Question

I wanted to know how to use the template for an Empty Visual C++ project to programmatically create a new solution with this empty project. The code (C#) I have right now is:

string VSProgID = "VisualStudio.Solution.10.0";
Type solnObjType = System.Type.GetTypeFromProgID(VSProgID, true);
Solution4 soln = (Solution4) System.Activator.CreateInstance(solnObjType, true);
soln.Create(@"C:\NewSoln", "New");
soln.SaveAs(@"C:\NewSoln\New.sln");
string emptyVCProjPath = soln.GetProjectTemplate("General/Empty Project", "VC++"); // Here's where I need help
soln.AddFromTemplate(emptyVCProjPath, @"C:\NewSoln\NewProj", "New.vcxproj", false);

I wasn’t able to find the VC++ Empty Project template in the location where all the other templates (C#/F#/VB) are located. The VC++ Empty Project Template does appear in the installed templates when I create a new project manually through the IDE. What should the parameters be for soln.GetProjectTemplate()? It doesn’t seem to recognize "VC++" as a language. I know that "CSharp" and "VisualBasic" are valid options. But I wanted a VC++ Empty Project. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I am posting this answer in the hope that it may help someone facing the same problem that I was facing.

Apparently the Visual Studio Extensibility framework API doesn’t provide an option to create an Empty Visual C++ project programmatically. I had to generate the solution and project files to achieve this. Specifically, the [solution_name].sln, [project_name].vcxproj, and [project_name].vcxproj.filters files had to be generated. A GUID had to be generated for the new project and inserted at the appropriate places. If one needs to add files to this empty project, ClInclude tags need to be generated for header files, and ClCompile tags for source files. These tags are added to the [project_name].vcxproj, and [project_name].vcxproj.filters files. Refer to an existing Visual C++ project’s files to help you figure out what goes where. It is pretty straightforward.

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UPDATE

For some reason, the VC++ solution generated this way does not open directly (by double-clicking the solution file in Windows Explorer). I have to launch Visual Studio and open the solution from there.