As my previous article got me First Prize, I must write something new to my bag. Lets write how to manually create Project and Item templates for Visual Studio IDE.
To know about creating templates for Visual Studio IDE, you must know what the templates are actually is, and what are these templates capable of. Lets talk about them one by one.
Templates are the easy way to make custom project structure, associate parameters with them, so that you development teams doesn't have to write similar codes whenever the start a new project or add a new item on their projects, and thus it will increase productivity.
Generally while making our projects, we generally do waste so much of our valuable time just creating project items, files, writing Legal Notices on the beginning of each files, Specifying File creation dates, Configuring applications, Adding namespaces etc. These work eats up lots of essential time. So making a common templates on the project structure and sharing this with all the other developers in the company comes very handy. In this article we are going to learn how to make custom templates to make this happen.
There are two types of Templates:
Project templates are used when we create a new project and add them to our solution. The project template window pops up(as the Figure Below) when a New project is created from File -> New Project option is selected from the IDE. While opening the Dialog Box, Visual Studio searches some specific paths to get the Installed Templates and Custom Templates. For Installed Templates it searches to %ProgramFiles%\[MicrosoftVisualStudio8]\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\ And for Custom Templates it searches to %UserProfile%\MyDocuments\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ProjectTemplates\. Under these folders the templates you will find lots of Zipped Archive. These files will be extracted and added to your project based on one metadata file associated with each Archive. The Metadata file is of extension .vstemplate (Filename does not matters). 
On the other hand, item templates are created whenever one adds one new item to the project. Item templates can sometimes handy whenever we want to add some custom file types to your project. You can customize files to include some Legal Notices, you can include you custom import/using statements, you can customize the default Namespace, you can include name, date of creation of file etc. Similar to Project templates, the default installation location of installed items are stored in %ProgramFiles%\[MicrosoftVisualStudio8]\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\#1033\ folder and custom items are stored in %UserProfile%\MyDocuments\Visual Studio 2005\Templates\ItemTemplates\.
In case of both the Project templates and the Item templates, there is a specific folder structure, which enables you to pick the appropriate location of your item. You can choose \CSharp folder if you want your item or project template is to be displayed in the Csharp topic of the popup window, if you want Visual Basic, you should store it inside VisualBasic Folder.
Thus you can easily categorize templates during installation. Now I am going to show you how you can make templates using Wizard, and later on I will use manual approach to build a custom template and hence install it also.
To make a template using Wizard, let us take follow the simple steps.
a. Template Parameter : As for the use of templates, Microsoft already defined some custom parameters which you can use in your code. The Parameter list is given below:
| Parameter Name | Description |
| clrversion | Replaces the current version of CLR. |
| GUID [1-10] | You can generated 10 Guid for a single project. It will be replaced with the unique GUIDs in the files |
| itemname | Name that User provides in Add Item popup dialog |
| machinename | Name of the Computer |
| projectname | Replaces the Project name that user feeds into the Project Popup dialog |
| registeredorganization | Organization Name, for which the computer is registered. It takes the value from "HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\RegisteredOrganization" |
| rootnamespace | Namespace that you may use to add project files into. It returns the current Root Namespace Info. |
| safeitemname | Returns the current File name |
| safeprojectname | Returns the poject name that is choosen by the user during initial Project Dialog Popup |
| time | Returns time of File creation |
| userdomain | User domain registered. |
| username | Fetches current user name |
| year | Year of creation of files. |
You need to add $ to both ends when you use this parameters into the code files. Ex. $time$ will be replaced with the actually date/time of the project creation. More description of actual use of Parameters can be found here.
Now, take a look at the picture below:
The code for the file is
// Legal Notice goes here // File Created : $time$ // Created By : $username$ using System; using System.Collections; using System.IO; using System.Text; using MyOrganization.$safeprojectname$; namespace MyOrganization.$safeprojectname$ { public class $safeitemname$ { #region Variables //Declare Variables #endregion # region Properties // Declare Properties #endregion # region Events //Declare Events # endregion #region Constructors //Declare Constructors public $safeitemname$() { } #endregion #region Methods //Declare Methods #endregion } }
In the above code, I have used some parameters for the template which will be replaced when template is instantiated. The parameters will be replaced in the actual project. The actual class will look like this:
b. Custom Parameters: You can also make use of Custom Parameter made by you to replace into the files. Custom parameters can be added by directly editing the metadata file(.vstemplate). Just you need to add <customParameter> inside <TemplateContent> of the file like this,
<TemplateContent> <CustomParameters> <CustomParameter Name="$CustomParameter1$" Value="Param1"/> <CustomParameter Name="$CustomParameter2$" Value="Param2"> </CustomParameters> </TemplateContent>
You can take a look at MSDN Help for adding custom Parameters from here.
3. Now after creating the whole application, that you need for templates, add the DLLS needed by the project, add namespaces to the desired files, as shown in the snapshot above, where I have added one dll into my project and also added one custom namespace to the project,Click on File -> Export as Template. A wizard will start, brings the following screen,
From here, you can choose either Project Template or Item Template. For now we are chosing project Template. In the list below, you can select the project which you want to use as template, if you are having multiple number of projects into your solution.
4. After you click next. the wizard will present you the following screen,
In this screen, you will have to choose the template ICON which will be placed within the archive as __TemplateIcon.ico and which will later be used by the New Project Dialog box.
