Visual Studio Templates - adding additional pre-existing projects

Question

I'm working on a Visual Studio template where the generated project relies on a number of references, which happen to be other projects under source control.

The question is how do I set this up in my ProjectGroup template? For example, if I have an already existing project at "C:\Stuff\MyUtilityProject\Utility.csproj" with a single file (Tools.cs) that I want to add to my template, how would I go about this?

Here's what my vstempalte looks like. FYI - I am having no issues with the ProjectTemplateLink or creation of the Solution folder, just in adding the pre-existing Utility.csproj to my new solution:

Thanks in advance!

<VSTemplate Version="2.0.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005" Type="ProjectGroup">
  <TemplateData>
    <Name>MySampleSolution</Name>
    <Description>My Test Project</Description>
    <ProjectType>CSharp</ProjectType>
    <Icon>__TemplateIcon.ico</Icon>
  </TemplateData>
  <TemplateContent>
        <ProjectCollection>
            <SolutionFolder Name="Content">
                <Project File="C:\Stuff\MyUtilityProject\Utility.csproj">
                    <ProjectItem>Tools.cs</ProjectItem>
                </Project>
            </SolutionFolder>
        <ProjectTemplateLink ProjectName="MyWorkingTemplate">
            MyWorkingTemplate\MyTemplate.vstemplate
        </ProjectTemplateLink>
        </ProjectCollection>
  </TemplateContent>
</VSTemplate>

Answer 1

The only workaround I know in Visual Studio 2010 (Ultimate) is to create a project/solution from your template, add the *.cs files you need and then export the solution again using the template export wizard.

For the library you have you can create an item template rather than a project/solution template - this allows to add it using add -> new item from the context menu in the solution explorer of Visual Studio.

To create an item template, open your solution, then use File -> Export template... and select item template as export type once the wizard dialog opens.

Ensure that you have the "import" checkbox checked on the wizard, otherwise it will not be automatically installed after you've created it.