Parsing Visual Studio Solution files

Question

How can I parse Visual Studio solution (SLN) files in .NET? I would like to write an app that merges multiple solutions into one while saving the relative build order.

Answer 1

I don't know if anyone is still looking for solutions to this problem, but I ran across a project that seems to do just what is needed. https://slntools.codeplex.com/ One of the functions of this tool is to merge multiple solutions together.

Answer 2

Answer by @john-leidegren is great. For pre-VS2015, this is of great use. But there was a minor mistake, as the code to retrieve configurations was missing. So wanted to add it, in case someone is struggling to use this code.
The enhancement is very simple:

    public class Solution
{
    //internal class SolutionParser
    //Name: Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser
    //Assembly: Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0

    static readonly Type s_SolutionParser;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_solutionReader;
    static readonly MethodInfo s_SolutionParser_parseSolution;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_projects;
    static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_configurations;//this was missing in john's answer


    static Solution()
    {
        s_SolutionParser = Type.GetType("Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", false, false);
        if ( s_SolutionParser != null )
        {
            s_SolutionParser_solutionReader = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty("SolutionReader", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_SolutionParser_projects = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty("Projects", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_SolutionParser_parseSolution = s_SolutionParser.GetMethod("ParseSolution", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_SolutionParser_configurations = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty("SolutionConfigurations", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance); //this was missing in john's answer

            // additional info:
            var PropNameLst = GenHlp_PropBrowser.PropNamesOfType(s_SolutionParser);
            // the above call would yield something like this:
            // [ 0] "SolutionParserWarnings"        string
            // [ 1] "SolutionParserComments"        string
            // [ 2] "SolutionParserErrorCodes"      string
            // [ 3] "Version"                       string
            // [ 4] "ContainsWebProjects"           string
            // [ 5] "ContainsWebDeploymentProjects" string
            // [ 6] "ProjectsInOrder"               string
            // [ 7] "ProjectsByGuid"                string
            // [ 8] "SolutionFile"                  string
            // [ 9] "SolutionFileDirectory"         string
            // [10] "SolutionReader"                string
            // [11] "Projects"                      string
            // [12] "SolutionConfigurations"        string
        }
    }

    public List<SolutionProject> Projects { get; private set; }
    public List<SolutionConfiguration> Configurations { get; private set; }

   //...
   //...
   //... no change in the rest of the code
}

As additional help, providing simple code to browse through the properties of a System.Type as suggested by @oasten.

public class GenHlp_PropBrowser
{
    public static List<string> PropNamesOfClass(object anObj)
    {
        return anObj == null ? null : PropNamesOfType(anObj.GetType());
    }
    public static List<String> PropNamesOfType(System.Type aTyp)
    {
        List<string> retLst = new List<string>();
        foreach ( var p in aTyp.GetProperties(BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance) )
        {
            retLst.Add(p.Name);
        }
        return retLst;
    }
}

Answer 3

we solved a similar problem of merging solutions automatically by writing a Visual Studio plugin which created a new solution then searched for *.sln file and imported them into the new one using:

dte2.Solution.AddFromFile(solutionPath, false);

Our problem was slightly different in that we wanted VS to sort out the build order for us, so we then converted any dll references to project references where possible.

We then automated this into a build process by running VS via COM automation.

This solution was a little Heath Robinson, but had the advantage that VS was doing the editing so our code was not dependant on format of the sln file. Which was helpful when we moved from VS 2005 to 2008 and again to 2010.

Answer 4

I expounded, determined that the MSBuild classes can be used to manipulate the underlying structures. I will have further code on my web site later.

// VSSolution

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using AbstractX.Contracts;

namespace VSProvider
{
    public class VSSolution : IVSSolution
    {
        //internal class SolutionParser 
        //Name: Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser 
        //Assembly: Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0 

        static readonly Type s_SolutionParser;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_solutionReader;
        static readonly MethodInfo s_SolutionParser_parseSolution;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_SolutionParser_projects;
        private string solutionFileName;
        private List<VSProject> projects;

        public string Name
        {
            get
            {
                return Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(solutionFileName);
            }
        }

        public IEnumerable<IVSProject> Projects
        {
            get
            {
                return projects;
            }
        }

        static VSSolution()
        {
            s_SolutionParser = Type.GetType("Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", false, false);
            s_SolutionParser_solutionReader = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty("SolutionReader", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_SolutionParser_projects = s_SolutionParser.GetProperty("Projects", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_SolutionParser_parseSolution = s_SolutionParser.GetMethod("ParseSolution", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
        }

        public string SolutionPath
        {
            get
            {
                var file = new FileInfo(solutionFileName);

                return file.DirectoryName;
            }
        }

        public VSSolution(string solutionFileName)
        {
            if (s_SolutionParser == null)
            {
                throw new InvalidOperationException("Can not find type 'Microsoft.Build.Construction.SolutionParser' are you missing a assembly reference to 'Microsoft.Build.dll'?");
            }

            var solutionParser = s_SolutionParser.GetConstructors(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic).First().Invoke(null);

            using (var streamReader = new StreamReader(solutionFileName))
            {
                s_SolutionParser_solutionReader.SetValue(solutionParser, streamReader, null);
                s_SolutionParser_parseSolution.Invoke(solutionParser, null);
            }

            this.solutionFileName = solutionFileName;

            projects = new List<VSProject>();
            var array = (Array)s_SolutionParser_projects.GetValue(solutionParser, null);

            for (int i = 0; i < array.Length; i++)
            {
                projects.Add(new VSProject(this, array.GetValue(i)));
            }
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
        }
    }
}

