⚠️ Please note, while there is another extension offering a solution explorer for Visual Studio Code, it's important to clarify that this is not the official Microsoft extension. For the official extension, you can visit this link.
vscode-solution-explorer
This extension adds a Visual Studio Solution File explorer panel in Visual Studio Code. Now you can navigate into your solution following the original Visual Studio structure.
It was originally intended to work with .Net Core solutions and projects. For this reason, the compatibility with other types of projects (such as .Net Framework or C++) is not guaranteed.
If you want to enjoy the full experience, you should install:
Table of Content:
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Getting Started
To activate vscode-solution-explorer you have to first open a folder or workspace.
Then, you can find this extension displayed as:
- a tab in the "Explorer" activity
- an activity with the Visual Studio icon
You can configure it in the Visual Studio Code settings panel, looking for "VsSolution: Show Mode" section:
Open Solutions
vscode-solution-explorer has several ways to open the solution files and you can configure them in the Visual Studio Code configuration panel.
Open Solution command
You can execute the "Open solution" command from the command palette or from the welcome view (if no solution has been found).
Omnisharp integration
You can enable omnisharp integration and vscode-solution-explorer will open the same .sln or .slnx file you open with Microsoft`s extension.
It will ignore .csproj files because vscode-solution-explorer cannot open a project file without a Solution.
You have to install Microsoft C# extension to enable omnisharp integration.
Find Solution files
You can use the automatic solution file finder activating some options in the Visual Studio Code settings panel.
The vssolution.openSolutions.inRootFolder setting will look for the solution files in the root folder.
The vssolution.openSolutions.inFoldersAndSubfolders setting will search for the solution files in the root folder and its subfolders.
And if you want to specify the subfolders where you want to look for the solution files you have to activate the vssolution.openSolutions.inAltFolders setting and specify the folders in the vssolution.altSolutionFolders setting:
You can combine all of these options to find the best configuration for you.
Features
Adds a Solution Explorer panel where you can find a Visual Studio Solution File Explorer:
Run dotnet commands in solutions and projects
Only available when the project is of kind CPS (dotnet core).
- Build:
dotnet build
- Clean:
dotnet clean
- New:
dotnet new
- Pack:
dotnet pack
- Publish:
dotnet publish
- Restore:
dotnet restore
- Run:
dotnet run
- Watch:
dotnet watch run
If you want to customize the terminal commands you can change them in the settings json file. These are the default commands configuration:
{
"vssolution.customCommands": {
"addPackageReferenceToProject": [ "dotnet", "add", "\"$projectPath\"", "package", "\"$packageId\"" ],
"addPackageReferenceToProjectWithVersion": [ "dotnet", "add", "\"$projectPath\"", "package", "\"$packageId\"", "-v", "\"$packageVersion\"" ],
"addProjectReferenceToProject": [ "dotnet", "add", "\"$projectPath\"", "reference", "\"$referencedprojectPath\"" ],
"build": [ "dotnet", "build", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"clean": [ "dotnet", "clean", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"createProject": [ "dotnet", "new", "\"$projectType\"", "-lang", "\"$language\"", "-n", "\"$projectName\"", "-o", "\"$folderName\"" ],
"createSolution": [ "dotnet", "new", "sln", "-n", "\"$solutionName\"" ],
"pack": [ "dotnet", "pack", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"publish": [ "dotnet", "publish", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"removeProjectFromSolution": [ "dotnet", "sln", "\"$solutionPath\"", "remove", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"removePackageReferenceFromProject": [ "dotnet", "remove", "\"$projectPath\"", "package", "\"$packageId\"" ],
"removeProjectReferenceFromProject": [ "dotnet", "remove", "\"$projectPath\"", "reference", "\"$referencedprojectPath\"" ],
"restore": [ "dotnet", "restore", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"run": [ "dotnet", "run", "--project", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"test": [ "dotnet", "test", "\"$projectPath\"" ],
"watch": [ "dotnet", "watch", "run", "--project", "\"$projectPath\"" ]
}
}
It will replace keywords like $solutionPath or $projectPath with the actual values.
As an example, if you want to compile in Release mode every time you publish a project you can create something like:
{
"vssolution.customCommands": {
"publish": [ "dotnet", "publish", "\"$projectPath\"", "-c", "Release" ]
}
}
Drag and drop files, folders and projects
Create, delete, rename or project folders and files
Create, delete, rename or move solution, solution folders and projects
Add or remove nuget packages
Only available when the project is of kind CPS (dotnet core).
If you want to use custom nuget feeds it will look for a file called nuget.config in the root folder of the project and its parent folders. If it finds this file, it will read the configuration and use it. If it does not find it, it will use the default nuget feed.
As an Example:
<configuration>
<packageSources>
<add key="Nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" />
<add key="PrivateFeed" value="https://mydomain.com/myfeed/index.json" />
</packageSources>
<packageSourceCredentials>
<PrivateFeed>
<add key="Username" value="me@email.com" />
<add key="ClearTextPassword" value="my_super_strong_password" />
</PrivateFeed>
</packageSourceCredentials>
</configuration>
If you are working with /drive/path/to/project.csproj, it will look for:
/drive/path/to/nuget.config/drive/path/nuget.config/drive/nuget.config/nuget.config
Note vscode-solution-explorer only supports ClearTextPassword credencials in nuget.config
Update all nuget packages versions
Only available when the project is of kind CPS (dotnet core).
Inline nuget package version management (csproj)
Only available when the project is of kind CPS (dotnet core) c# projects.
