Add Existing Solution Item Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to select individual or multiple project items to add to the Solution Items folder. You can select files from local directories, network directories, and Web sites. You can also use this dialog box to add links to shared files in workgroup scenarios.

To access this dialog box, select the solution in Solution Explorer and then choose Add Existing Item on the File menu.

• Look in
  Use this drop-down list box to locate an existing item by exploring an 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.

• History
  Displays the most recently modified project files and folders.

• My Projects
  Displays the files and folders at the location specified in the Projects and Solutions page in the Environment section of the Options dialog box.

• Desktop
  Displays the files and folders located on the desktop.

• Favorites
  Displays the contents of your Internet Explorer Favorites.

  **Tip   **To add a link to your Favorites folder from this dialog box, locate the folder you want to add on the Look in drop-down list box and select Add to Favorites on the Tools drop-down list.

• My Network Places
  Displays the contents of your My Network Places folder. Use Add Network Place to add another network resource to this folder for easy retrieval.

• My Network Places
  Displays the contents of your My Network Places folder. Use Add Network Place to add another network resource to this folder for easy retrieval.

• File name
  Filters the display of files and folders based on file name. Type the full or partial file name on which to filter, using "*" as the wildcard character.   

  Tip   Navigate to Web and network locations by entering a URL or network path in the File name box. For example, "https://mywebsite" displays the files available at the "mywebsite" Web location and "\\myserver\myshare" displays the files available at the "myshare" location on "myserver". You can also open a project from a Web location by selecting Open from Web Server in the Tools menu of the Open dialog box.

• Files of type
  Filter the display of files based on file extension.

Open

Use this drop-down button to choose the editor with which to open the item. You might choose to open the file added from this dialog box with a non-Visual Studio editor (Notepad, for example) on subsequent openings or accept the default editor.

• Open
  Opens the file with the default editor associated with the file extension.

• Open With
  Invokes the Open With dialog box permitting you to choose the editor with which to open the file.

  Note   You can always change the editor with which to open the file at a later time by invoking the Open With dialog box: right-click on the file in Solution Explorer and then choose Open With on the shortcut menu.

• Navigate Back
  

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

• Up One Level
  

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

• Search the Web
  

  Opens your Web browser to its specified search page.

• Delete
  

  Deletes the selected files or folders from storage.

• 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

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

• List
  Select to display files, folders, and other items in a list format.
• Details
  Select to display the name, size, type, and last-modified date of files, folders, and other items in a list format. To sort by a particular detail, click its column header.
• Properties
  Select to display the names and properties of files, folders, and other items. When selected, the content pane divides in half: the left half displays the item's name and the right half displays the selected item's properties.
• Preview
  Select to display a preview of the file. When selected, divides the content pane in half: the left half displays the files and folders and the right half displays a preview of the file. This is useful when looking for a particular graphic file.
• Arrange Icons
  Has the same effect as selecting one of the column headers in Details View to sort by that column. Arrange Icons is useful when arranging items by a property other than Name (by Size, for example) in a view other than Details (Preview, for example).

Tools

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

• Delete
  Deletes the selected file or folder from storage.
• Add to Favorites
  Adds the file or folder to your Favorites.
• Map Network Drive
  Brings up Window's Map Network Drive dialog box, allowing you to locate an existing item on a network drive.

See Also

Adding and Removing Solution Items | Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items | Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files | Managing File Storage