// VSProject

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using AbstractX.Contracts;
using System.Collections;

namespace VSProvider
{
    [DebuggerDisplay("{ProjectName}, {RelativePath}, {ProjectGuid}")]
    public class VSProject : IVSProject
    {
        static readonly Type s_ProjectInSolution;
        static readonly Type s_RootElement;
        static readonly Type s_ProjectRootElement;
        static readonly Type s_ProjectRootElementCache;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectName;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectType;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_RelativePath;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectGuid;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectRootElement_Items;

        private VSSolution solution;
        private string projectFileName;
        private object internalSolutionProject;
        private List<VSProjectItem> items;
        public string Name { get; private set; }
        public string ProjectType { get; private set; }
        public string RelativePath { get; private set; }
        public string ProjectGuid { get; private set; }

        public string FileName
        {
            get
            {
                return projectFileName;
            }
        }

        static VSProject()
        {
            s_ProjectInSolution = Type.GetType("Microsoft.Build.Construction.ProjectInSolution, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", false, false);

            s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectName = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty("ProjectName", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectType = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty("ProjectType", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_ProjectInSolution_RelativePath = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty("RelativePath", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectGuid = s_ProjectInSolution.GetProperty("ProjectGuid", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);

            s_ProjectRootElement = Type.GetType("Microsoft.Build.Construction.ProjectRootElement, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", false, false);
            s_ProjectRootElementCache = Type.GetType("Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.ProjectRootElementCache, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", false, false);

            s_ProjectRootElement_Items = s_ProjectRootElement.GetProperty("Items", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
        }

        public IEnumerable<IVSProjectItem> Items
        {
            get
            {
                return items;
            }
        }

        public VSProject(VSSolution solution, object internalSolutionProject)
        {
            this.Name = s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectName.GetValue(internalSolutionProject, null) as string;
            this.ProjectType = s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectType.GetValue(internalSolutionProject, null).ToString();
            this.RelativePath = s_ProjectInSolution_RelativePath.GetValue(internalSolutionProject, null) as string;
            this.ProjectGuid = s_ProjectInSolution_ProjectGuid.GetValue(internalSolutionProject, null) as string;

            this.solution = solution;
            this.internalSolutionProject = internalSolutionProject;

            this.projectFileName = Path.Combine(solution.SolutionPath, this.RelativePath);

            items = new List<VSProjectItem>();

            if (this.ProjectType == "KnownToBeMSBuildFormat")
            {
                this.Parse();
            }
        }

        private void Parse()
        {
            var stream = File.OpenRead(projectFileName);
            var reader = XmlReader.Create(stream);
            var cache = s_ProjectRootElementCache.GetConstructors(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic).First().Invoke(new object[] { true });
            var rootElement = s_ProjectRootElement.GetConstructors(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic).First().Invoke(new object[] { reader, cache });

            stream.Close();

            var collection = (ICollection)s_ProjectRootElement_Items.GetValue(rootElement, null);

            foreach (var item in collection)
            {
                items.Add(new VSProjectItem(this, item));
            }

        }

        public IEnumerable<IVSProjectItem> EDMXModels
        {
            get 
            {
                return this.items.Where(i => i.ItemType == "EntityDeploy");
            }
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
        }
    }
}

// VSProjectItem

using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Xml;
using AbstractX.Contracts;

namespace VSProvider
{
    [DebuggerDisplay("{ProjectName}, {RelativePath}, {ProjectGuid}")]
    public class VSProjectItem : IVSProjectItem
    {
        static readonly Type s_ProjectItemElement;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectItemElement_ItemType;
        static readonly PropertyInfo s_ProjectItemElement_Include;

        private VSProject project;
        private object internalProjectItem;
        private string fileName;

        static VSProjectItem()
        {
            s_ProjectItemElement = Type.GetType("Microsoft.Build.Construction.ProjectItemElement, Microsoft.Build, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", false, false);

            s_ProjectItemElement_ItemType = s_ProjectItemElement.GetProperty("ItemType", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
            s_ProjectItemElement_Include = s_ProjectItemElement.GetProperty("Include", BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Instance);
        }

        public string ItemType { get; private set; }
        public string Include { get; private set; }

        public VSProjectItem(VSProject project, object internalProjectItem)
        {
            this.ItemType = s_ProjectItemElement_ItemType.GetValue(internalProjectItem, null) as string;
            this.Include = s_ProjectItemElement_Include.GetValue(internalProjectItem, null) as string;
            this.project = project;
            this.internalProjectItem = internalProjectItem;

            // todo - expand this

            if (this.ItemType == "Compile" || this.ItemType == "EntityDeploy")
            {
                var file = new FileInfo(project.FileName);

                fileName = Path.Combine(file.DirectoryName, this.Include);
            }
        }

        public byte[] FileContents
        {
            get 
            {
                return File.ReadAllBytes(fileName);
            }
        }

        public string Name
        {
            get 
            {
                if (fileName != null)
                {
                    var file = new FileInfo(fileName);

                    return file.Name;
                }
                else
                {
                    return this.Include;
                }
            }
        }
    }
}