If you open a .csproj file you can see if the nuget packages versions are out-dated. You can update them by clicking on the 💡 icon and select the version you want to use. It also adds code completions for packages names and versions.
Or if you hover over a package version you can see a tooltip with all the available versions.
Notes: This feature uses caching to avoid unnecessary calls to the nuget server. If you want to force the cache update you can use the Solution Explorer: Invalidate Nuget Cache command.
Add or remove project references
Only available when the project is of kind CPS (dotnet core).
Create file templates
This extensions has a custom template system to create new files. When you create a new file you can select a template from the dropdown list:
You can customize the templates for your project. First of all click with the right mouse button on your solution file and select Install File Creation Templates. Then you have to move to .vscode/solution-explorer folder and you can find the file called template-list.json. This file contains the list of templates.
We strongly recommend you to update your templates after updating this extension:
Solution syntax highlighting
This extension adds syntax highlighting to .sln files.
And also for .slnx files.
Create Directory.Packages.props
You can add a Directory.Packages.props on Solution under Solution items folder. This option will remove all Version attribute of the PacakageReferences in the projects files. You can also add an existing Directory.Packages.props with Add Solution file on a folder.
If a Directory.Packages.props are already present on the solution, after add a new project all PackageReferences will be updated and added the PackageVersion to the current file.
Extension Settings
You can configure the extension in the Visual Studio Code settings panel:
vssolution.showMode Show the solution explorer in the "activityBar", in the "explorer" pane or "none" to hide it. This feature is only for testing pourposes.
vssolution.solutionExplorerIcons "solution-explorer": custom items from vscode-solution-explorer extension. "mix": file and folder icons from the installed icons theme. "current-theme": all the icons are from the installed icons theme.
vssolution.outputChannelMode The solution explorer output channel mode: show on every single log, append but not show the pane or none.
vssolution.showTerminalOnCommand Show the terminal when a command is executed.
vssolution.trackActiveItem Select the active editor file in the solution explorer (not recommended).
vssolution.itemNesting Sets whether related items will be displayed nested.
vssolution.netcoreIgnore Folder and file names to ignore when get a dotnet core project content.
vssolution.xxprojItemTypes Type of XML element to put in the xxproj files.
vssolution.xmlspaces Spaces to be used for indenting XML output. It could be a number or an string. ex. "2", " " or "\t".
vssolution.altSolutionFolders If there is no solution in the workplace root folder, it will search for solutions in any of these folders.
vssolution.win32Encoding Win32 "codepage" to "iconv.js" encoding equivalences.
vssolution.openProjectOnClick: Sets whether clicking a project in the explorer tree opens the underlying project file.
vssolution.customCommands Sets custom the terminal commands.
vssolution.openSolutions.inRootFolder Sets whether solutions will be automatically loaded from the root folder.
vssolution.openSolutions.inAltFolders Sets whether solutions will be automatically loaded from the vssolution.altSolutionFolders parameter.
vssolution.openSolutions.inFoldersAndSubfolders Sets whether solutions will be automatically loaded from the current opened folder and subfolders.
vssolution.openSolutions.selectedInOmnisharp Sets whether to include prerelease packages when searching for NuGet packages.
vssolution.nuget.includePrerelease Sets whether to include prerelease packages when searching for nuget packages.
vssolution.nuget.codeDecorators Sets whether to show NuGet package versions in the code.
vssolution.nuget.codeActions Sets whether to show NuGet package versions in the code actions.
vssolution.nuget.codeCompletions Sets whether to show NuGet package versions and names in the code completions.
Example
{
"vssolution.showMode": "activityBar",
"vssolution.solutionExplorerIcons": "current-theme",
"vssolution.outputChannelMode": "show",
"vssolution.showTerminalOnCommand": true,
"vssolution.trackActiveItem": false,
"vssolution.itemNesting": false,
"vssolution.netcoreIgnore": [
"bin",
"node_modules",
"obj",
".ds_store"
],
"vssolution.xxprojItemTypes": {
"*": "Content",
"cs": "Compile",
"cpp": "ClCompile",
"cc": "ClCompile",
"c": "ClCompile",
"h": "ClInclude",
"hpp": "ClInclude",
"vb": "Compile",
"fs": "Compile",
"ts": "TypeScriptCompile"
},
"vssolution.xmlspaces": "2",
"vssolution.altSolutionFolders": [
"src"
],
"vssolution.win32Encoding": {
"932": "Shift_JIS",
"936": "GBK",
"950": "BIG5"
},
"vssolution.openSolutions.inRootFolder": false,
"vssolution.openSolutions.inAltFolders": false,
"vssolution.openSolutions.inFoldersAndSubfolders": false,
"vssolution.openSolutions.selectedInOmnisharp": true,
"vssolution.openProjectOnClick": false,
"vssolution.nuget.includePrerelease": true
}
Known Issues
Please report your issues: vscode-solution-explorer GitHub page
License
The source code is licensed under the MIT license.
The icons from (vscode-icons extension) are licensed under the Creative Commons - ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license.
Branded icons are licensed under their copyright license.
Thanks to contributors
dfrencham
darkmfj
mwpenny
remcoros
marawan31
emrahcetiner
martinothamar
jesperbjensen
Dvvarf
vthg2themax
jloureiro09
jbactad
vlesierse
m4ss1m0g
Coda
Hongyang Du (hond)
Callum Marshall
Philippe Desmarais
LesanOuO
ShalokShalom
nev-21
Richard Willis
panoskj
lhz
Spencer Farley
Fadi Hania
Enjoy!
