How can I add files to a solution folder?

Question

I am using the following script answered here to create a solution folder inside a solution using Powershell script.

Function AddFolderToSolution($folderName, $solutionFile)
{
   $solutionFolderGuid = "{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}"
   $content = [System.IO.File]::ReadLines($solutionFile)
   $lines = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[string]
   $lines.AddRange($content)
   $index = $lines.IndexOf("Global")
   $guid = [System.Guid]::NewGuid().ToString().ToUpper()
   $txt = "Project(`"$solutionFolderGuid`") = `"$folderName`", `"$folderName`", `"$guid`""
   $lines.Insert($index, $txt)
   $lines.Insert($index+1, "EndProject")
   [System.IO.File]::WriteAllLines($solutionFile, $lines)
}

AddFolderToSolution "NewFolder10" "D:\Solution1.sln"

Now I want to copy few files into the solution folder(NewFolder10). How can I do that using PowerShell?

Answer 1

Solution folders are not physical folders, and the files that you want to put to a Solution Folder should exist somewhere and you just should add a reference to those files to your solution file.

Those solution items should be added as child of ProjectSection(SolutionItems) = preProject in solution file, having this format relative path to file = relative path to file.

For example, I suppose you want to add a solution folder named SolutionItems and put file1.txt and file2.txt to that solution folder. Then if those files exists in a physical folder like SomeFolder beside your solution file, then you should add this text to the solution file:

Project("{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}") = "SolutionItems", "SolutionItems", "B73A0302-952E-42D6-925D-ABCB95684477"
    ProjectSection(SolutionItems) = preProject
        ..\SomeFolder\file1.txt = ..\SomeFolder\file1.txt
        ..\SomeFolder\file2.txt = ..\SomeFolder\file2.txt
    EndProjectSection
EndProject

Example

Here is a method which copies files from a directory to a folder named SolutionItems folder near your solution. Then adds a Solution Folder named SolutionItems (the same name as physical folder just for being clear) and add those copied files as solution items:

Function AddFolderToSolution($folderPath, $solutionFile)
{
    $solutionPath = Split-Path -Parent -Path $solutionFile
    $folderName = "SolutionItems"
    $destination = Join-Path $solutionPath $folderName   
    $solutionFolderGuid = "{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}"
    $content = [System.IO.File]::ReadLines($solutionFile)
    $lines = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[string]
    $lines.AddRange($content)
    $index = $lines.IndexOf("Global")
    $guid = [System.Guid]::NewGuid().ToString().ToUpper()
    $range = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[string]
    $range.Add(
        "Project(`"$solutionFolderGuid`") = `"$folderName`", `"$folderName`", `"$guid`"")
    $range.Add("`tProjectSection(SolutionItems) = preProject")
    New-Item -Path $destination -ItemType Directory -Force
    Get-ChildItem -Path $folderPath -File | Copy-Item -Destination $destination -Force
    Get-ChildItem -Path $destination -File| ForEach-Object {
        $itemName = Split-Path -Leaf -Path $_.FullName
        $range.Add("`t`t..\$folderName\$itemName = ..\$folderName\$itemName")
    }
    $range.Add("`tEndProjectSection")
    $range.Add("EndProject")
    $lines.InsertRange($index, $range)
    [System.IO.File]::WriteAllLines($solutionFile, $lines)
}

And here is the usage:

AddFolderToSolution "d:\somefolder" "d:\mysolution\Solution1.sln"

By running above example, it will copy file from d:\somefolder to a folder named SolutionItems near the solution file. Then adds a Solution Folder with the same name SolutionItems and add those files as Solution Item.