Visual Studio 2008: How to install an item template

Question

I have created an Item Template using the "Export Template" wizard. I opened up the XML file and made a couple of minor changes, then rezipped the package. Then I checked the item template into source control so that everyone on the team can access it if they want.

But for the life of me I can't get the template to show up under My Templates when I go to Add->New Item.

I have tried copying the zip file into every conceivable directory:

• The template directories listed under Tools->Projects and Solutions->General
• All the subfolders of these directories (i.e. /Visual C#/, /Visual Web Developer/ etc)

But nothing shows up. Has anyone else managed to distribute Item Templates to their team mates before?

Answer 1

In order to have a VS item template appear, you need to make sure that you run "devenv.exe /installvstemplates" after you have copied the .zip file containing your .vstemplate and template code file into the %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\<Project Type> folder.

I've found that it's useful to wrap the whole thing up into an MSI that discovers the VS9 path, copies the Item/Project template to the necessary folder, and calls a custom action that shells out to devenv.exe passing the "/installvstemplates" switch. That way your colleagues just need to install the package and they are up and running!

Hope this helps.