How to Edit .Csproj File

How to edit .csproj file

The CSPROJ file, saved in XML format, stores all the references for your project including your compilation options. There is also an SLN file, which stores information about projects that make up your solution.

If you are using Visual Studio and you have the need to view or edit your CSPROJ file, while in Visual Studio, you can do so by following these simple steps:

  1. Right-click on your project in solution explorer and select Unload Project
  2. Right-click on the project (tagged as unavailable in solution explorer) and click "Edit yourproj.csproj". This will open up your CSPROJ file for editing.
  3. After making the changes you want, save, and close the file. Right-click again on the node and choose Reload Project when done.

Is it safe to edit .csproj file in Visual Studio 2019?

Is it safe to edit .csproj file in Visual Studio 2019?

If you know what you're doing and you do it correctly, sure. Otherwise, not so much.

Why is this happening? And is it safe to just remove this itemgroup block in the .csproj file? Is there a way to prevent this behavior for new files added to the project?

It's happening because a file showed up in the project subdirectory that Visual Studio doesn't have as part of that project. So it adds the <Compile Remove... /> element to exclude it from being compiled as part of the project. It is safe to remove the element, but in my experience it just shows up again.

As a general rule, you should not be adding files to project directories managed by Visual Studio, except by using the Visual Studio UI itself. It's not clear from your post why you are doing this. The directory you apparently are adding files to is your project directory. It should only have files that do in fact belong to the project.

The best fix is to not try to add files to a project directory when they shouldn't be part of that project.

You may have an XY Problem. If you can post a new question in which you explain the scenario in which you've added the files that don't belong, and ask for guidance to accomplish whatever broader goal it is you have, but without running afoul of Visual Studio's rules, you may get a better answer than "don't do that".

Can't edit .csproj file in visual studio 2017 solution explorer

The project file editing feature (without needing to unload the project) is part of the new CPS-based project system.

In VS 2017, there are two project systems that can be used for .NET Projects - the "legacy" project system and the new CPS-based project system. Which one is used is determined by a selection logic that looks at the project file (at the moment it looks if there is a TargetFramework property defined in the project file itself) or by using a special GUID inside the .sln file.

While it is possible to load classic .NET projects using the new project system, it lacks some capabilities that are available to .NET Framework projects in the legacy one. The most notable ones are designer support for WinForms, WPF and Entity Framework.

It is also not possibly to (productively) use classic ASP.NET projects on the new project system since it will lack all ASP.NET specific features.

So unless a new version of VS uses a new CPS-based project system for classic ASP.NET apps, you will have to unload your project file in order to edit it.

Edit the .csproj file in Xamarin Studio

Make sure you open it into the text editor.

In the file open dialog you need to select Source Code Editor in the Open With drop down box.

By default it will open with the Solution Workbench.

Another way to open the .csproj file into the text editor is to right click the project in the Solution window and select Tools - Edit File.

Can't find Edit Project command in Visual Studio for Mac

Right click the project and select Tools - Edit File.

Edit file menu

That will open the project file in the text editor.

edit projectFile.csproj after nuget package installed

You're looking for the MSBuild props/targets extensibility.

Whatever changes you want to make to the project file you put in either a props or targets file (props are imported before the csproj is evaluated, targets afterwards). You need to use the correct naming convention, but NuGet 5.3 (included in .NET Core SDK 3.0, if you use dotnet pack) has a warning now if you don't get it right. Then, when the project uses your package, NuGet tells the rest of the build system to import your packages props/targets file.

Visual Studio 2019 : Double clicking a project in Solution Explorer opens the .csproj file instead of toggling project files visibility

As to @Hans Passant answer :
« Use Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > General, untick "Open SDK-style project files..." to restore the old behavior. »

Modify .csproj files programmatically

You can take a look at the Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine namespace MSDN Link

Sample code:

Engine eng = new Engine()
Project proj = new Project(eng);
proj.Load(FullProjectPath);
proj.SetProperty("SignAssembly", "true");
proj.Save(FullProjectPath);

I recently used something similar to make a series of changes across all of my company's .csproj files (over 200) instead of manually opening each project and making changes.

Hope this helps.



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