom</p>
  
  <p>Additional Details:</p>
  
  <p>Windows 7 Professional SP1 32 bit x86</p>
  
  <p>Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
  Version 10.0.40219.1 SP1Rel
  Microsoft .NET Framework
  Version 4.0.30319 SP1Rel</p>
  
  <p>Installed Version: C# Express</p>
  
  <p>Microsoft Visual C# 2010   01014-169-2560017-70726
  Microsoft Visual C# 2010</p>
  
  <p>Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express - ENU Service Pack 1 (KB983509)   KB983509
  This service pack is for Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express - ENU.
  If you later install a more recent service pack, this service pack will be uninstalled automatically.</p>