DotNav: .NET Solution Explorer

DotNav brings solution-first .NET development to Visual Studio Code. Navigate large solutions, manage run configurations, build and debug projects, and apply consistent C# formatting without leaving your editor.

Highlights

• Discover .sln, .slnx, and standalone project files automatically.
• Browse logical solution folders, projects, dependencies, NuGet packages, and nested files.
• Use separate Build and Smart Build actions for projects, solution folders, and solutions.
• Build, rebuild, clean, test, run, or debug directly from the solution tree.
• Use launchSettings.json profiles and VS Code's .NET debugger integration.
• Create single-project or compound run configurations without maintaining .vscode/launch.json.
• Add, rename, move, delete, and drag project files with namespace-aware C# templates.
• Reformat whole C# documents or multiple selections with Roslyn plus safe, configurable readability passes.
• Manage EF Core from a project-aware Center: add/remove/browse migrations, apply or roll back databases, generate SQL scripts and bundles, check model changes, and optimize DbContexts.
• Reveal the active editor file, filter the solution tree, and customize project icons.
• Keep local snapshots of supported text files and compare any saved revision from Local changes > Show Local History.

DotNav depends on GitNav, which is installed automatically and supplies the integrated Git Log, comparison, and history workflows.

Installation

code --install-extension tuna-ex.dotnav

Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.92 or newer
• A .NET SDK available on PATH
• Microsoft C# (ms-dotnettools.csharp), installed automatically
• GitNav (tuna-ex.gitnav-workflows), installed automatically

Getting started

1. Open a folder containing a .NET solution or project.
2. Select the .NET icon in the Activity Bar.
3. Choose a solution if the workspace contains more than one.
4. Use the solution tree and context menus to navigate, build, run, debug, or manage files.

EF Core

Right-click a detected EF Core project and open Entity Framework Core. Actions reuse one EF Core Center editor tab with the selected project, startup project, DbContext, command preview, validation, and version-gated options. Every action provides an on-demand Guide drawer that explains when to use it, prerequisites, each field, the expected result, and relevant safety notes without occupying the main workflow. Open it from the action header or press F1. Switch between English and Vietnamese from the Center header; the preference is remembered and can also be set with dotnav.ef.language. Executed EF Core actions show their real lifecycle—validation, tool preparation, execution, and result refresh—in the Center without inventing percentage completion that dotnet ef does not report.

Database state is never read automatically. Use Check database when you need applied/pending status. Destructive database actions remain disabled until their target is identified and explicitly confirmed.

Configuration

Open Settings and search for DotNav. Settings use the dotnav.* namespace for solution navigation, run behavior, file nesting, icons, and C# formatting.

Build and Smart Build

Build keeps the normal dotnet build/MSBuild behavior and is always available as the safety path. Smart Build evaluates the real MSBuild project graph in a separate process, fingerprints evaluated inputs and outputs, and invokes MSBuild only for projects that cannot be proven current. It first builds directly changed projects, then compares their reference assemblies: unchanged public APIs only propagate implementation outputs, while changed or unprovable APIs rebuild the reverse-dependent closure. Dependency waves run in order while independent projects run in parallel. Restore is skipped only when assets and restore inputs are proven unchanged.

Smart Build is deliberately conservative. Non-SDK projects, pre/post-build events, opt-outs (<DotNavSmartBuild>false</DotNavSmartBuild>), and custom .targets fall back to a full MSBuild invocation. Planning errors automatically continue with standard Build. Clean and Rebuild invalidate Smart Build state; failed or cancelled builds never commit it.

Use DotNav: Explain Smart Build Plan to inspect per-project reasons in the DotNav Smart Build output channel, and DotNav: Invalidate Smart Build Cache to force a cold plan. For staged rollout, set dotnav.smartBuild.mode to shadow: DotNav logs the plan but executes standard Build. dotnav.smartBuild.maxParallelBuilds caps Smart Build's MSBuild workers.

Run, Debug, and Test use dotnav.buildBeforeRunMode to choose the safety policy before execution:

• standard (default) performs the normal MSBuild build.
• smart waits for a successful Smart Build and then starts with --no-build semantics. A failed, cancelled, or concurrently modified Smart Build prevents the target from starting.
• none skips the build and uses existing outputs. Missing or stale outputs remain the user's responsibility.

Explain Smart Build Plan shows evaluation and planning timings, cache state, restore status, decisions, and per-project reasons in a searchable picker. Every executed Smart Build logs evaluation, planning, copy, MSBuild, state-capture, and total timings. Set dotnav.smartBuild.generateBinaryLog to create an MSBuild .binlog; files are written to extension workspace storage by default, or to dotnav.smartBuild.binaryLogDirectory when configured. Binary logs are opt-in because they can be large and may contain machine paths and build properties.

Smart Build solution configuration mapping is exact for .sln. Until .slnx configuration evaluation is supported by the bundled MSBuild API, Smart Build automatically uses standard Build for .slnx solutions. Project and folder Smart Build remain available.

Local History

Right-click a file in the editor or DotNav Solution tree, then choose Local changes > Show Local History for File. In the editor, select code and choose Show Local History for Selection to keep only revisions and diff hunks that affect the selected lines. Unsaved editor content is captured on demand. A two-pane history view lists matching revisions on the left and shows the selected revision's changes from its previous revision on the right. Snapshots are compressed, deduplicated, stored in VS Code's workspace storage on the current machine, and never added to the repository.

Automatic snapshots of the same file are coalesced into five-second windows. Local History is off by default and can be enabled or disabled at any time with dotnav.localHistory.enabled. DotNav also introduces the feature with an opt-in prompt after upgrading. When enabled, storage defaults to 250 MB per workspace and 250 visible revisions per file; both limits are configurable under dotnav.localHistory.*. Disabling it stops its file watcher and all new snapshots.

C# reformatting

Run DotNav: Reformat Code (Ctrl+Alt+L) to format every selected full-line range. With no selection, DotNav reformats the whole document. Multiple selections are normalized, merged, and applied atomically. DotNav: Reformat Document always formats the whole file.

DotNav runs the installed C# extension's Roslyn formatter first, then applies its leading-comma, fluent-chain, indentation, and blank-line readability rules. Before Roslyn runs, DotNav detects formatting intent from the original document. Consistent local layouts are preserved per construct, so a nested fluent chain that deliberately uses two continuation indents is not flattened to the one-indent style of an outer chain. Repeated nearby constructs provide a deterministic fallback for new or inconsistent code. Fluent calls are grouped by C# delimiter depth, so multiline predicates, lambdas, and object initializers keep their own indentation while the surrounding .Where, .OrderBy, and .Select calls remain aligned.

Structural validation cancels a custom rewrite if delimiters, literals, comments, directives, or non-whitespace code tokens would change. A matching .editorconfig max_line_length controls wrapping; max_line_length = off disables new wrapping.

Smart detection is enabled by default. Projects that need a strict rule can use DotNav's own .editorconfig properties:

[*.cs]
dotnav_csharp_continuation_indent_multiplier = 2
dotnav_csharp_preserve_existing_layout = true
dotnav_csharp_wrap_arguments = chop_if_long
dotnav_csharp_wrap_before_comma = true

The matching VS Code settings are dotnav.format.styleDetection, dotnav.format.preserveExistingLayout, and dotnav.format.continuationIndentMultiplier. A multiplier of 0 keeps automatic detection active.

Feedback

Open an issue with reproduction steps, your operating system, VS Code version, and relevant output logs.

License

DotNav is available under the MIT License.