I never use "Add existing item..." feature in Visual Studio's Solution Explorer because it is confusing:
it seems to me the way it should work is that if you have a Customer.cs file in Models directory, that you could choose "Add existing item", it would then show you which items exist in that directory an allow you to choose one. Instead, it opens a file dialogue to some seemingly random directory on your hard drive, and I'm not sure if it is going to make a copy of that file, or use it outside the solution, etc.
instead, if I want to "add an existimg item", I go into windows explorer, click file, CTRL-C, click folder in solution explorer, ctrl-v, and it is clear
Do others do it differently? Am I missing something about how "add existing item" in solution explorer is supposed to work?
The folder opens where-ever you last left it...
As for using this feature; by default (Add) it does IMO the least useful thing; copy the file. But if you notice, the add button is actually a drop-down; hit the down arrow and you can add a link to the file - i.e. leave it where it is and reference it by location (Add As Link).
The quick and easy way to do what you are trying to do (add an existing file that already exists within the folder in your project) is:
At the top of the Solution Explorer window is an icon/button for "Show All Files", enable it (if it is already enabled and the file you are looking for is not shown, click "Refresh"). Note that this setting is enabled on a per project basis.
Right click on the file that you want to include and select "Include in Project".
Add Existing file adds the file to the project. Keeping it in the project directory is something different and making it a part of the project is something different. By making it a part of the project, its entry is made in .csproj/.vcproj/etc and then further properties can be set of this file such as specifying a custom build step etc.
And No, it doesn't create a copy of the file in your current project's directory in case of a Visual C++ project. In case of a CSharp Project, it does create a copy.
e.g., I use this when I need to add a bitmap/png file in my project which I have gotten from an external source. I just copy the file to my project directory and then use Add Existing File to add this to the project.
I'm using it. I even didn't know it's possible to ctrl+c ctrl+v in solution explorer.
It's particulary handy, if you want to add something 'as link'.
I do use it but often I just add file as a link. That make it easier to maintain some common classes if you do not want to make full assembly out of them.
As far as my experience goes using this function, it does the same copy and paste that you are describing.
Related
In other words lets say i have already completed a project using visual studio. Now i want to make a separate project that is identical to the already completed project(except for some future changes).
How can i do this while keeping the new project in the same workspace as the original without:
creating a new project and copy pasting code over
copy-pasting the folder that holds the project and changing the name of the folder
I'm asking because there must be a better way to do this than the two options above.
Right click on the solution and "Open Folder in File Explorer"
Copy the project folder
Rename the new Project folder
Open the new project folder and rename the .csproj file
Right click on the solution and "Add" "Existing Project" to the solution
Open the "Properties" for the new project
Under "Application", change the assembly name and default namespace
Select "Tools", "Create GUID", Option 6, "Copy"
Under Assembly information, change the name and product
Paste in the GUID and clear the "" suffix
Rename the namespace in the source files to reflect the new
namespace from above.
Depending on your needs, you could get by with a subset of these steps (e.g. steps 1 and 2), however, I think a complete copy requires all of the steps mentioned.
The second option is exactly what you should do: duplicate the folder containing your project and then rename it.
To make this work, you might also have to change the GUID used by the project to avoid clashes. Visual Studio is supposed to do this automatically if another project with the same GUID already exists in the solution. If something goes wrong, you can do it manually by editing the project file (it's the field called ProjectGUID). It's just a standard GUID value, so use any freely-available GUID generator like the one bundled with Visual Studio or one you find online.
Why should there be a better option than this? What would that "better" option look like? It's not like there's going to be a menu command for it, this isn't a very commonly used feature. Most programmers use a source control system that handles branching/duplicating for them automatically and [mostly] without pain.
Why?
I expect only the project to open.
The only way that I could accomplish what I wanted to do was to create a new project test.csproj, add design.csproj, save the solution, and then remove test.csproj.
In Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > General, there is a checkbox, labeled "Always show solution".
With this option checked, opening a project from within the folder stucture of a solution will still open the whole solution. If you click only the project, I believe the IDE finds the solution by simply traversing the parent directories for the .sln file.
The reason I say that is because if you copy the directory containing a single project and paste it somewhere else, then double click it, the project is opened on its own (still inside a solution, but a temporary one, which only exists as an .suo file for now (until you save the solution.))
So we are halfway there. Now if you uncheck the option which I mentioned at the start of my post, you will see the project open on its own like so:
I agree that it should be possible to open a project without a solution (and that it should be easier than it is currently.) I'd go as far as to say that VS should also give you the option to easily make and run programs in a single file without all the hand-holding and creating projects and solutions for you. Perhaps you can, but if so - it's not obvious.
Maybe because you have "Open most recent solution" in Options?
Maybe it was a Solution file (sln), wrongly labeled as a C# Project File (csproj).
If you open the file in a Text Editor you'll see references to other projects, like in a solution file.
Projects are linked to solutions; you cannot open a project without its parent solution.
Otherwise, things like project references wouldn't work.
What I usually do is create a new file in the solution where I want to use it (same name), copy & paste the contents of a class from the source solution to the target, fix the namespace & imports as needed.
The only other way I know to do it is open the source file in the target solution and then just save a copy into that folder, which can get confusing with two files open with the same name in one solution.
Does anyone have an easier way to do this?
You can just copy and paste the files themselves.
