How can I hide files from Solution Explorer by name in VS2015?

Question

I am writing a website in VS2015 using the ASP.NET Preview template. Unfortunately, Dropbox has added a bunch of .dropbox.attr files in each folder of my project, which the Solution Explorer is displaying:

.dropbox.attr files

Note that I have not added them to the project manually, (they are not referenced in my Web.xproj,) and I do not have "Show All Files" selected. I have already added them to my .gitignore. There is no "Remove" option when selecting the file:

.dropbox.attr context menu

Lastly, I have tried adding them to my project.json's exclude section:

...

"publishExclude": [
    "node_modules",
    "bower_components",
    "**.xproj",
    "**.user",
    "**.vspscc",
    ".dropbox.attr"
],

"exclude": [
    "wwwroot",
    "node_modules",
    "bower_components",
    ".dropbox.attr"
]

...

Is there any way to get all files with this name to not appear in my Solution Explorer?

I'm not sure exactly of the interaction between VS2015 and the new project structure, so it could be a result of any of those factors.

The new ASP.NET 5 projects don't save a list of files so the app won't depend on the project file on other platforms. That being said, there must be a way to hide some folders because .git doesn't show up as a solution item and folders like bower_components are interpreted into custom nodes in solution explorer... — CuddleBunny, Jun 05 '15 at 21:26
As @CuddleBunny said, solution explorer will automatically display all files in project folders. This is by design. You may want to review [this page](https://www.dropboxforum.com/hc/communities/public/questions/201278969-Why-does-Dropbox-add-an-xattr-to-my-files-?locale=en-us) to see why (and stop) Dropbox from creating those attr files in the first place. — cygnim, Jun 13 '15 at 15:24

score 17 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 20 '15 at 23:17

17

You can modify the .xproj file of your project and add the following to exclude folders:

<ItemGroup>
    <DnxInvisibleFolder Include="wwwroot\jspm_packages\" />
    <DnxInvisibleFolder Include="wwwroot\node_modules\" />

    <DnxInvisibleContent Include="wwwroot\tsd.json" />
</ItemGroup>

You can use DnxInvisibleFolder for folders and DnxInvisibleContent for files. Some folders (like node_modules) have sometimes thousands of folders/files which seem to pose a major problem for VS2015 to scan and load.

answered Nov 20 '15 at 23:17

Corneliu

818
9
15

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you are a god among insects. – Ciel Feb 28 '16 at 01:07
4

@Corneliu Is is also possible to hide all files of one type? For example `wwwroot\**\*.js` ? – Matthias Mar 04 '16 at 13:28

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '15 at 20:54

In a DNX project in visual Studio 2015 the solution explorer does not use the project.json to determine what is shown. The "exclude" properties in project.json are used by dnx to determine which folders/files should be excluded from compilation or publishing but this does not affect Visual Studio's solution explorer.

Generally speaking "everything" is shown but that isn't exactly true as VS excludes certain folders (such as .git, .vs, artifacts, etc). It also adds back others (i.e. bower components is excluded by default from compilation but VS adds it back as a meta folder under dependencies). The "filter" for Solution Explorer is not exposed to the user so it can't be edited or changed by configuration file.

Your best bet would be to request via user voice that some method of configuration be added. Really the functionality is already there it just needs to be made customizable by the user.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 30 '16 at 15:23

2

With the latest Visual Studio you just need to right-click the folder/file and chose "Hide from Solution Explorer".

That will change the "xproj" this way like Corneliu wrote before:

<ItemGroup>
    <DnxInvisibleFolder Include="wwwroot\" />
</ItemGroup>

answered Oct 30 '16 at 15:23

Ilya Chernomordik

27,817
27
121
207

How can I hide files from Solution Explorer by name in VS2015?

3 Answers3

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