Exported project template in VS2017 misses source files

Question

When I use the Project -> Export template option in Visual Studio 2017, the resulting ZIP file includes the main project files, but not any of the *.cpp and *.hpp files that I've added. How do I include everything with the template? I should also note that this behavior seems to have changed in an update at some point.

Answer 1

You need to manually edit the .vstemplate file and add <CreateInPlace>true</CreateInPlace> in the <TemplateData> tag so it looks like this:

<VSTemplate Version="3.0.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005" Type="Project">
    <TemplateData>
        <Name>TemplateTest</Name>
        <Description><No description available></Description>
        <ProjectType>JavaScript</ProjectType>
        <ProjectSubType>
        </ProjectSubType>
        <SortOrder>1000</SortOrder>
        <CreateNewFolder>true</CreateNewFolder>
        <CreateInPlace>true</CreateInPlace>
        <DefaultName>CodovaTemplateTest</DefaultName>
        <ProvideDefaultName>true</ProvideDefaultName>
        <LocationField>Enabled</LocationField>
        <EnableLocationBrowseButton>true</EnableLocationBrowseButton>
        <Icon>__TemplateIcon.ico</Icon>
  </TemplateData>

Answer 2

The problem is in your .vstemplate file. What you need to do is edit it so that VS knows that there is supposed to be additional files. Unzip the file that was exported, add the files you want, then open the .vstemplate file. The part of the .vstemplate you should change is between the <TemplateContent> tags:

    <TemplateContent>
                <Project TargetFileName="project.vcxproj" File="project.vcxproj" ReplaceParameters="true">
                    <ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="false" TargetFileName="$projectname$.vcxproj.filters">project.vcxproj.filters</ProjectItem>
                    <ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true" TargetFileName="file1.cpp">file1.cpp</ProjectItem>
                    <ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true" TargetFileName="file2.h">file2.h</ProjectItem>
                    <ProjectItem ReplaceParameters="true" TargetFileName="input.txt">input.txt</ProjectItem>
                </Project>
    </TemplateContent>

This tells VS to add the files file1.cpp, file2.h and input.txt to the project when you make it. Just change the names to the files you want, save everything and rezip the folder.