My Visual Studio (VS) project/solution works as intended, but VS has somehow organized the directory structure (source files) of my project in a non-logical way.
The current directory structure
Solution Folder
Project 1 folder
Project 1 source files
Sub folder
Project 2 source files
.sln Solution file
Project 3 folder
Project 3 source files
I guess I have made a mistake at some point when adding the projects to the solution in VS, since it is organized like this now.
What I would ideally like is this more clean structure:
Solution Folder
Project 1 folder
Project 1 source files
Project 2 folder
Project 2 source files
Project 3 folder
Project 3 sources files
.sln Solution file
When I tried this - or whenver I move/try to reorganize the files/folders outside of VS according to the above by simply moving them around, and then try to build the solution in VS afterwards, I get the following error for (pretty much) all items:
The item (name) does not exist in the project directory.
It may have been moved, renamed or deleted.
So my question is:
How do I reorganize my folders/files for my solution outside of VS, without breaking my solution?
For people who might be having similar obstacle, I found the answer to it from this thread:
Visual Studio move project to a different folder
As described in there, you have to delete the project you wish to move from inside your Solution Explorer in Visual Studio (VS). Afterwards, you move the project folder (outside VS) to where-ever you want it. Finally, in VS Solution Explorer, you right click on your Solution --> Add --> Existing project.
Make sure you dont separate any folders or files, that belong together (be very careful/aware of this).
If you were referencing the different projects e.g. through namespaces, you have to add this again simply by right clicking the project (in Solution Explorer) that you want to reference another project --> Add --> Reference.
EDIT: Visual Studio might, for whatever reason, change which project is initializing first when building/debugging etc. If you look in VS Solution Explorer, the project which is initialized first is bold. If you need to change this, right-click on your desired start-up project --> Set as StartUp Project.
All of the above is for Visual Studio 2017
I'd like to share a common .targets file between different folders within the same project (using Visual Studio 2015):
MyProject
MyNupkgContent1
build
MyNupkgContent1.props
Common.targets
MyNupkgContent2
build
MyNupkgContent2.props
Common.targets <-- should be added as link
When I try to "add as linked" Common.targets to MyNupkgContent2/build, the dialog closes but does not actually add the link. Adding files as links from a different project works fine. Is it possible to link files between folders in the same project?
I'm not certain as to how you should go about linking it but depending on contents and size of application, your best bet may be simply going into your packages and manually copying + pasting them into MyNupkgContent2
I am just learning and following a tutorial on how to create a web project. When I create the new project I do see two new folders called bin and obj. I have read what these are but I am confused as to why when they are created they are not 'included'. These folders are white and the others are yellow. If I right click on the folder it provides the option to Include in project. But the other folders provide option to 'Exclude from project. So I have a few questions:
1. Why aren't these folders automatically included in the project?
2. Should I automatically include in the project?
3. Is there any reason not to include these folders in the project?
The bin and obj folders are for temporary files. They are created and filled automatically when you build your application.
Why aren't these folders automatically included in the project?
The files aren't automatically included in the project because they aren't really part of the project. They are the results of the project. In other words, you won't be editing the files in the bin and obj folders directly.
Should I automatically include in the project? 3. Is there any reason not to include these folders in the project?
You should not be including these folders in your project because they are temporary and the contents will be deleted, created, and changed without updating the project (.csproj, .vbproj, etc.) file when you build, rebuild, or clean your solution. Visual Studio looks at the project file to figure out which files to show you through its user interface.
You don't want to be checking for files to include in your bin and obj folders every time you build your solution. Just know that these folders will be used behind the scenes when you debug or publish your web application.
I've search everywhere for this, but have yet to find the answer.
I have a VS2012 project with thousands of files and folders I wish to exclude from the project as I don't need them to build any longer. Clicking on the folder and choosing Exclude From Project works, but takes literally forever - at times it appears Visual Studio has stopped running and I have to kill the process.
Question: What is Visual Studio actually doing to exclude a file from a project? Is there a way to simply go into the project file and exclude the files by folder? My project file does not appear to store this information. Where are excluded files defined for the project?
You can open the project file (in s text editor, i.e. Notepad) and remove the lines with the files that you want to exclude.
You can also do that in visual studio but you first need to unload the project (right-click on the project, unload)
Delete the folder in VS which has project to unload then restore it from recycle bin.
It works for me.
How do I move a project to a different folder in Visual Studio? I am used to this structure in my projects.
-- app
---- Project.Something
---- Project.SomethingElse
I want to rename the whole namespace SomethingElse to SomethingNew, what's the best way to do that (without manually going into .sln file)?
Remove the project from your solution by right-clicking it in the Solution Explorer window and choosing Remove. Move the entire project folder, including subdirectories wherever you want it to go. Add the project back to your solution.
Namespace names is something completely different, just edit the source code.
