In Visual Studio 2013 Pro, is there a way to have a README.md for the root solution? We have a rather large solution and I'm trying to create a main README.md that can give an intro of each of the projects and a link to their READMEs.
I know this was asked a few months ago, but in case people find this question as I did, I'm giving my answer. You can right-click the solution, click Add, New Item..., and then create a text file called README.md. It will create the file in a folder called "Solutions Items" in the Solution Explorer, but that folder would not be created in your project file structure. So it is like a logical folder only.
Also, it seems that if you clone or fork a project that already has a README.md file for the solution, VS2013 does not automatically display it in the Solution Explorer. You have to include it there through Add, Existing Item....
Related
Using VS Team Explorer, I cloned this project https://github.com/nicomp42/CybersecurityGroupProject.
It loads into the Solution Explorer like this:
I have to double-click on the .sln file to make VS think it's a VS Solution. After that I able to work with the Solution and the Project in the Solution.
The original GitHub repo was created from a VS Solution and published it to GitHub using Team Explorer. Did I do something wrong or is it supposed to work this way?
It's just a 'Folder View'. You can switch back to solution by 4-rd button on toolbar. If it is initially opened as Folder View, then you opened your project as folder (it happens after clone repo automatically) and just need to open *.sln file instead.
Visual Studio seems to consist of a single solution file (*.sln) along with one or more project files (a C# project would have the *.csproj extension).
I have been playing around with a console application that parses existing directory entries to create solution files with the associated project files.
It works, but every time I run into a new project here at work I find myself spending a week or more debugging my console project so that it can churn out a solution for that particular work project.
Is there something out there already that can create a VS solution out of an existing file structure?
As you can tell from my screen capture below, these projects are nested very deep, so it would take a very long time to do this with the apps folder below with the "by mouse" technique in the Visual Studio IDE.
I created the custom console application that is posted in this post:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/22153536/153923
I invite others to contribute how they approached this solution, though.
So, I found out today that this feature already exists in Visual Studio.
Link 1: How to: Create a Project from Existing Code Files
Link 2: How to: Create a Project from Existing Code Files
Basically, though, it says this (just in case the MSDN links get changed or deleted):
You can create a Visual Studio project from an existing app—for example, an app that you obtained from an online source. Project and solution files are created on your computer and the other relevant files are added. A project can be created from Visual C++, Visual Basic, or Visual C# code files.
Security note Security Note
We recommend that you determine the trustworthiness of existing code files before you import them into Visual Studio, because Visual Studio will execute some of the code in a fully trusted process when you open the newly created project.
To create a project from existing code files
On the menu bar, choose File, New, Project From Existing Code.
The Create New Project from Existing Code Files wizard opens.
Use the wizard to specify the details of the existing code files that will be added to the project and the application that will be created when you build the project.
Another good answer was given by cbp in Visual Studio: Create a web application from existing code:
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OK I figured it out. It's weird, but the following steps will work:
Open fresh copy of Visual Studio
File->New Project, select Web Application
Use the following settings:
Name: Website (this is the name of the existing folder with the website files in it)
Location: C:\Temp\ (anywhere will do for now)
Solution Name: TheProject (name of the existing project's root folder)
Check "Create directory for solution"
Delete the auto-created Default, Global and Web.config files
Save All and close Visual Studio
In Windows Explorer, copy the new folder on top of the existing folder so that the files are merged.
Double click on the sln file to open Visual Studio again.
Select "Show all files" (at the top of Solution Explorer)
Right click on any files or folders you want to add and select Include in Project.
Great idea!
My Visual Studio 2013 solution has a project "Test". I can rename it in solution explorer, but I also want to rename the project folder in disk and also reflect the change in Source Control(TFS). How can I easily do this?
Thank you
#CodeCaster, Thank you. Based on your advice, I have done some quick experiment, and worked it out. First step is rename the folder name in TFS; the new folder will appear in local workspace and all contents of the folder moved to this new folder. The old folder stays there with rest content which not belong to source control. You can delete it manually.
Or
Using TFS Power Tools to rename from Explorer.
