Visual Studio Solution Explorer

A VS Code extension that brings the Visual Studio experience to your C++ (and .NET) projects — a full Solution Explorer with filter-based tree view, a Resource View for editing .rc files (Dialog / Menu / Toolbar / String Table / Version Info / Bitmap / Icon), a VS-style Project Settings page (General / C/C++ / Linker — per build mode with All Configurations support and Set as Default build), Project References (browse + Add/Remove between projects), one-click MFC Project / Solution wizards, and NuGet package management for .NET — all with theme-aware UI and fast partial-refresh caching.

Features

🗂️ Solution Explorer

Displays .sln, .vcxproj, .csproj, .vbproj, and .fsproj files as a filter tree — identical to Visual Studio's Solution Explorer panel.

• Parses .sln solution files and respects nested solution folders
• Reads .vcxproj.filters to render Source Files / Header Files / Resource Files groups
• .rc files expand inline to show their resource tree (Dialogs, Menus, Toolbars, Bitmaps, Icons, etc.)
• Falls back to extension-based grouping (.bmp, .ico, .rc, …) when no .filters file exists — grouping only applies inside Resource Files folders
• Auto-refreshes when .vcxproj or .vcxproj.filters change on disk

📦 Resource View

A dedicated activity-bar panel listing all .rc files in the workspace, grouped by resource type — mirrors VS2022's Resource View. Click any resource to open its editor:

All editors use partial tree refresh — only the changed .rc file node reloads, not the whole tree.

Dialog Editor — canvas-based control editor with snap-to-grid, multi-select, undo/redo, drag-handle resize, alignment toolbar (align left/right/top/bottom, same width/height), and live property grid:

✨ New Resource Wizard

Right-click any .rc file → New Resource…

Supports: Dialog, Menu, Accelerator, String Table, Toolbar, Bitmap, Icon

• Generates a default 16×16 gray .bmp / .ico placeholder so the RC compiler never reports a missing file error
• Syncs new IDs into resource.h (_APS_NEXT_* counters updated correctly)
• Toolbar creation also appends a companion BITMAP entry with the same ID

🗑️ Delete Resource

Right-click any resource item → Delete Resource

• Removes the resource block from the .rc file
• Toolbar delete also removes the companion BITMAP entry
• Tree updates immediately without reloading other resources

➕ Add New File to Virtual Folder

Right-click any filter folder → Add New File…

• Enter a filename with extension (e.g. MyDialog.cpp)
• Creates the file on disk, adds it to .vcxproj and .vcxproj.filters, then opens it

🧩 New C++ Class

Right-click any filter folder → New C++ Class…

• Enter a class name (e.g. CMyClass) — files are named without the leading C (MyClass.h / MyClass.cpp)
• Auto-detects Header Files / Source Files filters and places each file in the correct group
• Generated code is C++14 compatible

// MyClass.h
#pragma once

class CMyClass
{
public:
    CMyClass();
    virtual ~CMyClass();
};

📁 Add Existing File…

Right-click any filter folder → Add Existing File…

• Multi-select file picker
• For files outside the project folder, asks once per batch: Copy into project folder, or Add link (reference in place)
• Auto-detects item type from extension (ClCompile, ClInclude, ResourceCompile, None)
• Updates both .vcxproj and .vcxproj.filters

🖼️ Create Dialog Class

Right-click any Dialog resource → Create Dialog Class…

• Checks if a class already controls this dialog (searches for IDD enum match in .h files) — shows existing class name if found
• Pre-fills class name from dialog ID (e.g. IDD_MY_DIALOG → CMyDialog)
• Generates a full MFC CDialog subclass with DoDataExchange, OnInitDialog, OnOK, DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP
• Adds both .h and .cpp to the correct filters in .vcxproj

