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.
Related
Is there a way to add existing Folders to a Visual Studio Project so that I do not have to do this file by file?
Edit
To make it clear: I want to add references not copies.
If the folder and its contents have already been created and it physically exists under the Project, you can click the Show All Files icon (at the top of the Solution Explorer windows) and then when the folder shows as a dotted icon, right-click it and choose Include In Project and the folder and all its contents are added.
VS 2019
Click on the 'Show All Files' icon at the top of Solution Explorer window.
Then the folders/files of the selected project will be displayed as dotted icons. You can right click any of them and select include in project to include them in the project.
For solution folders, click the 'Show All Files' icon then first exclude the desired folders/files and then include them.
You could open Add Existing Item dialog, select a bunch of files, click on Add's button drop-down menu and choose Add as a link. It will add files as references and won't copy them.
You can drag and drop the entire folder. If all files don't show you can repeat the drag'n'drop procedure for subfolders.
#Mark s answer is good, but if there are hundreds or thousands of files it will be quite cumbersome to add all of them. Plus, it does not provision for new files.
There is another method using the .csproj file. I have used this to add content that is part of a submodule that does not have a .csproj file of its own.
Note that I have used the <Content /> tag, as I did not need any of the linked content during compilation.
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="..\my\submodule\directory\**" Link="Directory\In\Main\Project\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)" />
</ItemGroup>
This answer applies to visual-studio-2012 and visual-studio-2013, the most up to date versions at the time the question was asked and this answer was given. More recent versions have improved their handling and have other answers here. For someone using the old versions, this answer still applies.
Answer:
I don't think there is, but if you have all the files in one folder, you can add multiple files in one go. Just mark them all in the add file dialog.
right click the project, and choose "New Solution Explorer view", a window pops up.
and then form the toolbar of the new window ("solution explore window"), you click the "Show All Files" icon.
then include the folders of interest into your project...
If you're working in VS 2019 Community Edition, I find that you can:
Open the parent folder of whatever folder you're trying to add in windows explorer
Right-click and copy that folder
Go to the solution explorer in visual studio
Right-click then paste the folder wherever you want to in the solution tree
In Visual Studio 2019 I could not drag and drop from file explorer or 'Show All Files' and then add them. Instead, while in File Explorer, right click and choose copy, then click on the location within Visual Studio 2019 and right click and choose paste. All of the files in the folder and subfolders will be added.
kburnik's answer worked well for my use-case, but for anyone who needs a scriptable way to bring a lot of folder hierarchy back, you can modify the .*proj file to re-include the folders and files:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ...>
...
<ItemGroup>
<Compile Include="Path\To\File1.ext" />
<Compile Include="Path\To\File2.ext" />
...
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Folder Include="Only\Empty\Folders\Need\To\Be\Listed\Here" />
...
</ItemGroup>
Just make sure that before you do this, you save the .*proj file if it's still open in Visual Studio.
You can drag and drop the entire folder or missing folders in the project.
If the folder and its contents have already been created and it physically exists under the Project then click on view over the project then you can see all folders and files and you just need to copy files and click on solution in the same folder view and paste all in there
It has been a while since this was originally posted, but here is an alternative answer for a solution folder that is NOT inside of a project. If you only care to be able to look at the physical files from inside visual studio and do not necessarily require to see them in the solution explorer default view, then click on the switch view button and choose the folder view and any physical directory/directories that are under your solution root folder will appear here even if they do not appear in the solution explorer default view.
If however, you want to add a folder tree that isn't too large as a virtual solution directory/directories to match your existing tree structure, do that and and then "add the existing" physical files to the virtual directory/directories. If the physical directory exists in your solution directory it will not copy the files - it will link directly to the physical files but they will appear as part of the solution virtual directories.
Possibly some of you weren't born when this question was first asked!
If you have external directories, you can add them to a solution as a "website". This gives you all the benefits of being able to search through the solution and easily add new files to the website. It doesn't have to contain html, it can be a set of word documents, for example.
So for example, I've got a single solution that contains every sql and oracle query I've ever worked on or harvested from a co-worker. Why? Because it's difficult to keep up with similar sounding field and table names across different databases when you're trying to write a new query.