I followed those steps to preserve the version history of the files inside of TFS:
Rename/move project file (.csproj) in source control explorer in VS (alternatively, this also works from within VS Solution explorer, simply select "rename")
Rename/move project folder in source control explorer in VS
now the project should be unavailable in VS, solution also gets closed
remove project from VS
add project (new path) to VS
fix project references in other projects
adjust namespaces if desired
adjust assembly name and default namespace in project settings
Don't know of an easier way. Was searching for this myself, and this should be the way to go.
I think you can rename it from the TFS Database.
Try going into tbl_Project of the Tfs_DefaultCollection Database, which you can find on the SQL Server Instance used by tfs. You can know which one is that by going into the TFS Console, click on Application Tier, then find the details of the Server under the Data Tier Summary. Run an update query against the project you want to rename.. I haven't tested this but just assuming it should work (some educated guess)..
I am using TFS 2015 Express and rename project is grayed out.
You can still rename the project using the TFS Site for the project.
Here is a link that shows how to do it.
https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/setup-admin/rename-team-project
I was facing a similar issue while trying to rename a folder in Visual Studio 2015.This is what I tried.
Right click on the project file
Open with Notepad
This will generate your current solution file
Change the occurences of your prev file name. (Find and Replace with the desired name)
Save it and close
Change solution explorer name and rename the folder to your desired name.
This should work.
I'm trying to view history in Visual Studio 2010 for all files included in a given Solution file via the Solution Explorer View. I use TFS 2010 for source control, and I'm aware that I can get history for a folder recursively in Source Control Explorer. My issue is that we have multiple projects in a root directory, all of which are included in a variety of solution files in that same directory (each solution file represents a deploy-able component, including some "shared code" between them). I just want to view history on all of the files included in a given solution file, and not everything in this root directory. When I right click on a solution or project in Solution Explorer and "View History", I just get history for that solution file or project file, nothing more.
Alas, this cannot be done with TFS as it is.
TFS Source control does not know if a file is a solution file or a text document. It just stores it for you. There is no parsing at all. I can (and do) store Delphi project files in TFS. There is no way for TFS to be able to understand and be smart about every file type that exists.
It would be nice if Solution explorer did this for you (as it is specific to your project). But it does not.
You could create a custom plugin to TFS and Visual Studio to do what you are asking, but it would probably take longer than just manually checking the history of all the files in your solution.
This might help, it's an add-in extension
VS 2010 and VS 2012
I have an existing directory structure that is all nicely checked into SVN, so I don't really want to mess with it.
The website code lives in a folder called C:\Projects\TheProject\Website. I want to bring the website files into a new Web Application Project without changing the directory structure.
Ideally the resulting file structure would look like this:
C:\Projects\TheProject\TheProject.sln
C:\Projects\TheProjects\Website\Website.csproj
No matter what I try I dont get what I want. There is no option to create a web application from existing code. This is very frustrating. Does anyone know if it is possible?
OK I figured it out. It's weird, but the following steps will work:
Open fresh copy of Visual Studio
File->New Project, select Web Application
Use the following settings:
Name: Website (this is the name of the existing folder with the website files in it)
Location: C:\Temp\ (anywhere will do for now)
Solution Name: TheProject (name of the existing project's root folder)
Check "Create directory for solution"
Delete the auto-created Default, Global and Web.config files
Save All and close Visual Studio
In Windows Explorer, copy the new folder on top of the existing folder so that the files are merged.
Double click on the sln file to open Visual Studio again.
Select "Show all files" (at the top of Solution Explorer)
Right click on any files or folders you want to add and select Include in Project.
Have you tried something like this?
Create a new Visual Studio Blank Solution from File-->New Project-->Other Project Types-->Blank Solution, making sure to specify c:\Projects\TheProject as your solution directory.
Copy the folder with all of the existing website stuff into c:\Projects\TheProject\WebSite.
Back in Visual Studio, right-click your solution in Solution Explorer and select "Add Existing Website." Then, pick your c:\Projects\TheProject\WebSite folder.
Good luck, HTH.
Create a new web project with a .csproj file. Delete all the files it comes with. Drag everything into the project.
In the File menu, click Open, and then click Web Site. Choose the root folder where your Web Site is located
On top of #cbp answer I would like to add that if you would like to keep the Version control history of those files - in step 6 - instead of copy do:
git mv original-website/* new-web-application-directory/.
What have you tried? I normally create a blank solution and add existing folders (drag and drop on solution explorer works best), and have not had a problem.
in VS 2008 File->New->Project From Existing Code