I tried the suggestion to remove and re-add the project, but then fixing up dependencies can be a pain.
I use this approach:
Move the project folder.
If the project is in source control, do the move using source control commands.
Edit the solution file in a text editor. There should be only one path that you need to change.
Close your solution in VS2012
Move your project to the new location
Open your solution
Select the project that failed to load
In the Properties tool window, there an editable “File path” entry that allows you to select the new project location
Set the new path
Right click on the project and click reload
Summary: rename-and-move in VS2019 with git, retaining git history, leveraging R# a bit, automatic dependent project reference updating (important for sln's with many projects, we have >200)
I have been using the following steps to rename-and-move C# projects in Visual Studio 2019. This process uses R# to adjust namespaces. The git history is retained by doing a "git mv" (avoiding add/delete history drop).
Two phases: 1) rename the project in place and 2) move the project.
(Uses tip from base2 re unloading projects.)
Rename
VS | Solution Explorer | right-click project | Rename (e.g., Utils.Foo to Foo).
VS | Solution Explorer | right-click project | Properties | change assembly name, default namespace and Assembly Information fields
Do 1 and 2 for corresponding test project (e.g., Utils.Foo.Tests)
VS | Solution Explorer | right-click projects (production and test) | Refactor | Adjust Namespaces
XAML files that use the project may need to be updated (manually or with an appropriate global search and replace)
Rebuild All
Commit!! (to commit changes before moves)
Note: The folder in Windows Explorer remains the old name to this point (e.g., Utils.Foo). This is fixed in the move steps.
Move
This method: 1) retains git history, 2) leverages R# to adjust namespaces atomically and 3) updates dependent projects en masse (avoids tedious manual editing of dependent sln and csproj files).
unload all the projects in the solution (so that removal of the target project does not trigger changes in dependent projects)
VS | select all solution folders under the Solution | right-click Unload Projects
move folders using git (so history is maintained)
a) open Developer Command Prompt for 2019
b) git status (to illustrate “nothing to commit, working tree clean”)
c) git mv the project
e.g., git mv "C:\Code\foo\foo\Utils.Foo" "C:\Code\Foo"
d) git status to view/verify change
remove the project
VS | Solution Explorer | select project | right-click | Remove
(since all projects are unloaded, this will correctly NOT remove the references to it in dependent projects)
re-add the project (to the new location in the tree in Solution Explorer)
a) VS | Solution Explorer | select target parent folder | right-click | Add | Existing Project
reload all projects
IMPORTANT: Confirm that *.csproj files for dependent projects have been updated.
(VS | Team Explorer | Changes | double-click any dependent csproj listed | inspect-verify ProjectReference path change)
Manually fix paths in the single moved *.csproj file
Use Notepad++ (or other text editor) to fix the paths. Often this can be done with a simple search-and-replace (e.g., ../../../../ to ../../).
This will update...
a) GlobalAssmeblyInfo.cs references
b) paths to packages
c) paths to Dependency Validation diagram files
d) paths to ruleset paths (e.g., <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>..\..\..\..\SolutionDependencyValidation\IgnoreWarnings.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>)
Close and re-Open the solution (to get the project references into good shape)
Save All, Close Solution, I prefer to delete bin and obj folders to be clean of history, Re-open Solution
Validate
a) VS | Team Explorer | Changes
i) should see Staged Changes that reveal the files that moved
ii) should see dependent projects (*.csproj) that were nicely updated
review the csproj diffs and notice that the paths have been beautifully updated!! (this is the magic that avoids laboriously manually updating the csproj files using a text editor)
b) in Windows Explorer, verify old location is empty
c) Clean Solution, Rebuild Solution, Run unit tests, Launch apps in sln.
Commit!!
What worked for me was to:
Remove the project from the solution.
Edit the project file with a text editor.
Update all relative paths to the "packages". In my case I had to change ..\packages to ..\..\..\packages since I moved the project to a deeper folder.
Load the project back into the solution.
I had the same problem. I solved with move the references and in less than 15 minutes, without change the references.
For me the solution was simple:
Move your files where you need.
Delete the folder with name .vs. Must be as not visible folder.
Open the solution file (.sln) using a simple editor like note or
notepad++.
Change the reference where your file is, using the following
structure: if you put your project in the same folder remove the
previous folder or the reference "..\"; if you put in a above folder
add the reference "..\" or the name of the folder.
Save the file with the changes.
Open the project file (.csproj) and do the same, remove or add the
reference.
Save the changes.
Open the solution file.
