Purpose of a dedicated "Solution Items" project in .sln file

Question

I was looking at the .sln file generated from the template at https://github.com/ardalis/CleanArchitecture, and noticed there is this part:

Project("{UUID-1}") = "src", "src", "{UUID-2}"
EndProject
Project("{UUID-1}") = "tests", "tests", "{UUID-3}"
EndProject
...
Project("{UUID-1}") = "Solution Items", "Solution Items", "{UUID-4}"
    ProjectSection(SolutionItems) = preProject
        .editorconfig = .editorconfig
    EndProjectSection
EndProject

What exactly is the purpose of the "Solution Items" project? Does it cause the files listed (e.g. the default .editorconfig) to be treated in some special way? Do I need to add any new solution-related file (e.g. .stylecop.json) to this list?

Rhinitis

Answer 1

What exactly is the purpose of the "Solution Items" project?

It's not really a project but a pseudo folder in the Solution Explorer. You can create one yourself:

• Right-click the solution, Add, New Solution Folder. Then type a name.

So the purpose is to organize your files and avoid cluttering the Solution Explorer root folder.

Note that it is not a real physical folder, just a pseudo folder in the SE window. You can drag files and folders into it.

You could, for instance, drag Test projects from different sections of your solution together in a Tests folder.

Cinerator

I sometimes use the "Solution Items" for documentation and readme files. – Trudey

Answer 2

It gets added when you add a file directly to the solution. This helps to avoid cluttering the root folder of the Solution Explorer and keeps your files well-organized.

Parcel