Add Existing Item - Solution Items Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to select individual or multiple project items to add to the Solution Items folder. You can select files from local directories, network directories, and Web sites. You can also use this dialog box to add links to shared files in workgroup scenarios.

To access this dialog box, select the solution in Solution Explorer and then choose Add Existing Item on the Project menu.

• Look in
  Use this drop-down list box to locate an existing item by exploring an hierarchically structured view of files, folders, local drives, mapped network drives, and pointers to other Web resources on your computer.

  Tip

  You can use the Look in drop-down list box to add, modify, or remove an FTP location.

My Places Bar

• Desktop
  Displays the files and folders located on the desktop.

• My Projects
  Displays the files and folders at the location specified in the General, Projects and Solutions, Options Dialog Box.

• My Computer
  Displays the contents of your floppy disk, hard disk, and CD-ROM drive.

• <Source Control Plug-in>
  Displays the contents of a source control database or repository. For more information, see How to: Open a Project or Solution from Source Control.

Folder List

• File name
  Filters the display of files and folders based on file name. Type the full or partial file name on which to filter, using "*" as the wildcard character.

  Tip

  Navigate to Web and network locations by entering a URL or network path in the File name box. For example, "http://mywebsite" displays the files available at the "mywebsite" Web location and "\\myserver\myshare" displays the files available at the "myshare" location on "myserver".

  Note

  If you try to access and build Visual C++ projects directly over a network, you will experience problems. Visual C++ does not perform any special operations to accommodate network drives and shares, and it is unaware of whether the file it is reading or writing is on a network drive or a local drive. Use of Visual C++ in this manner is not supported. For more information, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 255252.

• Files of type
  Filter the display of files based on file extension.

Open

Use this drop-down button to choose the editor with which to open the item. You might choose to open the file added from this dialog box with a non-Visual Studio editor (Notepad, for example) on subsequent openings or accept the default editor.

• Open
  Opens the file with the default editor associated with the file extension.

• Open With
  Invokes the Open With dialog box permitting you to choose the editor with which to open the file.

  Note

  You can always change the editor with which to open the file at a later time by invoking the Open With dialog box: right-click on the file in Solution Explorer and then choose Open With on the shortcut menu.

Toolbar

• Navigate Back
  

  Returns the most recently viewed folder, drive, or internet location.

• Up One Level
  

  Navigates the tree to the next highest folder in the tree view.

• Search the Web
  

  This button is not available on this dialog box.

• Delete
  

  Deletes the selected files or folders from storage.

• New Folder
  

  Displays the New Folder dialog box. Use this option to create a new child folder under the folder selected in the Look in drop-down list box.

Views

Provides options for arranging and viewing the contents of the item selected in the Views drop-down list box.

• Thumbnails
  Displays thumbnails for items in the display pane.

• Tiles
  Displays files and folders as large icons.

• Icons
  Displays files and folders as small icons.

• List
  Displays files and folders in a list format.

• Details
  Displays the name, size, type, and last-modified date of files and folders in a list format. To sort by a particular detail, click its column header.

• WebView
  This command is not available.

Tools

Select a tool to apply to the item selected in the contents pane.

• Delete
  Deletes the selected file or folder from storage.

• Print
  Prints the selected file.

• Add to "My Places"
  Adds the folder to the shortcuts on the My Places bar, to the left of the files and folders list.

• Properties
  Displays the property sheet for the selected item.

• Open from Web Server
  Displays the Connect to Web Server Dialog Box, allowing you to locate and open a project that exists on a Web server.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Add and Remove Solution Items

How to: Manage File Storage

Concepts

Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items

Other Resources

Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files