Question: I am currently going through a tutorial using Visual Studio 11 beta. When trying to set the max length of a field value in one of my classes:

```
[MaxLength(50)]
public string LastName { get; set; }

```

It errors out and wont let me compile because the `MaxLength()` function exists in two places:

> 
> Error 4 The type '**System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations**.MaxLengthAttribute' exists in both 'c:\Users\me\Documents\Visual Studio 11\ContosoUniversity\packages\EntityFramework.4.1.10331.0\lib\net40\EntityFramework.dll' and 'c:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.5\System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.dll'
> 
> 
> 

I have tried to remove both files but that just causes more issues because other code in my project is dependent upon them.

Is there a way I can tell it to use one or the other?

**All of these approaches don't seem to be working for me.. Refer to the comments under the answers.. Any other ideas?**

Thanks

Answer: 
Use using at the top of your code:

```
using MaxLength = System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations

```
MaxLength is not a function, it's an Attribute.   

You can use the using directive in each file to specify the current correct context.  

Or just type the full namespace, e.g. `System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.MaxLength`