I have serious problem with Visual Studio, I'm trying to create Windows Installer package, so i have created new setup project, but the "Add Project Output Group" function doesn't work. The drop-down lists are empty, so i can't do absolutely nothing. Does anyone know why?
Did you add the setup project to an existing solution that already contained a WinForms project, or did you just create a new setup project? The difference here is between clicking "FILE | NEW | PROJECT" or clicking "FILE | ADD | NEW PROJECT" (you want the latter).
But now i can't add the folders and data files needed for the application. I create the appropriate folders in the 'application folder', then add files into the appropriate folders, and when i install the application and go to the installation folder there are no folders...there is only the application exe file, hm...
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I have a straightorward console application that I build using code::blocks. A client has requested a microsoft visual studio project to build it. So I downloaded and installed visual studio and created a project. Now I am trying to add my source files to the project.
Various online help pages say "Select project; select menu item "Add Existing Item" ( e.g. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/visualstudio/visual-studio-2010/9f4t9t92(v=vs.100). I cannot find "add existing item"! Add new item simply adds an empty file.
I tried dragging files from windows explorer onto the project, but this REMOVES the file from where it belongs - NOT what I want to happen.
Surely there must be a way to do this! Even without using alternative IDEs, different projects frequently must share common source code, so source files from one project need to be added to another.
The answer is to use File | New | Project from Existing code rather than simple 'New Project' when creating the project
I ran into some troubles when creating an installer for my Visual Studio 2010 solution (which has multiple projects) so I thought I'd make a quick guide to how I got it working...
Here is how I did it:
Create a new Visual Studio Installer project which is located under
Installed Templates/Other Project Types/Setup and Deployment/Visual Studio Installer.
Make sure you add it to you current solution, you can do this by right clicking on the solution name in the solution explorer and clicking Add>New Project
From there select Setup Wizard, give it a name and click OK
A wizard will open, click Next
then select Create a setup for a Windows application
then click Next again. Select all of the groups you want to include, namely: Content Files, Source Files, Primary Output
Then click Finish
In the solution explorer you will see a bunch of buttons find the one that's tool tip says File System Editor and click it. You will see three folders in the file system editor, the only one we really care about is the Application Folder. That folder is where your projects build output should be.
To add files to it if they are not already there right click > Add > File...
Note: You cannot add entire folders (which sucks) and the folder structure in the Application Folder should be identical to that in your projects build.
You should create each folder and then add the files to it.
If you have multiple projects you should set the build directory to the same folder under the release build settings. To do this, open your solution, and for each project, right click/Properties go to the Compile tab, set it's configuration to Releaseand its Build output path to some folder (same for each project) (If you have an XNA project make sure its Content Build/Configuration is also set to Release).
Now select Release from the drop down menu on the tool bar (it most likely says Debug now)
Right click on your solution on the solution explorer and click Build Solution
Now all of your solutions built files will appear in the folder you chose in the compile tab. All of these files are what needs to be added to the Setup Projects Application Folder (in the same structure)
Customise the installer: click on the project name in the solution explorer and look through it's properties, change what you want (i.e Author, Manufacturer, Title - these make a difference to the installers output directory and text)
Build the installer project (same way as mentioned above) and you are done.
Feel free to comment with questions
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!
I am creating an MSI from inside visual studio 2008.
This is what I am doing:
(With the project I am creating this for open in Visual Studio) right click Add new project
Setup and Deployment > Setup Project
Give it a name
Right click Application Folder > Add > Project Output: Primary Output
Question: does this contain all I need to run the project?
I want to create the .msi to put a shortcut to it on the Users desktop, so
Create shortcut to Primary output from Project
Move this to the users desktop folder
Question: how do I get this to keep the icon from the project!! conveniently doing this seems to have lost the app icon and picked some random generic one instead.
Thanks,
edit 0: Oh and also, can I set so when running the .msi the user cannot change where it is installed to?
Nobody knows how to do this?
It should unless you are referencing mixed mode assemblies in which case you may have to manually add files to the installer as the dependency resolution is very poor in this case.
You need to set the icon manually in the properties of the setup project.
To Remove the option to select the installation folder try opening the user interface view of the project and deleting the 'Installation Folder' screen.
I have a web application project made in Visual Studio 2008.
Well, I added a jquery folder and added it to source control and other such things. I forgot to add it to the visual studio project though. How do I add the existing folder now? I've tried just creating a new folder and naming it jquery but it gave me a cryptic error "the directory is already on the disk ... if you want to see this directory then check the Show All Files option in the project file" Yet I looked and saw no such option.
Is the only way around this to rename jquery to jquery2 and then create a new folder via visual studio named jquery and copy all my files into it?
With your project open in Visual Studio, click on your project. Then go to the "Project" menu and select "Show All Files". You should now see any directories or file that are in the directory of the project but not included in the project.
Then, right-click on the folder you want to add, and select "Include in Project" from the context menu.