Create a dynamic project template in VS 2010? - c#

This might sound a bit of an odd question but I know what I want to achieve, just don't know if it's possible.
Firstly, I'd like to be able to create a visual studio project that the 2 developers that work with me can use as a basis for all new websites. I want to drop all the common files that we use in there, like jQuery, CMS files etc. so that every time they start a new project they don't have to worry about all of that stuff. I guess to do this I just set up a project and "File > Export Template" ?
Now, here's the tricky bit...
When you open up one of the default templates in VS it asks you a few questions, such as if you want to use a master page or if you want to use code behind etc.
What I would like to do is set up something similar so that when you use the project template it asks you what version of jQuery you want to use so that it can import the right file, or for example it might ask you if you want to include certain user controls that the CMS contains. If you tick the box then the folder with the necessary user controls would be put in your new project for you.
I know MS can do this but can a user like me include functionality like that in my own project template?
Hope that makes sense.

Some more digging turned up the iWizard interface and this tutorial...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms185301

Related

How to clean up blazor server project

I am new to blazor and I've chosen to learn blazorserver but whenever i create a project, it comes along shipped with a lot of stuff i don't need. I don't need the layout it offers. I want to build my own layout from scratch. I also want to get rid of bootstrap and replace it with tailwind. The problem is that there are a lot of files and directories that make me fear to break the app. Is there a kinda command that can generate a much cleaner project or some way of manually cleaning it app without breaking the app. I appreciate any help.
If you are afraid of breaking the app by deleting something then it's better to keep it. You already figured out that you can replace bootstrap library with tailwind and that you can replace the layout with your own. While developing on the project you will start understanding what is the purpose of each folder or file in the starter template. After you understand their purpose, you will be able to decide if you need them or not.
Also learning how to use version control (e.g. git), like #JHBonarius mentioned, is very good advice. So when you break something you can easily revert back to previous working version of code.

VSIX extension that creates a .cs file in the current project when a button is pressed

In short, im creating a Visual Studio extension in c# that enables non-automation testers to create automation scripts for web based solutions (using selenium).
We've created a template already for users that lays out the project file structure (test runners etc) and im using windows forms toolbox controls to create the dialogue windows where they will enter things like URls, Xpaths, page names etc etc
My question is this;
How on earth do i go about creating .CS files dynamically based on their inputs in these toolbox windows?
The simplest (he says) window i have is one that simply allows them to enter a URl and a webpage name. When they click the 'ok' button on this window, it should create a new .CS file with the webpage name as the class name, the url as a string that the webdriver can use to kick off the test and a few other bits and pieces as a template for them to start adding web elements to.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated, there seems to be precious little around the web about creating VS extensions!
You got a few options here.
Typically, most people would do this by implementing a custom project item template, along with a custom IWizard based wizard associated with your template.
If you are displaying a modal UI from your IWizard.RunStarted, you can simply populate the ReplacementsDictionary with the text gleaned from your custom UI, which would then be swapped for the tokens in your templatized .cs file.
Or you could programmatically add code to the file after it was generated and added to the project (admittedly a much uglier and more difficult to code).
And finally, you could just generate the file in the project directory, and programmatically add it after the fact.
There's a number of old blog articles from the archived VSX Arcana blog that you might also find helpful.

How to import aspx pages across different Visual Studio solutions?

