Open Project Dialog Box

Use this dialog box to open an existing project. You can choose to open the project in the current solution — if a solution is open — or to close the current solution before opening the project.

**Security Note   **Before you open an existing project or component, determine the trustworthiness of the code outside of the Visual Studio designer. Opening projects or components in the Visual Studio designer automatically executes code from that project or component on your local machine in the trusted process of devenv.exe.

Note   Choosing to open the project in the current solution adds the project to the solution just as you can in the Add Existing Project dialog box. For more information on the effect of multiple project solutions, see Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items

You can access this dialog box by choosing Open from the File menu.

• Look in
  Locate the existing project folder from this list. Selecting a folder from this list displays the contents of the folder below.

• History
  Displays the files most recently removed from solutions.

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

• Desktop
  Displays the files and folders located on the desktop

• Favorites
  Displays the contents of your Internet Explorer Favorites folder.

  Tip   To add a link to your Favorites folder from this dialog box, locate the folder you want to add from the Look in list, and then select Add to Favorites from Tools.

• My Network Places
  Displays the contents of your My Network Places folder. Use Add Network Place to add another network resource to this folder for easy retrieval.

• Add to Solution
  Select this radio button to add the project to the current solution. The solution will remain open in the integrated development environment (IDE). This option appears only when a solution is already open.

  Note   Choosing to open the project in the current solution adds the project to the solution just as you can in the Add Existing Project dialog box. For more information on the effect of multiple project solutions, see Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items.

• Close Solution
  Select this radio button to close the current solution before you open the selected project. Visual Studio will prompt you to save changes to any project items before closing the solution. If Visual Studio is unable to find the project's parent solution, a new solution is created in an unsaved state. This option appears only when a solution is already open.

• File name
  Use this option to filter the files and folders that are displayed. Enter a full or partial file name on which to filter. You can use the asterisk (*) as a wildcard.

  Tip   Navigate to Web and network locations by entering a URL or network path in the File name box. For example, "https://mywebsite" displays the files available at the "mywebsite" Web location and "\\myserver\myshare" displays the files available at the "myshare" location on "myserver." You can also open a project from a Web location by selecting Open from Web Server in the Tools menu of the Open dialog box.

• Files of type
  Use this option to filter the files displayed based on file extension. Each product lists default filters of the most common file types.

• 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 hierarchy.

• Search the Web
  Opens your Web browser to its specified search page.

  

• 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 list.

  

Views

Provides options for arranging and viewing the contents of the item selected in the Look in list.

The following fields are available from the Look in list.

• List
  Select to display files, folders, and other items in a list format.
• Details
  Select to display the name, size, type, and last-modified date of files, folders, and other items in a list format. To sort by a particular detail, click its column header.
• Properties
  Select to display the names and properties of files, folders, and other items. When selected, the content pane divides in half: the left half displays the name of the item and the right half displays the properties of the selected item.
• Preview
  Select to display a preview of the file. When selected, divides the content pane in half: the left half displays the files and folders and the right half displays a preview of the file. This is useful when looking for a particular graphic file.
• Arrange Icons
  Has the same effect as selecting one of the column headers in Details View to sort by that column. Arrange Icons is useful when arranging items by a property other than Name (by Size, for example) in a view other than Details (Preview, for example).

Tools

Used to select a tool to apply to the item that is selected in the content pane.

• Delete
  Deletes the selected file or folder from storage.
• Add to Favorites
  Adds the file or folder to your Internet Explorer Favorites.
• Map Network Drive
  Displays the Map Network Drive dialog box, which allows you to connect to a machine on a network.
• 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

Projects, User Interface Elements | Web Browser, Environment, Options Dialog Box | Open From Web Dialog Box