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Visual Studio – Vanishing solution node when adding projects

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A friend of mine today was quibbling a bit while using Visual Studio 2010 to create a solution and then to add projects to it. The normal behavior one would expect is as follows:

  1. Create an empty solution. One would expect to see the solution name (say MySolution) in the solution explorer. And it does show up.

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2. Then Right Mouse on the solution and click on Add Project, and give a project name (say MyProject1)

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3. One should expect to see the solution node and underneath it the project. Well this does not happen. Instead what happens is the solution node disappears and one can only see the project(My Project). Try as much you can’t get to see what you would normally expect to see the solution node also.

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4. The scenario is to create a solution node (MySolution) and then add a few existing projects(MyProject1, MyProject2 and so on ) underneath it, which is normal.

5. To do this now one has to go to the File menu on the Left of the VS IDE (at the Menu bar) and then choose Add project.

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6. This will provide you the option to add existing projects by opening the file selection dialog box. Choose the project of interest. In the above example I just gave a new Project “MyProject2”.

7. Viola – now you will see your original MySolution solution node and then the two projects underneath it.

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Enjoy the quirks of Visual Studio IDE. This exists in VS 2008 and VS 2010 versions.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2010
    It's actually by design. Its an option that is enabled by default when you choose VB settings at startup. You can turn it off by checking the Always show solution option in Project and Solutions options.

  • Anonymous
    June 03, 2010
    I chose "General Settings" during startup, and saw the same behavior.  However, the option to "fix" it does exist.  Thanks, David!

  • Anonymous
    October 30, 2010
    This is very important thing to know.....Thanks

  • Anonymous
    November 22, 2010
    I found a better solution. Go to Tools -> Options -> Projects and Solutions -> General and select the always show Solution checkbox.

  • Anonymous
    November 22, 2010
    Hi Karl, The very first comment posted 5 months back by David says it. ./JD

  • Anonymous
    December 23, 2010
    wow! <a href=http://afdsfd.com>very</a> interesting, thank's

  • Anonymous
    January 12, 2011
    I chose the C# settings at start up so it is not specific to VB settings only

  • Anonymous
    February 08, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    August 15, 2011
    Thanks very much, wasted a while wondering why this was, and then found your post which was very well presented with the screeshots.

  • Anonymous
    September 15, 2011
    Thanks for that insight into madness..

  • Anonymous
    December 05, 2011
    Saved me from throwing my monitor out of the Window (see what I did there?).. STUPID design.

  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2012
    Thanks for giving good clarification

  • Anonymous
    October 23, 2012
    Thank you. My computer will live to see another day now :)

  • Anonymous
    April 27, 2015
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