I have a rather involved Visual Studio solution (2010, but it shouldn't matter) that I need to rename.
I want to rename the folders to match the new solution name, but I can't figure out a way to refactor the folder names automatically, and going through every single project file will be painful.
Is there an official way to do this? Alternatively (and much less preferably), are there free tools to accomplish this?
You can change the default namespace: -> Project -> XXX Properties... Instead of Find/Replace, you can also right click the namespace in code and Refactor->Rename.
Manually edit .sln file
This method is entirely aimed at renaming the directory for the project, as viewed in Windows Explorer.
This method does not suffer from the problems in the Remove/add project file method below (references disappearing), but it can result in problems if your project is under source control (see notes below). This is why step 2 (backup) is so important.
Project1
to Project2
.Project1
to Project2
using Windows Explorer.Project1
to Project2
using the functions supplied by source control. This preserves the history of the file. For example, with TortoiseSVN
, right click on the file, select TortoiseSVN .. Rename
.Project1
to be Project2
, using a text editor like NotePad.You can also see renaming solution manually or post which describes this manual process.
Advantages
Warnings
Update 2014-11-02
ReSharper has added an automated method for achieving the same result as the manual method above. If the namespace is underlined with a squiggly blue line, click on the action pyramid icon to either:
In the second case, the final word defines the new directory name in Windows Explorer, e.g. if we changed the namespace to ViewModel2
, it would offer to move the file to folder ViewModel2
.
However, this will not necessarily update files in source control, so you may still have to use the manual method.
Update 2018-01-31
Tested with Visual Studio 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017 Update 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Update 2020-05-02
Tested with Visual Studio 2019.
Update 2021-11-19
Retested. Still works.
To rename a solution:
In Solution Explorer, right-click the project, select Rename, and enter a new name.
In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Properties. On the Application tab, change the "Assembly name" and "Default namespace".
In the main cs file (or any other code files), rename the namespace declaration to use the new name. For this right-click the namespace and select Refactor > Rename enter a new name. For example: namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
Change the AssemblyTitle and AssemblyProduct in Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs.
[assembly: AssemblyTitle("New Name Here")] [assembly: AssemblyDescription("")] [assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("")] [assembly: AssemblyCompany("")] [assembly: AssemblyProduct("New Name Here")] [assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright © 2013")] [assembly: AssemblyTrademark("")] [assembly: AssemblyCulture("")]
Delete bin and obj directories physically.
Rename the project physical folder directory.
Open the SLN file (within notepad or any editor) and change the path to the project.
Clean and Rebuild the project.
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