Adding solution-level items in a NuGet package

Question

I want to add solution folders and solution items (not projects) to a solution file via a NuGet package. I imagine this would be accomplished through Powershell. I've looked through the documentation for NuGet, Powershell, and EnvDTE and can't figure out:

1. Which commands/methods I would use?
2. Which standard script I would do this in, Init.ps1, Install.ps1, or somewhere else?

Answer 1

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.