Visual Studio Resources: Default Location for Add Existing File - visual-studio

Question

In the Visual Studio Resources area, is there a way to set the default location in the file select dialog, when selecting "Add Existing File..."?
The default location, when clicking on that menu is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE
True, it is a small thing, as selecting my Downloads folder or something else is easy, but I keep having to go somewhere else, usually my Downloads folder, and it would definitely save time to have the default location go somewhere else.
I know that the Open File common dialog, which Visual Studio uses, has the option in the initial structure to specify the initial (default) directory, so the only question is, if it is possible for the default directory to point somewhere else.
I am using Visual Studio 2017.

Answer 1

You can use my Visual Commander extension to monitor for the Resources.AddExistingFile command and set your preferred directory before its execution. See the following C# extension example:
public class E : VisualCommanderExt.IExtension
{
public void SetSite(EnvDTE80.DTE2 DTE, Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.Package package)
{
events = DTE.Events;
commandEvents = events.get_CommandEvents(null, 0);
commands = DTE.Commands as EnvDTE80.Commands2;
commandEvents.BeforeExecute += OnBeforeExecute;
}
public void Close()
{
commandEvents.BeforeExecute -= OnBeforeExecute;
}
private void OnBeforeExecute(string Guid, int ID, object CustomIn, object CustomOut, ref bool CancelDefault)
{
string name = GetCommandName(Guid, ID);
if (name == "Resources.AddExistingFile")
System.IO.Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(#"c:\downloads");
}
private string GetCommandName(string Guid, int ID)
{
if (Guid == null)
return "null";
try
{
return commands.Item(Guid, ID).Name;
}
catch (System.Exception)
{
}
return "";
}
private EnvDTE.Events events;
private EnvDTE.CommandEvents commandEvents;
private EnvDTE80.Commands2 commands;
}