Adding solution-level items in a NuGet package

Here is a PowerShell script that will create a solution folder called Parent and another solution folder called Child inside that one. It also adds a project file (MyProject.csproj) inside the Child solution folder.

# Get the open solution.$solution = Get-Interface $dte.Solution ([EnvDTE80.Solution2])# Create the parent solution folder.$parentProject = $solution.AddSolutionFolder("Parent")# Create a child solution folder.$parentSolutionFolder = Get-Interface $parentProject.Object ([EnvDTE80.SolutionFolder])$childProject = $parentSolutionFolder.AddSolutionFolder("Child")# Add a file to the child solution folder.$childSolutionFolder = Get-Interface $childProject.Object ([EnvDTE80.SolutionFolder])$fileName = "D:\projects\MyProject\MyProject.csproj"$projectFile = $childSolutionFolder.AddFromFile($fileName)

The two main Visual Studio interfaces being used here are Solution2 and SolutionFolder. It also uses the Get-Interface function which is provided by NuGet.

For a solution-only package you should place your script in init.ps1 because install.ps1 is only invoked for project-based packages. Init.ps1 runs once for a solution when the package is first installed and every time the solution is re-opened in Visual Studio.

To add arbitrary files (non-project files) to a solution folder you will need to do something similar to the following:

$vsSolution = Get-Interface $dte.Solution ([EnvDTE80.Solution2])$vsProject = $vsSolution.AddSolutionFolder("newFolder")$projectItems = Get-Interface $vsProject.ProjectItems ([EnvDTE.ProjectItems])$projectItems.AddFromFile("pathToFileToAdd.txt")

What is missing from this PowerShell script is the standard parameter declarations at the top of file.

param($installPath, $toolsPath, $package, $project)

What is also missing is checking whether the solution folder and folder item already exist. I shall leave that as an exercise for you to do.