How can I automatically add existing items to a Visual Studio project?

Question

I have a tool which dynamically generates .xaml and .xaml.cs files and puts them in the appropriate Visual Studio directory.

To add them to the project, I have to then:

• right-click on that directory
• choose "add existing item"
• navigate to the matching directory on the hard drive
• select the two files that were created
• click ok

Is there a way for me to tell the project to "include all existing items under the project folder on the hard drive"?

Philippians

Answer 1

I do not have any automation for this. Still I follow following for the same requirement. This will avoid few clicking.

• In solution Explorer highlight/Select "Show all files" button
• Press control key (to multi select) and select files with mouse click to be included in solution.
• Right click on any one of highlighted file, and select "Include in project"

Keratinize

Answer 2

You can do this programatically in your .proj file depending on your needs just like this answer

You just have to make sure you use the correct tag for the files.

Compile, Content, None, etc..

<ItemGroup>
  <Content Include="Images\**\*.*" />
  <Compile Include="Subdirectory\**\*.cs" />
</ItemGroup>

Calamite

The only unfortunate bit about using wildcards is that as soon as you add a file through visual studio, it'll overwrite the wildcard and then automatically add entries for whatever previously matched that card. Next time you expect a file to be automatically included, it won't be, and you'll find yourself adding it via solution explorer yet again. – Philips

If you ever happen to find a way to keep the glob patterns from expanding, I'd love to hear it. – Leilaleilah

@ChrisPhillips you could always have a post-build event or target/task that cleans out the expanded items – Calamite

Answer 3

How to add files automatically into a Visual Studio project

Here’s a tip to automatically add all files that are in a particular folder into a Visual Studio (C++) project so that you won’t need to add files newly added in that folder into the project.

In the file .vcxproj, remove all CLCompile elements inside tag and add

<ClCompile Include="[Path to your source folder]\*.cpp" />

Do the same for header files. Now, your cpp and h files will be included automatically.

Dock

Answer 4

I don't think there is a way to do this natively in Visual Studio. Adding the files to the project modifies the project file.

This sounds like a good case for a simple addin. You can use the Visual Studio automation services to find the files you want added and add them all at once. You'd have complete control over the behavior of the addin, so you could reduce the process to a single click if practical.

Chinchilla