Saving Data in Project Files

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

A project subtype can save and retrieve subtype-specific data in the project file. The Managed Package Framework (MPF) provides two interfaces to accomplish this task:

  • Call the SetPropertyValue method to save a full path of the project file.

    private SpecializedProject project;  
    IVsBuildPropertyStorage projectStorage = (IVsBuildPropertyStorage)project;  
    string newFullPath = GetNewFullPath();  
    // Set a full path of the project file.  
    ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(projectStorage.SetPropertyValue(  
        "MSBuildProjectDirectory",  
        String.Empty,  
        (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_PROJECT_FILE, newFullPath));  
    
  • Call the GetPropertyValue method to retrieve a full path of the project file.

    private SpecializedProject project;  
    IVsBuildPropertyStorage projectStorage = (IVsBuildPropertyStorage)project;  
    string fullPath;  
    // Get a full path of the project file.  
    ErrorHandler.ThrowOnFailure(projectStorage.GetPropertyValue(  
        "MSBuildProjectDirectory",  
        String.Empty,  
        (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_PROJECT_FILE, out fullPath));  
    
  1. Implement the IsFragmentDirty method to determine whether an XML fragment has changed since it was last saved to its current file.

    public int IsFragmentDirty(uint storage, out int pfDirty)  
    {  
        pfDirty = 0;  
        switch (storage)  
        {  
            case (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_PROJECT_FILE:  
            {  
                if (isDirty)  
                    pfDirty |= 1;  
                break;  
            }  
            case (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_USER_FILE:  
            {  
                // We do not store anything in the user file.  
                break;  
            }  
        }  
    
        // Forward the call to inner flavor(s)   
        if (pfDirty == 0 && innerCfg != null && this.innerCfg is IPersistXMLFragment)  
            return ((IPersistXMLFragment)this.innerCfg).IsFragmentDirty(storage, out pfDirty);  
    
        return VSConstants.S_OK;  
    
    }  
    
  2. Implement the Save method to save the XML data in the project file.

    public int Save(ref Guid guidFlavor, uint storage, out string pbstrXMLFragment, int fClearDirty)  
    {  
        pbstrXMLFragment = null;  
    
        if (IsMyFlavorGuid(ref guidFlavor))  
        {  
            switch (storage)  
            {  
                case (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_PROJECT_FILE:  
                {  
                    // Create XML for our data.  
                    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();  
                    XmlNode root = doc.CreateElement(this.GetType().Name);  
    
                    XmlNode node = doc.CreateElement(targetsTag);  
                    node.AppendChild(doc.CreateTextNode(this.TargetsToExecute));  
                    root.AppendChild(node);  
    
                    node = doc.CreateElement(updateTargetsTag);  
                    node.AppendChild(doc.CreateTextNode(this.UpdateTargetList.ToString()));  
                    root.AppendChild(node);  
    
                    doc.AppendChild(root);  
                    // Get XML fragment representing our data  
                    pbstrXMLFragment = doc.InnerXml;  
    
                    if (fClearDirty != 0)  
                        isDirty = false;  
                    break;  
                }  
                case (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_USER_FILE:  
                {  
                    // We do not store anything in the user file.  
                    break;  
                }  
            }  
        }  
    
        // Forward the call to inner flavor(s)  
        if (this.innerCfg != null && this.innerCfg is IPersistXMLFragment)  
            return ((IPersistXMLFragment)this.innerCfg).Save(ref guidFlavor, storage, out pbstrXMLFragment, fClearDirty);  
    
        return VSConstants.S_OK;  
    }  
    
  1. Implement the InitNew method to initialize the project extension properties and other build-independent data. This method is called if there is no XML configuration data present in the project file.

    public int InitNew(ref Guid guidFlavor, uint storage)  
    {  
        //Return,if it is our guid.  
        if (IsMyFlavorGuid(ref guidFlavor))  
            return VSConstants.S_OK;  
    
        //Forward the call to inner flavor(s).  
        if (this.innerCfg != null && this.innerCfg is IPersistXMLFragment)  
            return ((IPersistXMLFragment)this.innerCfg).InitNew(ref guidFlavor, storage);  
    
        return VSConstants.S_OK;  
    
  2. Implement the Load method to load the XML data from the project file.

    public int Load(ref Guid guidFlavor, uint storage, string pszXMLFragment)  
    {  
        if (IsMyFlavorGuid(ref guidFlavor))  
        {  
            switch (storage)  
            {  
                case (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_PROJECT_FILE:  
                {  
                    // Load our data from the XML fragment.  
                    XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();  
                    XmlNode node = doc.CreateElement(this.GetType().Name);  
                    node.InnerXml = pszXMLFragment;  
                    if (node == null  
                        || node.FirstChild == null  
                        || node.FirstChild.ChildNodes.Count == 0  
                        || node.FirstChild.ChildNodes[0].Name != targetsTag)  
                        break;  
                    this.TargetsToExecute = node.FirstChild.ChildNodes[0].InnerText;  
    
                    if (node.FirstChild.ChildNodes.Count <= 1  
                        || node.FirstChild.ChildNodes[1].Name != updateTargetsTag)  
                        break;  
                    this.UpdateTargetList = bool.Parse(node.FirstChild.ChildNodes[1].InnerText);  
                    break;  
                }  
                case (uint)_PersistStorageType.PST_USER_FILE:  
                {  
                    // We do not store anything in the user file.  
                    break;  
                }  
            }  
        }  
    
        // Forward the call to inner flavor(s)  
        if (this.innerCfg != null && this.innerCfg is IPersistXMLFragment)  
            return ((IPersistXMLFragment)this.innerCfg).Load(ref guidFlavor, storage, pszXMLFragment);  
    
        return VSConstants.S_OK;  
    }  
    

Note

All code examples provided in this topic are parts of a larger example, VSSDK Samples.

See Also

Persisting Data in the MSBuild Project File