How to determine the project type in Visual Studio?

Question

How can one determine the "type" of a project in Visual Studio?

For example, if a project is a class library, a web application project, a WinForms project, a WCF project, etc. The icons are obviously different for a lot of them, but is there anywhere where it states the project type?

Any FULL list of known project type Guids, included Sharepoint projects? — Kiquenet, Aug 24 '12 at 10:16
This link includes all the GUIDs in my projects as well as several Sharepoint project types: https://www.codeproject.com/reference/720512/list-of-visual-studio-project-type-guids — msenne, Oct 06 '22 at 18:02

score 34 · Answer 1 · edited Aug 03 '21 at 18:10

One simple trick is drag and drop project file in notepad and where you can see this kind of stuff<

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>`enter code here`
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">x86</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>8.0.30703</ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{27F8327B-239F-4125-809C-13FB6209D2E3}</ProjectGuid>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>`enter code here`
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>WpfApplication1</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>WpfApplication1</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <TargetFrameworkProfile>Client</TargetFrameworkProfile>
    <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>

Compare "ProjectTypeGuid" with this Link. by changing this guid you can add WPF window to WinForms project.

Is this still relevant? The `.csproj` file for a project I created in VS2015 has no `` field whatsoever. — Alex McMillan, Apr 26 '16 at 00:22
Alternative link for ProjectTypeGuid mappings: https://www.codeproject.com/reference/720512/list-of-visual-studio-project-type-guids — msenne, Oct 06 '22 at 17:50

Marco D.G. · Answer 2 · 2018-11-22T08:12:14.160

4

If the `.csproj` file has no `<ProjectTypeGuids>`

As Alex McMillan has pointed out, you could not be able to find the <ProjectTypeGuids> element.

The first answer is correct, except for .dll Library Projects, Console Applications and WinForms Applications as far I know.

They contain <OutputType> (followed by: Library or Exe or WinExe)

and do not contain <ProjectTypeGuids>.

edited Nov 22 '18 at 08:12

answered Nov 20 '18 at 10:12

Marco D.G.

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score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 22 '16 at 05:39

3

I think if you go to the properties window of your project you will see the information following this image below.

enter image description here

Please look at the output type. It shows Class library. If your project shows windows application then the output is a Windows Application.

edited Jul 22 '16 at 05:39

Ari0nhh

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answered Jul 20 '16 at 08:50

Hassanuzzaman

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Unfortunately different types of project show up as Class Library. eg if you create two projects, a Class Library project and a Web Application project, they will both have an output type of Class Library. – Simon Elms Jul 12 '17 at 22:49
3

It is output type not the project type. – Muhammad Ashikuzzaman Nov 21 '17 at 06:54

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 23 '09 at 11:25

2

Programmatically, using the EnvDTE namespace, you can investigate the Project.Kind property of the Visual Studio project.

However, if you're interested in a more detailed, the project specification file, i.e. the *.csproj, *.vbproj, among others describes the kind of the project in an XML way.

answered Jun 23 '09 at 11:25

Paulo Santos

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In which element within *.csproj , there is some info about project type? I could not find it in visual studio 2010 – odiseh Jan 01 '12 at 08:31
I found my .vbproj file in the main project folder. So this, for me, is the same folder that my bin folder is i, Views is there too, and the .sln file. – Travis Heeter May 16 '13 at 14:48
```Project.Kind``` is about project guid. – Silvio Delgado Feb 13 '22 at 06:06

score -2 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 20 '20 at 19:11

Easy solution.

If you want to know if it's a WCF Project or ASP.NET Web Service simply open your project's folders in File Explorer. You can hover over the icon with your mouse and a tooltip will display the project type as shown in the picture. Also, you can look under the Type column in File Explorer and it shows it there as well.

WCF Web Service Project:

ASP.NET Web Service Project:

Also to note, if your project has a Resources.Designer.cs or Settings.Designer.cs in its Properties folder it's likely a WinForms application.

This just describes the extension. Nothing to do with project type. — RokX, Jan 07 '21 at 16:11

How to determine the project type in Visual Studio?

5 Answers5

If the `.csproj` file has no `<ProjectTypeGuids>`

Linked

Related

How to determine the project type in Visual Studio?

5 Answers5

If the .csproj file has no <ProjectTypeGuids>

Linked

Related

If the `.csproj` file has no `<ProjectTypeGuids>`