Add Files programmatically to VS Project for UnitTests

Question

I am creating Class Files programmatically for UnitTests with NUnit. I could already add them to TFS Source Control. What I now need, is that I want to add them programmatically to the Project.

I have found several approaches, but I got none working... I don't want to edit the XMl-File manually.

Do you have some code snippets?

Answer 1

The naïve solution would be to edit the XML file manually. However, you don't have to do this.

You can use the Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Project object model to manipulate Visual Studio project files. See this answer for more information on the differences between the Microsoft.Build.Evaluation and Microsoft.Build.Construction namespaces.

The following example opens YourProject.csproj and adds a new file called YourFile.cs as a Compile item type, then saves the project file back to disk.

using Microsoft.Build.Evaluation;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var project = new Project(@"YourProject.csproj");
            project.AddItem("Compile", "YourFile.cs");
            project.Save();
        }
    }
}