From this screen you can rename the Template name, give description and also if you wish you can automatically import the template to your visual studio. If you have selected the automatic import checkbox, it will place the same zipped archive into your Local userprofile Template Directory.
Now if you click on Finish, you are ready to go.
You can also move the zip files to different folders to categorize into that popup. Like if you wish the template will appear to the C# section, place the zip into the CSharp Folder and likewise.
You can get the template I have created from the link:
Download OrganizedClassLibrary.zip - 8.38 KB
In case of Item Templates, we need to choose the file that is to be used as template. The Item template will be stored inside ItemTemplate Folder of the Template Directory of Userprofile.
Note: In case of Exporting, you can add as many of your custom DLLs to the template, but it is preferable to use DLL registered in GAC, or rather you can also place the DLL into the ZIP archive for the template.
__TemplateIcon.ico, and manually place the metadata (.vstemplate) file within the zipped archive and finally have to place it into Template directory.Now let us look at the Schema of .vsTemplate file:
<VSTemplate Version="2.0.0"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005" Type="Project">
<TemplateData>
<Name>OrganizedClassLibrary</Name>
<Description>Custom Class Library For My Orgarnization</Description>
<ProjectType>CSharp</ProjectType>
<ProjectSubType>
</ProjectSubType>
<SortOrder>1000</SortOrder>
<CreateNewFolder>true</CreateNewFolder>
<DefaultName>OrganizedClassLibrary</DefaultName>
<ProvideDefaultName>true</ProvideDefaultName>
<LocationField>Enabled</LocationField>
<EnableLocationBrowseButton>true</EnableLocationBrowseButton>
<Icon>__TemplateIcon.ico</Icon>
</TemplateData>
<TemplateContent>
<Project TargetFileName="TemplateLibrary.csproj"
File="TemplateLibrary.csproj" ReplaceParameters="true">
<ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true"
TargetFileName="App.config">App.config</ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true"
TargetFileName="BaseClassAll.cs">BaseClassAll.cs</ProjectItem>
<Folder Name="Properties" TargetFolderName="Properties">
<ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true"
TargetFileName="AssemblyInfo.cs">AssemblyInfo.cs</ProjectItem>
</Folder>
</Project>
<References>
<Reference>
<Assembly>
System, Version=2.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
</Assembly>
</Reference>
<Reference>
<Assembly>
System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089
</Assembly>
</Reference>
</References>
<CustomParameters>
<CustomParameter Name="$CustomParameter1$" Value="Param1"/>
<CustomParameter Name="$CustomParameter2$" Value="Param2">
</CustomParameters>
</TemplateContent>
</VSTemplate>
Now try to delve more into the schema definition of the metadata file. The structure of vstemplate file consists of three elements:
| Element | Description |
| Name | Specifies the name of the template as it appears in either the New Project or the Add New Item dialog box. It is required. |
| Description | Specifies the description that comes with the template. It is Required |
| Icon | Icon file that associates the Template |
| ProjectType | Type of the Project, either Item or Project |
| ProjectSubType | Categorises so that it comes under a specific sub categories. This is optional.Example :<ProjectSubType>SmartDevice-NETCFv2</ProjectSubType> |
| Template ID | Specifies the Template Id. |
| SortOrder | Specifies the arrangement of Templates |
| CreateNewFolder | Specifies if the folder is created when project is instantiated. This is optional |
| DefaultName | The Default Generated Project Name |
| ProvideDefaultName | Sets the default name of the Project or Item |
| EnableLocationBrowseButton | Value specifying if browse button will be available or not |
| Hidden | Specifies whether template will be listed or not |
| NumberofParentCategoriesToRollUp | Specifies the number of parent categories that will display the template in the New Project dialog box. |
| LocationFieldMRUPrefix | Optional |
| LocationField | Specifies whether or not the Location text box in the New Project dialog box is either enabled, disabled, or hidden for the project template. |
| SupportsMasterPage | Whether template supports masterpage for web site |
| SupportsCodeSeparation | Specifies whether the template supports code separation, or the code-behind page model, for web projects. |
| SupportsLanguageDropDown | Specifies whether the template is identical for multiple languages, and whether the Language option is available from the New Project dialog box. |
3. TemplateContent : Defines the file structure that the project will be making. Defines Custom Parameters, adds References to the project etc. Lets look into its ChildElements:
| ElementName | Description |
| ProjectCollection | Specifies the organization and contents of multi-project templates. You can use this element when you require multiple project to be created for your template. For Example:<ProjectCollection>
<ProjectTemplateLink
ProjectName="My Windows Application">
WindowsApp\MyTemplate.vstemplate
</ProjectTemplateLink>
<ProjectTemplateLink
ProjectName="My Class Library">
ClassLib\MyTemplate.vstemplate
</ProjectTemplateLink>
</ProjectCollection>
|
| Project | Specifies files or directories to add to the project. This is optional |
| References | Specifies the assembly references required for an item template |
| ProjectItem | Specifies a file contained in the template |
| CustomParameters | Specifies any custom parameters that are to be used when a project or item is created from the template |
You can create vsTemplate files using these elements. To find more try MSDN
To make an installer which installs your templates directly, you need to follow the steps:
%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Templates directory. 
4. Run that Setup and see how it works. You can try my installer also to get sample template installed.
Download InstallerApplication.zip - 355.26 KB
1st Version of the Article Released as on 29th October, 2009
2nd Version : Fixed the issue with layouts.
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