Is it possible to customize the built-in Visual Studio 2010 C++ project wizards?

Question

I need to make a custom C++ project wizard that is the same as built in c++ wizard. It doesn't matter which type. It could be console type project.

What I need to change is only to add a path to custom include directory and a path to custom library directory.

How can I do this?

Answer 1

I think you want to look into project templates.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s365byhx.aspx

Answer 2

Here is a link to writing a new wizard http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7k3w6w59.aspx

I recommend storing those types of settings like custom paths in a property sheet. ( .props file.) Then you can change your mind later and have this change affect multiple projects. Your wizard could simply add this .props file to the .vcxproj. I also prefer .props files because you can also define additional user macro's that the vcxproj and other .props files can use.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/a4xbdz1e.aspx

The built-in wizards are found in [vsinstalldir]\vc\VCWizards\AppWiz The additional files that register these project types are found in [vsinstalldir]\vc\VCprojects\ You could alter those or copy them to get the rest of the c++ wizard functionality.

Additional Idea:

You may notice that .vcxproj's typically have an entry like this:

  <ImportGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'" Label="PropertySheets">
        <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
  </ImportGroup>

This means that the existing wizard made an entry that tries to bind to a user property sheet if one exists.

c:\users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MSBuild\v4.0\Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user.props

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
   <ItemDefinitionGroup>
     <ClCompile>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>c:\Custom\Include;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
     </ClCompile>
   <ItemDefinitionGroup>
</Project>

I recommend the second idea. Adding include, lib path, and other types of settings are a common scenario and the existing wizard allows for this by having a reference to user property sheets.