How to programmatically create a VC++ project with C#?

Question

I want to to create a VC++ project with C#. I see this MSDN article about creating C# and VB console application projects. But how to do with VC++ project?

ADD 1

I had exactly the same issue as below thread. And its solution is to manipulate the raw XML, which is miserable... Is there some kind of API that I can work with?

How can an Empty Visual C++ project be created programmatically?

ADD 2

And besides creating a .vcxproj fie. I want to programmatically create a solution .sln file. Because my codebase are separated into many projects.

Riotous

And a related link: #33337978 – Riotous

Answer 1

OK. I solved this problem by manipulating the *.sln and *.vcxproj files directly.

Details:

For *.vcxproj file, I created the following template:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ItemGroup Label="ProjectConfigurations">
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Debug|Win32">
      <Configuration>Debug</Configuration>
      <Platform>Win32</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
    <ProjectConfiguration Include="Release|Win32">
      <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
      <Platform>Win32</Platform>
    </ProjectConfiguration>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    __SM_C_FILES__
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    __SM_H_FILES__
  </ItemGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
    <ProjectGuid>__SM_PROJECT_GUID__</ProjectGuid>
    <RootNamespace>__SM_PROJECT_ROOTNS__</RootNamespace>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" />
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'" Label="Configuration">
    <ConfigurationType>Application</ConfigurationType>
    <UseDebugLibraries>true</UseDebugLibraries>
    <PlatformToolset>v120</PlatformToolset>
    <CharacterSet>MultiByte</CharacterSet>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'" Label="Configuration">
    <ConfigurationType>Application</ConfigurationType>
    <UseDebugLibraries>false</UseDebugLibraries>
    <PlatformToolset>v120</PlatformToolset>
    <WholeProgramOptimization>true</WholeProgramOptimization>
    <CharacterSet>MultiByte</CharacterSet>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.props" />
  <ImportGroup Label="ExtensionSettings">
  </ImportGroup>
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">
    <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
  </ImportGroup>
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">
    <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
  </ImportGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros" />
  <PropertyGroup />
  <ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">
    <ClCompile>
      <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
      <Optimization>Disabled</Optimization>
      <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>__SM_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDE_DIRS_DEBUG__</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
    </ClCompile>
    <Link>
      <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
    </Link>
  </ItemDefinitionGroup>
  <ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">
    <ClCompile>
      <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
      <Optimization>MaxSpeed</Optimization>
      <FunctionLevelLinking>true</FunctionLevelLinking>
      <IntrinsicFunctions>true</IntrinsicFunctions>
      <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>__SM_ADDITIONAL_INCLUDE_DIRS_RELEASE__</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
    </ClCompile>
    <Link>
      <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
      <EnableCOMDATFolding>true</EnableCOMDATFolding>
      <OptimizeReferences>true</OptimizeReferences>
    </Link>
  </ItemDefinitionGroup>
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
  <ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
  </ImportGroup>
</Project>

The __SM_C_FILES__ contains sub-template like this:

<ClCompile Include="__SM_C_FILE__" />

The __SM_H_FILES__ contains sub-template like this:

<ClInclude Include="__SM_H_FILE__" />

For *.sln file, I created a template as below:

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
# Visual Studio 2013
VisualStudioVersion = 12.0.40629.0
MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1

Project("{8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}") = "__SM_PROJ_NAME__", "__SM_PROJ_FILE_PATH__", "__SM_PROJ_GUID__"
EndProject

Global
    GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
        Debug|Win32 = Debug|Win32
        Release|Win32 = Release|Win32
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution

        {__SM_PROJ_GUID__}.Debug|Win32.ActiveCfg = Debug|Win32
        {__SM_PROJ_GUID__}.Debug|Win32.Build.0 = Debug|Win32
        {__SM_PROJ_GUID__}.Release|Win32.ActiveCfg = Release|Win32
        {__SM_PROJ_GUID__}.Release|Win32.Build.0 = Release|Win32

    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
        HideSolutionNode = FALSE
    EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal

Note the __SM_*__parts, I replace them with the project-specific content using the plain string replacement, which is pretty straight-forward.

And in the *.sln file, if you have multiple projects, you may need to generated multiple parts of the Project sections.

The {8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942} is a well-known GUID that represents the VC++ project type. A comprehensive list can be found here.

Thus, I avoided manipulating the XML.

Unlike this similar thread, I didn't create the *.vcxproj.filters file. Though it looks a bit ugly, but I can live with that for now.

Riotous