Visual Studio 2005 / 2008 both lack a way to define assembly references per solution configuration.

There are some ways to define assembly references which change if the solution configuration changes, but they are not sufficient for larger projects.

The Lexware Assembly Reference Tool fills this gap, by providing a new tool window in Visual Studio 2005 / 2008, which allows you to change ‘hard-coded’ assembly reference paths to flexible reference paths which change depending on the solution configuration. The tool detects ‘Debug’ or ‘Release’ in the assembly reference path and marks the assembly in red to show you the potential problem you have, when you build the project in another configuration. You only need to press a button and all these paths will be converted to paths which depend on the configuration of the project.

ToolWindow

Additionally the tool provides the following features:

Change the ‘Copy Local’ property
Manipulate the ‘Special Version’ property
Edit the assembly reference path (‘HintPath’)
Convert a project reference into an assembly references
Delete an assembly reference

For detailed information see our article on CodeProject:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/macros/Lexware.AssemblyReference.aspx

The latest setup can be downloaded here:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/macros/Lexware.AssemblyReference/AssemblyReference_msi.zip