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Project Template in Visual Studio 2012

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23 Sep 2013CPOL2 min read 92.8K   2.7K   34   6
This article describes the step by step process of creating project template and VSIX installer that deploys the project template.
Sample Image - maximum width is 600 pixels

Introduction

This article describes the step by step process of creating project template in Visual Studio 2012 and VSIX installer that deploys the project template. Each step contains an image snapshot that helps the reader to keep focused.

Background

A number of predefined project and project item templates are installed when you install Visual Studio. You can use one of the many project templates to create the basic project container and a preliminary set of items for your application, class, control, or library. You can also use one of the many project item templates to create, for example, a Windows Forms application or a Web Forms page to customize as you develop your application.

You can create custom project templates and project item templates and have these templates appear in the New Project and Add New Item dialog boxes. The article describes the complete process of creating and deploying the project template.

Using the Code

Here, I have taken a very simple example which contains nearly no code but this can be extended as per your needs.

Create Project Template

First of all, create the piece (project or item) that resembles the thing you want to get created started from the template we are going to create.

Image 2

Then, export the template (we are going to use the exported template as a shortcut to build our Visual Studio template package):

Image 3

Visual Studio Project Templates

We are creating a project template here.

Image 4

Fill all the required details:

Image 5

A zip file should get created:

Image 6

Creating Visual Studio Package Project

To use VSIX projects, you need to install the Visual Studio 2012 VSSDK.

Download the Visual Studio 2012 SDK.

You should see new project template “Visual Studio Package” after installing SDK.

Image 7

Select C# as our project template belongs to C#.

Image 8

Provide details:

Image 9

Image 10

Currently, we don’t need unit test project but they are good to have.

Image 11

In the solution, double-click the manifest, so designer opens.

Image 12

Fill all the tabs. The most important is Assert. Here you give path of our project template(DummyConsoleApplication.zip).

Image 13

As a verification step, build the solution, you should see a .vsix being generated after its dependency project:

Image 14

Installing the Extension

Image 15

Image 16

Project template is located under “Visual C#” node.

Image 17

Uninstalling the Project Template

Image 18

References

History

  • Initial version

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Architect
India India
I spent some time working as a programmer and computer developer for several IT companies. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in the process, and met some very supportive people in the industry. In May 2000' I joined LBS College for Higher studies.

I enjoyed my studies as much as academic studies can be enjoyed. I feel that I depend my understanding of computers because of them. The LBS College gives his students a high level of studying, but my main problem with it is that its tests are sometimes completely out of sync with the material that is learned, too long and/or too hard, and so students receive low grades and are frustrated. This is especially demotivating considering the fact that studying there is a lot of work.

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionReference Paths Pin
SharonD2149-Jul-15 7:49
SharonD2149-Jul-15 7:49 
QuestionVisual Studio Custom project Pin
Abbas K20-Apr-15 0:36
Abbas K20-Apr-15 0:36 
SuggestionVote of Thanks Pin
kenitoskato10-Jul-14 12:17
kenitoskato10-Jul-14 12:17 
QuestionMultiple projects Pin
Solymos Zsolt8-Oct-13 1:34
Solymos Zsolt8-Oct-13 1:34 
AnswerRe: Multiple projects Pin
AbhishekGoenka8-Oct-13 16:46
AbhishekGoenka8-Oct-13 16:46 
GeneralRe: Multiple projects Pin
Solymos Zsolt9-Oct-13 3:35
Solymos Zsolt9-Oct-13 3:35 

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