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Create item templates

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This article shows you how to create an item template by using the Export Template Wizard or manually, and how to edit and use item templates. If your template consists of multiple files, also see How to: Create multi-file item templates.

Add an item template

  1. Create or open a project in Visual Studio.

  2. Select Project > Add New Item or press Ctrl+Shift+A.

  3. In the Add New Item dialog box, select an item and then select Add to add it to the project.

  4. Modify the item as desired, and indicate where in the item, if anywhere, parameter replacement should take place. For more information, see How to: Substitute parameters in a template.

  5. Save the item.

  6. Select Project > Export Template. The Export Template Wizard opens.

  7. On the Choose Template Type page, choose Item Template, select the project that contains the item, and then select Next.

  8. On the Select Item To Export page, choose the item you want to create a template for, and then select Next.

  9. On the Select Item References page, select any assembly references to include in the template, and then select Next.

  10. On the Select Template Options page:

    • Enter the template name and optional description, icon image, and preview image.

      Icon files for items are .ico files, as described in Images and icons for Visual Studio. The preview image is a 200 x 200 image that appears in the Add New Item dialog box. You can download the Visual Studio image library to get icons consistent with Visual Studio style.

    • Select whether to Automatically import the template into Visual Studio and Display an explorer window in the output files folder.

  11. Select Finish.

The template files are compressed into a .zip file and copied to the directory shown in the wizard under Output location. The default location is %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio <version>\My Exported Templates.

If you selected Automatically import the template into Visual Studio, the .zip file is also added to the user ItemTemplates directory. The default location is %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio <version>\Templates\ItemTemplates.

You can now use the item template in your projects.

Use the item template

  1. If you didn't select Automatically import the template into Visual Studio when you created the template, copy the .zip file to your ItemTemplates directory. The default location is %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio <version>\Templates\ItemTemplates.
  2. Close Visual Studio and then reopen it.
  3. Create a new project, or open an existing project, and select Project > Add New Item
  4. Select the item template from the Add New Item dialog box. If you added a description in the Export Template Wizard, the description appears on the right side of the dialog box.
  5. Select Add to add the template item to your project.

Edit the .vstemplate file

The wizard creates a basic template, but in some cases you need to manually modify the .vstemplate file after you export the template. For example, if you want the item to appear in the Add New Item dialog for a Universal Windows App project, you must edit the .vstemplate file.

  1. Extract the exported item template .zip file, and open the .vstemplate file in Visual Studio.
  2. Edit the file as needed. For a C# Universal Windows project, add <TemplateID>Microsoft.CSharp.Class</TemplateID> inside the <TemplateData> element.
  3. Save and close the .vstemplate file, and replace it in the .zip file.

Enable templates for specific project subtypes

You can edit the .vstemplate file to specify that your item template appears only for certain project subtypes, such as Windows, Office, Database, or Web.

  1. Open the .vstemplate file for editing.
  2. Add a ProjectSubType element immediately after the ProjectType element, with value Windows, Office, Database, or Web. For example: <ProjectSubType>Database</ProjectSubType>.

The following example shows a .vstemplate file for Office projects.

<VSTemplate Version="2.0.0" Type="Item" Version="2.0.0">
   <TemplateData>
      <Name>Class</Name>
      <Description>An empty class file</Description>
      <Icon>Class.ico</Icon>
      <ProjectType>CSharp</ProjectType>
      <ProjectSubType>Office</ProjectSubType>
      <DefaultName>Class.cs</DefaultName>
   </TemplateData>
   <TemplateContent>
      <ProjectItem>Class1.cs</ProjectItem>
   </TemplateContent>
</VSTemplate>

Manually create an item template

Instead of using the wizard, you can create an item template manually from scratch.

  1. Create a project and add an item.
  2. Modify the item as desired, such as adding where any parameter replacement should take place, and save the item.
  3. Create an XML file and save it with a .vstemplate file extension in the same directory as your project item file.
  4. Add item template metadata to the .vstemplate XML file, as shown in the preceding example. For more information, see Template schema reference (extensibility).
  5. Save and close the .vstemplate file.
  6. In Windows Explorer, select the files you want to include in your template, including the .vstemplate file. Right-click the selection and select Compress to > ZIP File.
  7. Copy the resulting .zip file and paste it in the Visual Studio user item template location. The default directory is %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Visual Studio <version>\Templates\ItemTemplates.

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