Add Existing Project Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to select existing projects and add them to your solution. You can add an existing project from local or network directories and Web sites. Access the Add Existing Project dialog box by selecting Add Project on the File menu. A solution must be open in order to access this dialog box.

For a conceptual overview of solutions and projects, see Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items.

Warning

Before opening an existing project or component, determine the trustworthiness of the code outside of the Visual Studio designer. Opening projects or components in the Visual Studio designer automatically executes code from that project or component on your local machine in the trusted process of devenv.exe.

Note

Before adding an existing project from shared directories in a multi-developer environment, you should attempt to ensure that your changes do not adversely affect or overwrite another developer's changes.

  • Look in
    Use this drop-down list box to select an existing project by exploring a hierarchically structured view of files, folders, local drives, mapped network drives, and pointers to other Web resources on your computer.

    Tip

    You can use the Look in drop-down list box to add, modify, or remove an FTP location.

My Places Bar

Folder List

  • File name
    Use this text box to filter files and folders by name. Type the full or partial file name on which to filter, using an asterisk (*) as the wildcard character. Filtering allows you to locate a file or folder whose full name or exact location is unknown.

    Tip

    Navigate to Web and network locations by entering the URL or network path in the File name box. For example, "http://mywebsite" displays the files available at the "mywebsite" Web location and "\\myserver\myshare" displays the files available at the "myshare" location on "myserver."

    Note

    If you try to access and build Visual C++ projects directly over a network, you will experience problems. Visual C++ does not perform any special operations to accommodate network drives and shares, and it is unaware of whether the file it is reading or writing is on a network drive or a local drive. Use of Visual C++ in this manner is not supported. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 255252.

  • Files of type
    Use this text box to filter project files by file extension. This drop-down list box contains all project file types for installed Visual Studio components. Filtering by file type is especially useful when searching for a project item whose exact name is not known.

Toolbar

  • Navigate Back
    Previous

    Returns the most recently viewed folder, drive, or internet location.

  • Up One Level
    Up One Level

    Navigates the tree to the next highest folder in the tree view.

  • Search the Web
    Search Web

    This button is not available.

  • Delete
    Delete

    Deletes the selected files or folders from storage.

  • New Folder
    New Folder

    Displays the New Folder dialog box. Use this option to create a new child folder under the folder selected in the Look in drop-down list box.

Views

VisualSourceSafeViewButton screenshot

Provides options for arranging and viewing the contents of the item selected in the Views drop-down list box.

  • Thumbnails
    Displays thumbnails for items in the display pane.

  • Tiles
    Displays files and folders as large icons.

  • Icons
    Displays files and folders as small icons.

  • List
    Displays files and folders in a list format.

  • Details
    Displays the name, size, type, and last-modified date of files and folders in a list format. To sort by a particular detail, click its column header.

  • WebView
    This command is not available.

Tools

Select a tool to apply to the item selected in the contents pane.

  • Delete
    Deletes the selected file or folder from storage.

  • Print
    Prints the selected file.

  • Add to "My Places"
    Adds the folder to the shortcuts on the My Places bar, to the left of the files and folders list.

  • Properties
    Displays the property sheet for the selected item.

See Also

Concepts

Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items

Projects as Containers

Other Resources

Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files