This also works with TFS.
Check whether that folder is inside project folder or not, if yes:
click Show All files in solution explorer.
now you can see folder name in solution explorer. right click the folder -> Include In Project.
If the folder out of project please copy it into the project directory in the place where we want it.
If your folder exist in another project but you want to add the folder and its content to another project just
-- go to the folder location
-- Copy your desired folder
-- go back to your current project
-- right click on the project and then just paste it.
folder will be added in your current project.
you may need to fix the namspace of the copying file.
You can use the following extension to add a solution folder, which is going to have the same name and the same content as the existing one without it being moved in the file system at all.
Folder To Solution Folder
And here's the link for more information:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=CeciliaWiren-CeciliaSHARP.FolderToSolutionFolder
Just drag and drop the folder in solution explorer.
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.
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.
I've got two branches of code. 1 has a dialog box that the other doesn't, but because of politics the dialog box wasn't moved into the newest branch. Now they want it in...
So is it possible to copy a dialog box from one project to another.
There apears to be an export and import feature however it's greyed out.
.RC files are simple text files. You can simply copy/paste the DIALOG text from one .RC file to the other. Make sure that you copy the corresponding RESOURCE.H entries as well.
Alternatively, you might be able to open both .RC files and then simply drag-and-drop the dialog from one to the other.
Update for Visual Studio 2010 - 2013:
You can still drag-drop and copy-paste, but only outside of your project / solution.
Close solution, open both RC as files without any open solution, and go. For drag, "Hold down the CTRL key and drag the resource to the second .rc file. For example, drag IDD_DIALOG1 from Source1.rc to Source2.rc."
Microsoft - How to Copy Resources
Drag and drop doesn't work in Visual Studio 2010. Editing the .RC file does work but be careful. For me the ID for the dialog showed up with *ID_etc*. I copied it and removed the *'s and it seemed to fix the problem.
I finally figure it out how to copy a Dialog from one solution to another.
Steps:
Open both solutions in separte windows.
Add a new Blank Dialog -Add Resources-> add->newDialog
Open Both Dialogs Open Binary data.
Copy the Binary data from source solution dialog to Destination Dialog
This is just to add some visual detail to the accepted answer (by Roger Lipscombe) along with its steps.
In order to copy a resource such as a Dialog from one project another project, below steps can be followed.
Start a new instance of Visual Studio.
Open both source and destination .RC file as files, as shown in the picture.
From the source RC file, copy required dialog.
Switch to the destination RC file tab and simply paste it.
Please note that this operation would have updated the resource.h file. That is an excellent help by Visual Studio.
One will have to make sure that no duplicate resource IDs are present in the resource.h file. When working with some legacy projects, it is found that there came some duplicate resource Ids that had to be manually corrected. It looks like such an effort is worth considering the mammoth task required otherwise.
Is there a way to create a blank solution, or some type of file-based project solution within Visual Studio so that I can point to a root folder, and have all of the sub-folders and files in that root, show up in my solution explorer? I realize I can create a blank solution and then add the individual items manually by add > existing item, however, this does not keep the folder structure intact, and, well, it would take forever if I have a lot of folders/files.
You can also create the blank solution and then click the second-from-the-right icon at the top of the solution explorer (it looks like three files with one "cut out"). Once you click that button to show the files in the solution directory that are not in a project, you can select all the files (with shift-click) and then right-click on your selection and select "Include In Project."
Also note you can select multiple files in the "Add Existing..." file window with shift- or control-click.
You have to create a Visual Studio Project inside your solution to be able to add files with keeping their folder structure. The files to be added must reside below the project's main folder.
I suggest adding a "C# Empty Project" (Solution Explorer: Solution > Add > New Project ... > Visual C# > Windows > Empty Project). After that you can proceed as described by SoloBold to show the files in the project folder. Right click on the topmost folder of your source files an select "Include In Project" and the whole folder structure including all files will be added. This may take some time depending on the number of files / subfolders.
See also: Answer to similar question, with screenshot