Visual Studio Create Solution and Project
In Visual Studio, a project holds the items needed to build your application, such as source files, images, icons, references, etc. When you create a new project, Visual Studio creates a solution to contain the project. You can also add new or existing projects to the solution.
What is a Project?
When you create an application or website in Visual Studio, you start with a project. A project contains all files that are compiled into an executable, library, or website.
- Those files can include source code, icons, images, data files, and so on.
- A project also contains compiler settings and other configuration files that might be needed by various services or components that your program communicates with.
What is a Solution?
A Solution is simply a container for one or more related projects, along with build information, Visual Studio window settings, and any miscellaneous files that aren't associated with a particular project.
- A project is contained within a solution.
- It is described by a text file (
.sln) with its own unique format, it is not intended to be edited by hand.
Visual Studio uses two file types (.sln and .suo) to store settings for solutions:
| Extension | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| .sln | Visual Studio Solution | Organizes projects, project items, and solution items in the solution. |
| .suo | Solution User Options | Stores user-level settings and customizations, such as breakpoints. |
Create a New Project
There are multiple ways to create a new project in Visual Studio 2019. When you first open Visual Studio, the start window appears, and from there, you can choose Create a new project.
Select the Create a new project option.
In the template pane, select ASP.NET Core Web Application and click the Next button.
Enter the project name, you can change the location and solution name, but we will leave it as is and click on the Create button.
Select the Web Application template and click on the Create button. You can see a new web application project is created.
When you create a new project, it is saved by default at %USERPROFILE%\source\repos. You can change this location in the Projects location setting under Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Locations.
Solution Explorer
When a new project is created, you can use Solution Explorer to view and manage the projects and a solution and their associated items.
You can see that a solution is created which contains one project and both a solution and project have the same name. You can choose a different name for a solution on the Configure your new project page.
- A project contains multiple files, folders, and references.
- Creating a new project from a template gives you a project with the essentials for that project type.
- You can rename the files or add new or existing code and other resources to it as needed.