// MyDialog.h
#if !defined(MY_DIALOG__H_INCLUDED_)
#define MY_DIALOG__H_INCLUDED_

class CMyDialog : public CDialog
{
public:
    CMyDialog(CWnd* pParent = NULL);
    virtual ~CMyDialog();

    enum { IDD = IDD_MY_DIALOG };

protected:
    virtual void DoDataExchange(CDataExchange* pDX) override;
    virtual BOOL OnInitDialog() override;
    virtual void OnOK() override;

    DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP()
};

#endif // MY_DIALOG__H_INCLUDED_

🗑️ Delete File

Right-click any file in Solution Explorer → Delete File

• Confirmation prompt before any action
• Deletes the physical file from disk and removes it from .vcxproj and .vcxproj.filters

🖱️ Drag & Drop Between Filters

Drag .h, .hpp, .c, .cpp, .rc files from one virtual folder and drop onto another.

• Updates <Filter> assignment in .vcxproj.filters automatically
• Supports multiple files at once
• Cross-project moves are blocked with a warning

⚙️ Project Settings (VS-style property editor)

Right-click any .vcxproj → Project Settings…

A full Visual Studio-style property page with left tree + right grid + per-config dropdowns, theme-aware (auto dark/light to match your VS Code theme).

Configuration / Platform

• Top dropdowns list every Configuration|Platform from the project (e.g. Debug|x64, Release|Win32, …)
• All Configurations / All Platforms options apply edits across all matching combos at once
• Default build is auto-loaded on open and shown as a green badge ● Current default: Debug|x64
• Switch to any other config and click ★ Set as default to reorder <ProjectConfiguration> items and write <Configuration Condition="'$(Configuration)'==''"> so msbuild picks it without /p:Configuration=...

Categories supported (~50 settings)

Editing

• 3 input types: text, dropdown enum (with VS-style labels), multi-line textarea (one entry per line — saved as ;-separated)
• Edited rows highlight yellow; when values differ across configs in All mode, shows (Multiple Values) placeholder and editing overwrites all
• OK saves and closes, Apply saves and stays, Cancel discards
• Save writes to the right <PropertyGroup> / <ItemDefinitionGroup> based on label and Condition — creates the group if missing, removes the tag entirely when value is cleared

🔗 Project References

A References folder appears at the top of every project (both C++ and .NET) listing project-to-project and package references.

• For C++: writes <ProjectReference Include="..\Lib\Lib.vcxproj"><Project>{GUID}</Project></ProjectReference>. If the target has no <ProjectGuid>, one is generated and written into it.
• For .NET SDK-style: writes <ProjectReference Include="..\Lib\Lib.csproj" />
• NuGet <PackageReference> entries also appear in the References folder with their version (use the existing Add NuGet Package… / Remove NuGet Package… commands to manage)

🏗️ New Solution & MFC Project Wizard

Create a full Visual Studio solution and MFC projects directly from the Solution Explorer title bar.

Workflow:

1. Click New Solution… (folder icon) → choose VS version, enter solution name and location → generates an empty .sln
2. Click New MFC Project… (file-add icon) → choose project type, name, toolset and MFC linking → generates all source files → optionally adds the project to any .sln found in the workspace

Supported MFC project types:

Each project generates: .vcxproj, .vcxproj.filters, stdafx.h/cpp, all class headers and sources, resource.h, and .rc.

⚙️ .NET Project Commands

Right-click any .csproj / .vbproj / .fsproj node for:

NuGet packages show their version number as the description in the tree.

Prerequisites for Building MFC Projects

The generated projects require MSBuild and the Windows SDK / MFC components to compile. These are not installed by this extension — you need to install them manually once.

