Folder Element (Visual Studio Project Templates)
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The latest version of this topic can be found at Folder Element (Visual Studio Project Templates).
Specifies a folder that will be added to the project.
<VSTemplate>
<TemplateContent>
<Project>
<Folder>
<Folder Name="Project Folder">
<Folder> ... </Folder>
<ProjectItem> ... </ProjectItem>
</Folder>
The following sections describe attribute, child elements, and parent elements.
Attributes
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
Name | Required attribute. The name of the project folder. |
TargetFolderName | Optional attribute. Specifies the name to give the folder when a project is created from the template. This attribute is useful for using parameter replacement to create a folder name or naming a folder with an international string that cannot be used directly in the .zip file. |
Child Elements
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
Folder | Specifies a folder to add to the project. Folder elements can contain child Folder elements. |
| ProjectItem | Specifies a file to add to the project. |
Parent Elements
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Project | Optional child element of TemplateContent. |
Folder is an optional child of Project.
You can use any of the following methods to to organize project items into folders in a template:
Include the folders in the template .zip file, and add them to the project in the .vstemplate file by specifying the path to the file in the
ProjectItemelements, with noFolderelements. This is the recommended method. For example:...<ProjectItem>\Folder\item.cs</ProjectItem><ProjectItem>Form1.cs</ProjectItem>...Include the folders in the template .zip file, and add them to the project in the .vstemplate file with
Folderelements. For example:...<Folder name="Folder"><ProjectItem>item.cs</ProjectItem></Folder><ProjectItem>Form1.cs</ProjectItem>...Do not include folders in the template .zip file, but add folders using the
TargetFileNameattribute of theProjectItemelement. For example:...<ProjectItem TargetFileName="\Folder\item.cs">item.cs</ProjectItem><ProjectItem>Form1.cs</ProjectItem>...
The following example illustrates the metadata for a project template for a Visual C# Windows application.
<VSTemplate Type="Project" Version="3.0.0"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005">
<TemplateData>
<Name>My template</Name>
<Description>A basic template</Description>
<Icon>TemplateIcon.ico</Icon>
<ProjectType>CSharp</ProjectType>
</TemplateData>
<TemplateContent>
<Project File="MyTemplate.csproj">
<ProjectItem>Form1.cs<ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem>Form1.Designer.cs</ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem>Program.cs</ProjectItem>
<Folder Name="Properties">
<ProjectItem>AssemblyInfo.cs</ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem>Resources.resx</ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem>Resources.Designer.cs</ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem>Settings.settings</ProjectItem>
<ProjectItem>Settings.Designer.cs</ProjectItem>
</Folder>
</Project>
</TemplateContent>
</VSTemplate>
Visual Studio Template Schema Reference
Creating Project and Item Templates
ProjectItem Element (Visual Studio Item Templates)