Question

A bit of context is probably necessary first,

Basically I’ve been using the VS2008 Express editions for the last few years. With the express editions (with the exception of C++), by default when you create a new project, the project files are all stored in a temporary directory. When you select “Save All” for the first time, VS would prompt for a project directory and then you could save the project into your regular project directory.

This is behaviour I found exceedingly useful, as many times I create very quick, simple programs to do 1 thing for me before never needing them again. Once I close VS, it prompts me whether I want to save the project, I select “Discard” and everything’s all good; my project directory doesn’t get cluttered with useless directories for 1-time projects and everybody wins.

However, with VS2010 Ultimate I’ve noticed that the default behaviour has changed and all new projects are created directly into my Project directory (yes I’m aware I can change the directory when creating the project, but that’s a needless waste of time). This has led me to reverting to express editions whenever I want to write a small program, which isn’t too bad at home, but at work we only have VS2010 professional. Every time I create a simple project I have to remember to delete the directory later or face having a directory of “WindowsFormsApplication1000232131231”.

So my question is: Is it possible to change VS2010 Profession/Ultimate’s default Project creation behaviour to match that of the earlier 2008 Express editions?

Cheers,
J

Answer 1

Yes it’s a configuration option named “Save new projects when created”. It is off by default for the Professional/Ultimate editions.

See How to: Enable Temporary Projects for the details.

To enable temporary projects in the IDE

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Expand the Projects and Solutions node, and select the General node.
3. Make sure Save new projects when created is cleared.
4. Click OK.