How to Add an Existing Item to a Project Programmatically?

Question

How can I programmatically add an item to a project?

Something similar to

public void AddExistingItem(string projectPath, string existingItemPath)
{
    //I'm making up the Project class here as an example
    Project p = new Project(projectPath);
    p.AddExistingItem(existingItemPath);
}

I want to mimic Visual Studio's Add Existing Item functionality.

Add Existing Item

what issues are you having for example when you run the code that you have posted — MethodMan, Aug 02 '13 at 14:59
I made the project class up. I'm not sure what class I should use. — Mark Rucker, Aug 02 '13 at 15:00
possible duplicate of [How do you add an existing form to a new project?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10316650/how-do-you-add-an-existing-form-to-a-new-project) — MethodMan, Aug 02 '13 at 15:00
I added my comment prior to you adding your code change Mark — MethodMan, Aug 02 '13 at 15:01

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 02 '13 at 15:01

3

VisualStudio project is just a XML file so you can open it using XDocument or XmlDocument and edit.

answered Aug 02 '13 at 15:01

Denis Palnitsky

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source control won't know that you added a new file. – Isaac Kleinman Sep 09 '14 at 15:44
@IsaacKleinman Not sure that I understand why it won't know? It will be update of xml file that source control will recognize. – Denis Palnitsky Sep 09 '14 at 21:42
1

scc will see that the `csproj` has changed, but won't detect the added file. Obviously, that functionality is handled by the `Add New/Existing Item` feature. – Isaac Kleinman Sep 09 '14 at 21:49

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 02 '13 at 15:03

2

Add a reference to EnvDTE.dll, and then use ProjectItems.AddFromFile method
As you can read on this page, you must set the Embed Interop Types property of the assembly to false if you add a reference to EnvDTE.dll

answered Aug 02 '13 at 15:03

ProgramFOX

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The link provided provide instructions to create a new project. How can you add a new Item in an existing project? Could you provide any helpful link? – user8657231 Jan 28 '21 at 23:50
1

@user8657231 I'm sorry, I wrote this answer more than 7 years ago and have no clue about this situation anymore. Your search is as good as mine. – ProgramFOX Jan 28 '21 at 23:53

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 02 '13 at 15:02

Try something like this:

public void createProjectItem(DTE2 dte)
{
    //Adds a new Class to an existing Visual Basic project.
    Solution2 soln;
    Project prj;
    soln = (Solution2)_applicationObject.Solution;
    ProjectItem prjItem;
    String itemPath;
    // Point to the first project (the Visual Basic project).
    prj = soln.Projects.Item(1);
    // Retrieve the path to the class template.
    itemPath = soln.GetProjectItemTemplate("Class.zip", "vbproj");
    //Create a new project item based on the template, in this
    // case, a Class.
    prjItem = prj.ProjectItems.AddFromTemplate(itemPath, "MyNewClass");
}

from: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/ms228774.aspx

How to Add an Existing Item to a Project Programmatically?

3 Answers3

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