Examples:
In solution file (.sln)
Original:
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "PATH1.UI",
"ScannerPDF\PATH1.UI\PATH1.UI.csproj",
"{A26438AD-E428-4AE4-8AB8-A5D6933E2D7B}"
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") =
"PATH1.DataService",
"ScannerPDF\PATH1.DataService\PATH1.DataService.csproj",
"{ED5A561B-3674-4613-ADE5-B13661146E2E}"
New:
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "PATH1.MX.UI", "PATH1.MX.UI\PATH1.UI.csproj",
"{A26438AD-E428-4AE4-8AB8-A5D6933E2D7B}"
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") =
"PATH1.DataService",
"PATH1.DataService\PATH1.DataService.csproj",
"{ED5A561B-3674-4613-ADE5-B13661146E2E}"
In project file:
Original:
New:
Original reference:
....\lib\RCWF\2018.1.220.40\TelerikCommon.dll
New reference:
..\lib\RCWF\2018.1.220.40\TelerikCommon.dll
Most easy way, which I found for myself
I tried multiple times till I found a working way.. For example you want to move your project from sln folder to mySource folder.
Remove your Project: In the SolutionExplorer of Visual Studio select your Project you want to change the directory, Press Delete -> Project gets removed. It still remains in your sln folder.
Copy it to your Path: In the windows explorer copy your whole project to your mySource folder. -> Now you are ready to include it.
Include back your Project: In the SolutionExplorer of Visual Studio add Existing Project and select your project from mySource folder. -> Project is now back in your Solution.
Adjust your Project References: Check every Reference in your Project. On your Project -> Dependencies -> Project -> you see your project references. If there is a yellow Warning sign on a project reference than is it wrong. Delete your project reference and add it new.
Rebuild your Project: and let it Run. Afterwards you can delete your project in the sln folder, which is not anymore in use.
That works. Have fun :)
in visual studio comunity 2019, i did what Victor David Francisco Enrique says, but needed only to delete the .vs invisbile folder
It's easy in VS2012; just use the change mapping feature:
Create the folder where you want the solution to be moved to.
Check-in all your project files (if you want to keep you changes), or rollback any checked out files.
Close the solution.
Open the Source Control Explorer.
Right-click the solution, and select "Advanced -> Remove Mapping..."
Change the "Local Folder" value to the one you created in step #1.
Select "Change".
Open the solution by double-clicking it in the source control explorer.
In VS 2015
Unload your project in the solution explorer
Create a new solution
Copy the projects to the new solution's folder
Right click the solution, add existing project.
If you use some framework such as MVC, you may need to add the reference in the reference manager.
I figured out this try this it worked for me.
In visual studio 2017 community edition it creates a project at this path
"C:\Users\mark\source\repos\mipmaps\mipmaps"
This will create a access to file is denied issue
Now, you can fix that this way.
close your visual studio process.
Then, find your project and copy the project folder
But, first make a Sub-folder Named Projects inside of your visual studio 2017 folder in documents.
Next, paste the project folder inside of your visual studio 2017 Project folder not the main visual studio 2017 folder it should go into the Sub-folder called Projects.
Next, restart Visual studio 2017
Then, choose Open project Solution
Then, find your project you pasted in your visual studio 2017 Projects folder
Then clean the Project and rebuild it , It, should build and compile just fine.
Hope, this Helped out anybody else.
Not to sure why Microsoft thought building your projects in a path where it needs write permissions is beyond me.
I wanted the changes in Git to be shown as moves/renames instead of delete & adds.
So I did a combo of the above and this post.
mkdir subdirectory
git mv -k ./* ./subdirectory
# check to make sure everything moved (see below)
git commit
And adjust the paths of the projects and of the assemblies from the nuget Pkg's in the sln file via a text editor.
Copy the project folder to new destination
Remove your project from solution (Right-click the project in "Solution Explorer" and choose "Remove")
Then add existing project to solution (Right-click the project in "Solution Explorer" and choose "Add" then "Existing project")
Change path to "packages" folder in "YourProjectName.csproj" file (Open in notepad and change paths for linked packages)
This worked for me vb2019. I copied my source project folder. I then pasted the project, and renamed the the folder to whatever. In order to break the ties back to the source project folder, I temporarily renamed the source folder. I opened my destination project. The paths to the forms and modules were re-discovered in the local folder. I went through all my forms and modules to make sure they were working. I ran the project. I closed the project. I renamed the source project folder back to is't original name. I can open both projects at the same time without errors.
Close the solution and move your project to new folder/location
Re-open your solution
Project should be loaded with '+' sigh referring as non checked in part. All the files
of the project will be shown as Renamed.
If not working after reopening right click on the project and click unload and then
reload.
It worked in VS2019
Group related projects together using solution folders
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/c6c756s6(v=vs.100).aspx
No sure why all answers have overlooked at the most simple solution. Just run the "Command Prompt app" (in the windows bar search for CMD and it will appear automatically)
then just type the following command (change the path where relevant for your own case:)
robocopy /E C:\Users\Peter\source\repos D:\Peter\repos
What robocopy does is to "copies file data from one location to another." and the "secret source" is the / E that means "Copies subdirectories. This option automatically includes empty directories."
Enjoy!!! :-)