Programming .NET Windows Applications

Projects and Solutions

A typical .NET application is comprised of many items: source files, assembly information files, references, icons, and other files and folders. Visual Studio .NET organizes these items into a container called a project. One or more projects are contained within a solution. When you create a new project, Visual Studio .NET automatically creates the containing solution.

Solutions

Solutions typically contain one or more project. They may contain other independent items as well. These independent solution items are not specific to any particular project, but apply, or scope, to the entire solution. The solution items are not an integral part of the application, in that they can be removed without changing the compiled output. You can manage them with source control.

It is also possible to have a solution that does not contain any projects—just solution or miscellaneous files that can be edited using Visual Studio .NET.

Miscellaneous files are independent of the solution or project, but they may be useful. They are not included in a build or compile, but will display in the Solution Explorer (described below) and may be edited there. Typical miscellaneous files include project notes, database schemas, or sample code files.

Solutions are defined within a file named for the solution and have the extension.sln. The .sln file contains a list of the projects that comprise the solution, the location of any solution-scoped items, and solution-scoped build configurations. ...