How does Visual Studio project selector work?

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

I'm required to implement project templates on similar lines as that of Visual Studio project selection.

i.e., an opportunity for a user to select what type of project he wants to work with, whether 64 or 32 bit, with or without MFC support...

While I can create single project templates, and I suppose I can also create a wizard which will allow a user to select the configuration of his project, how do i make Visual Studio choose that particular project template and load it?

Essentially, how does the project selector in Visual Studio work, and how can I replicate that?

Kindly advise.

Posted 12-Jan-15 19:26pm

Member 9378977

Add a Solution

Comments

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter 13-Jan-15 3:59am

Should it be part of Visual Studio?

Member 9378977 19-Jan-15 3:22am

Yes, this should be part of Visual Studio.

2 solutions

Solution 2

Visual Studio has a shortcut way to create template from existing project/file...
So do these:
1. Create and configure your project with all the files and references you want to be there from the beginning...
2. Open File/Export Template
3. Follow the wizard
4. Send out the created installer to all who need that project template...

Posted 18-Jan-15 21:50pm

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

Comments

Member 9378977 19-Jan-15 4:08am

Needs to have a wizard which will integrate the right files in the new solution based on Wizard inputs. While I can integrate a wizard with an existing project template, I am not sure how I can make it modify the files in the solution and make it modify project settings,without changing the original project template.

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Richard MacCutchan · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-12T22:09:00

Solution 1

See Visual C++ Express, Custom Wizard[^].

Posted 12-Jan-15 22:09pm

Richard MacCutchan

Comments

Member 9378977 13-Jan-15 23:15pm

Thank you...but,this uses HTML and javascript. Surely there could be an easier way to achieve this, without the jscript?

Richard MacCutchan 14-Jan-15 3:48am

Yes, because that is how the project template system works.

Member 9378977 18-Jan-15 23:55pm

Thank you. I hadn't realized. This solution certainly helps a lot. How would I then package and export this, so others can use it?

Richard MacCutchan 19-Jan-15 3:41am

The same way I did in my article.

Member 9378977 19-Jan-15 4:01am

I might have missed it, could you kindly elaborate? Also, would this work for VS 2013 Ultimate? I've made sure the tree structure and rest are the same, but after building, I do not see a matching wizard in my tree..

Richard MacCutchan 19-Jan-15 4:25am

The code for the wizard is a zip file which needs to be installed as a project in Visual Studio (I only use the Express editions). When the project is built, the various files are copied to the relevant locations in the Visual Studio directory tree. You would need to look into VS 2013's directory to find the correct locations.

Member 9378977 19-Jan-15 23:36pm

Ah thank you. Is it possible to launch an existing Visual Studio project template from the Javascript, instead of loading individual files and creating a solution on the fly?

Richard MacCutchan 20-Jan-15 3:43am

Not that I know of. You would need to look at the documentation for the Wizard engine, which is not that easy.

Member 9378977 20-Jan-15 21:25pm

I'll look into it. Thanks for your help on this. Much appreciated.

Member 9378977 21-Jan-15 3:50am

Would you know where I can get a list of object properties, such as for config, CLTool, which I can access and edit? IntelliSense does not seem to work with these, and for some reason the platform toolset is stubbornly being set as another version of Visual Studio in the generated project.

Richard MacCutchan 21-Jan-15 4:00am

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2eydyk57(v=vs.100).aspx: good luck!

Member 9378977 21-Jan-15 22:47pm

Thanks again. Should help considerably.