New Project Dialog Box

  • Article

Use the New Project dialog box to create a new project in either the current solution or a new solution. To access this dialog box, point to New on the File menu and then click Project.

For general background about solutions and projects, see Introduction to Solutions, Projects, and Items and Solutions as Containers.

Note

The options available in dialog boxes, and the names and locations of menu commands you see, might differ from what is described in Help, depending on your active settings or edition. To view or change your settings, choose Import and Export Settings on the Tools menu. For more information, see Visual Studio Settings.

  • Project types
    Displays the available categories of projects.

  • Templates
    Displays templates for creating the initial files, references, code framework, property settings, and tasks appropriate for the selected project. When you select a template, a brief description of that item appears underneath the Project types pane. For a complete list of templates included in Visual Studio, see Default Project Templates

    Note

    If your anti-virus software displays a message that offers to block script that the project template or wizard is running, do not block script. If you block script, Visual Studio closes. You can prevent this message from displaying when script is run by clearing the anti-virus software setting for blocking script. However, changing this setting disables all script blocking, not just for Visual Studio.

    In addition to using the templates that were included with Visual Studio, you can create your own templates. For more information, see Creating Project and Item Templates. You can also create a project from a downloaded template. For more information, see How to: Use a Starter Kit to Create a New Project.

    For more information about specific project types, click a link in the following table.

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  • Framework Version
    .NET Framework Version Icon

    Determines the .NET Framework version that the project should target. For more information, see Targeting a Specific .NET Framework.

  • Large Icons
    LargeButtonsButton screenshot

    Displays items in the Templates pane as large icons.

  • Small Icons
    LittleButtonsButton screenshot

    Displays items in the Templates pane as small icons.

  • Name
    Enter a name for the project you want to create. A folder that has the same name as the project is also created in the location displayed in the Location box. For some projects, Visual Studio creates source files and other supporting files and adds them to the new project folder.

    Note

    For some project types, the Name box is unavailable because the name is set by specifying the location. For example, Web applications and XML Web Services are located on a Web server. They derive their names from the virtual directory specified on that server.

    Names cannot contain the following characters:

    • Pound (#)

    • Percent (%)

    • Ampersand (&)

    • Asterisk (*)

    • Vertical bar (|)

    • Backslash (\)

    • Colon (:)

    • Double quotation mark (")

    • Less than (<)

    • Greater than (>)

    • Question mark (?)

    • Forward slash (/)

    • Leading or trailing spaces (' ')

    • Names reserved for Windows or DOS, such as "nul," "aux," "con," "com1," "lpt1," and so on.

  • Location
    Enter the location where you want to create your project, select an existing location from the list, or move to a location by using Browse. By default, new projects are created in the Visual Studio projects location specified in the General, Projects and Solutions, Options Dialog Box.

    Note

    This option is unavailable when you are creating a temporary project.

  • Browse
    Displays the Project Location dialog box, which enables you to move to a new folder to save the project in.

    Note

    This option is unavailable when you are creating a temporary project.

  • Solution
    This option is available only when you have a solution open in the integrated development environment (IDE) and you are not working with stand-alone projects.

    • Create new Solution
      Select to first close the open solution and then create a new solution and new project.

    • Add to Solution
      Select to add the new project to the open solution.

  • Create directory for solution
    Select to enable the Solution Name text box or the Name text box for solutions. Creates a new folder of the name that you choose for your project and solution.

    Note

    This option is unavailable when you are creating a temporary project.

  • Solution Name
    Enter a name for the new solution in which you want your project to be created. By default, the solution name is the same as the name entered in the Name box for the project.

    Note

    To access this option, you first must select the Create directory for Solution check box. Some project templates do not support this option; for example, Web applications. This option is unavailable when you are creating a temporary project.

  • Name
    Enter a name for the new solution in which you want your project to be created. By default, the name is the same as the name entered in the Name box for the project.

    Note

    This option is available only when you have a solution open in the IDE and you are not working with stand-alone projects. To access this option, you first must select the Create directory for solution check box, and then select Create new Solution. Some project templates do not support this option; for example, Web applications. This option is unavailable when you are creating a temporary project.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Create Directories for Solutions

How to: Create Multi-Project Solutions

Concepts

Temporary Projects

Stand-Alone Projects

Other Resources

Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files

Projects, User Interface Elements