How to create a project template for visual studio

There is a (often) overlooked feature available in visual studio which lets you quickly create new projects from a template. I often create small console applications with some basic functionality and sometimes it's tedious to go over some basic steps over and over.

Some axamples that you could create a template for:

1. A console application with basic features such as a HttpClient or appsettings.json file.
2. A default headless-CMS with entity-framework
3. A more advanced default Angular application served with a .Net API

How to create a template

1. Create a new project
2. Modify the project
3. Export as a template

4. Select 'Project Template' and press Next. Now enter a name and a description. I really suggest using an icon which represents what you have build. I will use a CMD icon I found on the internet.
   

5. Click finish

What did it create?

It's important to know what exactly was created by visual studio, so let's take a look at this exported zip file. First of all, the project is located in:

%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio 2022\Templates\ProjectTemplates

You will find the newly created .zip file here

For completionists sake, the default visualstudio templates are located in:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Professional\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\CSharp

The generated template

Let's quickly dive into that .zip file shall we? One thing you can notice is the created .vstemplate file. It contains the summary and definition of the template you entered. If you have want to change the name/description/icon of the template you can do so here.

• Also note the TemplateContent fields. This contains a list with all items in your template. The ReplaceParameters tell the template that these files contain variable which need to be changed upon creating a new project.

Let's look at one of the .cs files, the startup.cs:

First thing you will notice is obviously the namespace: namespace $safeprojectname$. This is a variable that the template will replace when you create a new project based off of this template.

How to use the template

Open a new Visual Studio window and simply click on File > New > Project... Your new template should be at the top!

Select it and use it like you would use any of the microsoft default Projects!

Enjoy this time saving trick!

You can find the template code here: https://github.com/dotnetrule/Console-QuickStart

src: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/how-to-create-project-templates?view=vs-2022