node_modules slow down the VS 2017 IDE

Question

I am working on an angular 2 project, and it is created by angular/CLI. After I opened my project by 'open -> folders,' the CPU usage been boosted to over 50% and everything becomes very slow. I tested it that the slowdown issue caused by 'node_moduls'. After I removed this folder, the IDE will back to normal.

However, in the project, I still need the 'node_moduls' folder, because I got error message everywhere if I removed the 'node_moduls' folder! Even an import from the angular core!

import { Component, OnInit, ViewChild, Input, Output, EventEmitter } from '@angular/core';)

Is any way to fix this problem?

As I can see, VS 2017 keep scanning my folders and files, and this process has been taken for 3 hours. Now the IDE still takes 30% usage of the CPU usage. I think it needs to port the VS code's folders management idea to VS 2017.

And I have checked the "exclude" option that should show on the right-click menu. However, it does not have any option for excluding the folder.

update: It has been a night, (I kept the VS2017 open) the VS still taking 30-40% CPU usage, and the scanning data still on 45% same with the first image.

Answer 1

Instead of using

File -> Open -> Folder

use

File -> Open -> Web Site...

UPDATE:

or (thanks wodzu)

Solution > Add > Existing Website

Navigate to the location on your hard drive where the project lives and select its directory.

Since it is after all a web site that should work fine and it doesn't perform the scan.

I had the same issue but didn't want to modify the tsconfig.json file since that configuration is used by the angular cli tool which we use to compile the app.

Answer 2

Don't include node_modules in your VS project because it takes forever to load.

In your tsconfig.json file, you need to exclude the node_modules folder from being compiled:

"compilerOptions": 
    ...
},
"exclude": [
    "node_modules"
]