I'm very newer developing .NET web applications. Before read, I'm so sorry if I'm not able to explain correctly or if I'm confusing about something of .NET. Hope all of you can give me some light in .NET environment.
Context: We have two different solutions because the original idea was to develop two different applications with no common pages or content between them. Now, we need to have one of the aspx page that is in the solution1 inside the solution2 (and probably more in the future) because it's common between them.The idea is not to have two different maintenance of the same page. This two solutions have only one project inside them and each project has his own master page.
Solution1:
-Project1
Solution2:
-Project2
Question 1: Is it possible to import or use complete aspx page across the solutions? I mean, I know that is possible to import aspx files from the project1 into the project2, but doing this way, every change into the original aspx file of project1 means that is needed a new import into project2 (or this is what I think) to have the page up to date. What is the best way to share content between different solutions?
Thanks in advance.
You should be able to add the aspx page which exists in one solution (and version controlled hopefully!), to your other solution by adding it as a linked file.
MSDN explains how Visual Studio allows you to add an item as a link rather than directly adding the file to your project.
By linking to a file, you can capture ongoing changes to a source file without having to manually update a copy whenever changes are made. However, if the underlying file is deleted, the link will be broken.
To create a link to an existing item
In Solution Explorer, select the target project.
On the Project menu, select Add Existing Item.
In the Add Existing Item dialog box, locate and select the project
item you want to link.
From the Open button drop-down list, select Add As Link.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9f4t9t92(v=vs.90).aspx#Anchor_0
Another helpful article by Grant Winney on the topic here:
https://grantwinney.com/visual-studio-add-file-as-link/

Re using wpf window and c# in base project for using again

I am still getting used to working with c# and wpf. I have made a number of smalls apps to do single tasks. To give the same feel to the apps my company uses I use the same logo, colours and layout.I am also developing a project settings class to save the project variables to file using a json file ( I hope ) and a slide out panel to give the user access to the project variables.
It would make sense to save this as a sort of template / base project so that every time I start a new project I can use this base project to shortcut the workload but every time I to do this I get errors. I have read about class library but am not certain if the is correct way forward or should be some sort of template.
Can someone explain if want I want to do is possible in wpf and what is the correct way forward please. Any questions on here (this site) assumed a bit too much knowledge for me and I can't get my head around the msdn references. So any good links would be helpful
Thanks
In Visual Studio, once you have the basic solution template that you want.
File->Export Tenplate.
Create a new Project Template.
Or if you just want to create a reusable theme. Create a class library and put some ResourceDictionaries inside with your styles and templates, etc. Then reference it from each new project and import the resource dictionaries. This solution would probably be easier to maintain over time as you could easily replace the referenced DLL with a new version when you make changes to the common UI theming.

Where do I find MVC4 templates for download and how do I install them?

I am somewhat confused. Searched a bunch of ASP.NET related sites but could not find the answer. I must be missing some search word..
I want to find a gallery of MVC4 templates (free/cheap) and apply them to my project. Where do I do that from? I found one codeplex project (http://mvccontribgallery.codeplex.com/), but when I tried applying by copying, there were a bunch of errors (it uses something called SiteMaster, while my project seems to be using something called _layout).
I see a ton of references to people using them, applying them, but I must be missing something very fundamental since I can't even figure out how to find a list of downloadable templates.
What are the simple 1/2/3 steps for finding/getting/installing a template on my MVC4 project?
You should be looking for a suitable HTML template instead of an MVC specific template.
Once you have that, you will need to modify you master template (usually Views/Shared/_layout) to use the HTML and CSS contained within the template you have chosen.
For MVC3 or MVC4 you don't need to download any template. Just install MVC4 in your visual studio 2010 version on higher and then choose option create new project and that is that. See this below screen capture:
Microsoft will provide you the default MVC project architecture or in your term MVC template automatically when you choose any of above option marked in red box.
What do you mean by mvc4 templates? I'm assuming you mean "website template". With MVC you can use any html template, there's no specific template for MVC (that's why you're not finding any of it). You just find any website template and adapt it to mvc context (put css and images under "Content" folder and put html code in _layout and use it like masterpage), not hard to do at all. In fact, so easy to do after you get the idea that no one publish a specific adapted version :)
Follow these steps:
(note: if you have Asp.Net MVC 4, 3 won't install right (for me anyway), so uninstall and install in order).
http://tedgustaf.com/blog/2011/4/installing-asp-net-mvc3-on-visual-studio-2010-sp1/

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