Option A — Visual Studio (recommended)

Install Visual Studio 2022 Community (free) and select the following workloads:

• Desktop development with C++
  • ✅ MSVC v143 (or v142/v141 depending on your toolset choice)
  • ✅ Windows 10/11 SDK (any recent version, e.g. 10.0.22621)
  • ✅ C++ MFC for latest build tools ← required for MFC headers and libs

Visual Studio installs MSBuild at:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe

Option B — Build Tools only (no IDE)

If you do not need the full VS IDE, install Visual Studio Build Tools 2022 and select:

• C++ build tools workload
  • ✅ MSVC v143
  • ✅ Windows SDK
  • ✅ C++ MFC for latest build tools

Verify the installation

Open a Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022 (Start Menu → Visual Studio 2022 folder) and run:

msbuild -version

You should see something like Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 17.x.x.

Building from the command line

Once MSBuild is installed you can build any generated project or solution with:

msbuild MySolution.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64

Or build a single project:

msbuild MyApp\MyApp.vcxproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=Win32

build.bat — quick build script

Create a build.bat in your solution folder for one-click builds:

@echo off
setlocal

:: Locate MSBuild (try VS 2022 first, then VS 2019, then Build Tools)
set MSBUILD=
for %%P in (
    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"
    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Professional\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"
    "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"
) do (
    if exist %%P set MSBUILD=%%P
)

if not defined MSBUILD (
    :: Try PATH (works if VS Developer Command Prompt or Build Tools are on PATH)
    where msbuild >nul 2>&1
    if %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 set MSBUILD=msbuild
)

if not defined MSBUILD (
    echo ERROR: MSBuild not found.
    echo Install Visual Studio 2022 with "Desktop development with C++" workload.
    echo Download: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/
    pause
    exit /b 1
)

set SLN=%~dp0MySolution.sln
set CONFIG=%1
set PLATFORM=%2
if "%CONFIG%"==""  set CONFIG=Debug
if "%PLATFORM%"=="" set PLATFORM=x64

echo Building %SLN% [%CONFIG%^|%PLATFORM%]...
%MSBUILD% "%SLN%" /p:Configuration=%CONFIG% /p:Platform=%PLATFORM% /m /nologo

if %ERRORLEVEL% NEQ 0 (
    echo BUILD FAILED
    pause
    exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%
)
echo BUILD SUCCEEDED

Usage:

build.bat              :: Debug|x64  (defaults)
build.bat Release x64  :: Release|x64
build.bat Debug Win32  :: Debug|Win32

Tip: Replace MySolution.sln with your actual solution filename, or pass it as a parameter.

Getting Started

1. Open a workspace folder containing .sln or .vcxproj files
2. Click the Solution Explorer icon in the Activity Bar
3. Expand projects to browse files by filter group
4. Click the Resource View icon to browse and edit .rc resources

To create a new project from scratch:

1. Click New Solution… (folder icon in title bar) → fill in wizard → solution folder is created
2. Click New MFC Project… (file-add icon) → fill in wizard → choose to add to the solution just created
3. Install MSBuild if not already present (see Prerequisites)
4. Build with msbuild MySolution.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64 or use the build.bat template above

Settings

"solutionExplorer.excludeDirs": ["x64", "Win32", "Debug", "Release", ".git", ".vs", "node_modules", ".backup"],
"solutionExplorer.excludePatterns": [".bak"]

Requirements

• VS Code 1.80 or later
• Visual C++ projects (.vcxproj / .vcxproj.filters) or SDK-style .NET projects (.csproj, .vbproj, .fsproj)
• To build MFC projects: MSBuild + Windows SDK + MFC component (see Prerequisites)
• To build .NET projects: .NET SDK — run dotnet --version to verify
• MFC class generation targets C++14 — no external dependencies required for the extension itself

Known Limitations

• Drag-and-drop requires a .vcxproj.filters file to be present
• Cross-project file moves are not supported
• Dialog class search scans the project directory up to 4 levels deep

🐛 Bug Reports & Feature Requests

Found a bug or have a feature request? Get in touch:

• Email: adt.plus.vn@gmail.com
• WhatsApp: +84 906 293 680 (Vietnam)

I read every message and try to respond as quickly as possible.

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PayPal: adt.plus.vn@gmail.com

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