File attachments in an item template

Question

I am trying to create a Visual Studio element template that will create a WPF window with an attached file for the view model

As below

VMWindow.xaml --- VMWindow.xaml.cs --- VMWindow.vm.cs

I can create a template with the following .vstemplate file

<VSTemplate Type="Item" Version="2.0.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005"> <TemplateData> <Name>Viewmodel Dialog Box</Name> <Description>Viewmodel Dialog Box</Description> <Icon>Icon.ico</Icon> <ProjectType>CSharp</ProjectType> <DefaultName>VMDialog</DefaultName> </TemplateData> <TemplateContent> <ProjectItem TargetFileName="$fileinputname$.xaml" SubType="Window">ViewModelDialogTemplate.xaml</ProjectItem> <ProjectItem TargetFileName="$fileinputname$.xaml.cs">ViewModelDialogTemplate.xaml.cs</ProjectItem> <ProjectItem TargetFileName="$fileinputname$.vm.cs">ViewModelDialogTemplate.vm.cs</ProjectItem> </TemplateContent> </VSTemplate> 

I would like the template to create itself with the .vm.cs file embedded in the main window file when displayed in the solution explorer.

I found the following: I am having problems with Visual Studio 2010. It was written in 2008, is it still applied?

Draft Article Code

Answer 1

As it turns out, the same method works for VS 2010. It takes a bit of customization, but this code draft article covers the main idea.

Answer 2

Actually it’s very simple ...

  <ProjectItem TargetFileName="$fileinputname$.xaml" SubType="Window">ViewModelDialogTemplate.xaml</ProjectItem> <ProjectItem TargetFileName="$fileinputname$.xaml/$fileinputname$.xaml.cs">ViewModelDialogTemplate.xaml.cs</ProjectItem> <ProjectItem TargetFileName="$fileinputname$.xaml/$fileinputname$.vm.cs">ViewModelDialogTemplate.vm.cs</ProjectItem> 

Answer 3

It’s much easier there. You can use the same wizard that VS uses to create composite elements. You do this by adding an element at the end of your template, after <TemplateContent> ...

 <WizardExtension> <Assembly>Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.Application, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a</Assembly> <FullClassName>Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.Application.WATemplateWizard</FullClassName> </WizardExtension> 

Then you need to tell the wizard the parent extension and the extension of the children ...

 <CustomParameters> <CustomParameter Name="$ParentExtension$" Value=".xaml"/> <CustomParameter Name="$ChildExtension$" Value=".cs"/> </CustomParameters> 

This element goes inside the <TemplateContent>.

This solution is tested and works in VS2012, and you can see the version that is hard-coded when the wizard is called. If you have version problems, find the webform.vstemplate file (visual studio .aspx template) and inspire yourself.

Answer 4

You need to implement the Microsoft.VisualStudio.TemplateWizard.IWizard interface and write some code to remove a new element from the project and re-add it as a child of another element. Here is a working example from QueryFirst that takes any file with the extension .gen.cs and makes it a child with the same name .sql file ...

  public void ProjectItemFinishedGenerating(ProjectItem item) { string path = item.FileNames[0]; string parentPath = null; if (path.EndsWith(".gen.cs")) parentPath = path.Replace(".gen.cs", ".sql"); if (path.EndsWith("Results.cs")) parentPath = path.Replace("Results.cs", ".sql"); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(parentPath)) { ProjectItem parent = item.DTE.Solution.FindProjectItem(parentPath); if (parent == null) return; item.Remove(); parent.ProjectItems.AddFromFile(path); } } 

To attach code to a template, you will need something similar in your .vstemplate file ...

 <WizardExtension> <Assembly>QueryFirst, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=4688a60b10e39f04</Assembly> <FullClassName>QueryFirst.WizardImplementation</FullClassName> </WizardExtension>