Funnel

Decrease solution re-compilation times dramatically by filtering projects not relevant for the current development task.

WARNING: The development of this extension is discontinued. The VS 2017 API interface used by vsFunnel for filtering projects at load time is no longer supported by Microsoft. Due to this fact all projects are initially loaded from the last used solution state and are then unloaded in accordance with the selected project filter

Large solutions which contain a significant amount of code or projects may be time consuming for Visual Studio in loading and compiling the solution code. In most cases however, we do not need all the source code contained by a Visual Studio solution. We usually work on one or two aspects or features of the application and after completing them, move to the next one. Funnel allows an in-time selective loading of solution parts. It improves the performance for loading and compiling your projects dramatically.

This article provides a detailed problem description of dealing with mid-size up to very large solutions.

How it works

Install the extension and open the solution file. The project selection dialog is shown

You can select the projects to load in the tree and click on the **Filter **button (shortcut - ENTER) or choose to load all projects by clicking on Load All (shortcut - Ctrl-A).

Saved Filters are provided alternatively, so that often used project filters can be re-used. Just select the projects to load in the projects tree, and choose Save / Save As  from the context menu in the tree.

The filters can be selected from the list box at the top of the dialog.

Saved filters can be managed directly in the filter selection dialog or later after solution loading. They are stored as plain xml files in the same directory as solution, so they can be easily shared in teams.

Alternatively the filter management dialog can be used in the advanced mode which can be quite convenient especially for a large amount of filters

If a solution is loaded, the solution explorer toolbar is extended with two additional buttons which are used to reload the whole solution ot toggle the visibility of unloaded projects as shown in the following screenshot. If a filter is applied, the number of loaded projects is limited (below only 3 projects are selected in the applied filter)

On the contrary the whole solution contains 76 projects

More information

See Getting started for a detailed extension description.

Demo

Watch this 70-seconds screencast to see how the extension works.

Visual Studio 2010 support is provided by Funnel 2010 also available at the Visual Studio Gallery: /vsgallery/f4974ebb-c9dd-44b1-bbfd-d96a8391c76e