When you have your solution open, look at the top of the solution explorer and you'll see an icon that looks like a page with a page outline behind it and a yellow page (not a very intuitive icon). This is the "show all files" button. Click that and you'll see all the files in your currently selected project (it is project-specific). Highlight any files that you want to include, right-click, and select "Include in Project."
You could just copy the file with Explorer. Or better yet, start refactoring your projects so that you'll create assemblies that are usable by multiple client projects.
How can I create a New project & Solution in the same, existing , directory? No matter what I do, it keeps creating a new (sub)directory for the project and populating that directory instead of the one(s) that already exist. I have the "Create directory for Solution" checkbox cleared so that it will put the solution an dproject in the same folder and not create a solution folder, but it still keeps making the project sub-folder.
How can I fix this?!?
This has bugged me for a long time, but I've been able to ignore it or work-around it up until now. But now it is kicking my butt productivity-wise on my customer project and I need to fix it. thanx... RBarryYoung
(Note: This is VS2005, Team Edition for Software Developers)
From Visual Studio, if you have no solution open, you can select
File->New->Project From Existing Code
Select the project type
Put the directory you want the solution and project file to be in as the "Project file location" field.
Finish the wizard and you'll have a project file and solution file in the same directory.
If the "Project from existing code" option is not available
Make a custom keyboard shortcut, toolbar button or menu item by using the customization features of VS.
Tools->Customize
Select the "Keyboard" button to add a keyboard shortcut or select the "Command" tab to add a toolbar button or menu item. The command you are looking for is:
File->New Project From Existing Code
Assign whatever keyboard shortcut or drag an icon to whichever menu/toolbar you want.
To create a solution in an existing directory, I have found the best way is to create it one directory back from where you actually want it, then use the name of the directory where you really want it as the name of the solution.
If that isn't the name you want (i.e. you don't want your solution name to match the name of the directory it is in) then once you have created it, you can rename the solution by right-clicking on it and choosing "Rename". It does not rename the directory it is in nor move it. That is by far the simplest way.
You can obviously use the same trick for a project too, however if you have more than one project in a single directory, ideally the intermediate directory into which they build should differ, otherwise you are going to have issues if you want to rebuild just one of them and it clears out the intermediate target directory.
You can always move things around manually and edit sln file to fix the project references. For example, if you want your solution file to be in the same directory as the project file, you can cut the solution file from wherever it is and paste it into the project file directory. Then you need to edit the solution file to fix the project reference so that the solution can find the project when it is opened.
I don't know of any out-of-the-box solutions for you. But, if the code files are organized into folders according to the wanted structure you could hack together a tool to do it for you, perhaps. The project files are not awfully complex in their structure, they are rather straight-forward XML documents, largely consisting of a list of the files that are included in the project.
I would assume that the resulting project files may still require some manual labour, but you should be able to get the code to do the heavy work for you. And you may get a nifty tool to post on your blog.
Open an existing project. If you don't have one yet, create a temporary one.
Select "File" > "new" > "Project"
Make sure "Create new Solution" is selected
Choose the type of project you want.
Press Ok to create the project
If you created a temporary project in step one, you can delete it now
-> now you have created a project where the solution file is within the project
the easiest way to achieve that is using Visual Studio Code extension vscode-solution-explorer
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=fernandoescolar.vscode-solution-explorer
In the folder you want to create the .sln file, use the "Create new empty solution" command from the extension.
Then go to the extension's (Solution) tab in VS Code and at the top right-click the name of the solution you created and click on "Add existing project". Navigate to the .csproj file of that project and that's it. A .sln file prepared to be opened in Visual Studio 2022 with Intellisense and stuff.
If you want to add more projects to the solution, same procedure as the step above. Soooooo easy. Hope it helps.
public static class SlnFileGenerator
{
#region Public Methods
public static string GetBatFileContent(string directoryPath, string slnFileName)
{
if (directoryPath == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(directoryPath));
}
if (slnFileName == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(slnFileName));
}
var sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.AppendLine($"dotnet new sln --name {slnFileName}");
foreach (var csprojFile in Directory.GetFiles(directoryPath, "*.csproj", SearchOption.AllDirectories))
{
var relativePath = csprojFile.RemoveFromStart(directoryPath);
sb.AppendLine($"dotnet sln \"{slnFileName}.sln\" add \"{relativePath}\"");
}
sb.AppendLine("pause");
return sb.ToString();
}
#endregion
}
I have a VB6 project in Visual Source Safe 6.0. When I open the project I want to Check Out (Get) all the files in the project so that I can edit them.
I have the VSS Options (within VB6) set to act on the Project recursively, but when I check out the project.vbp it only checks out the project file, not all the modules, etc. Those files all remain write protected until I individually check out each one.
SOLUTION: Select the Project.vbp and, from the Tool>SourceSafe menu choose Check Out, you get a dialog which lets you choose ALL files (you get a checkbox for each and a button for Select All).
Why I had problems
For some reason, if you right-click on the Project in the Project tree and choose Check Out it doesn't give you that dialog. It just checks out the Project file. (However, if you do the same thing and Check In, it gives you the dialog with the checkboxes for each file. I guess that that point it knows that you have more than one file to check in.
FWIW generally speaking you get more options when choosing 'Check out...' via the Tools menu as compared with choosing 'Check out' from the right click context menu. One of the more useful 'Advanced' options is to check out with out 'getting' (i.e. replacing) your local file.