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I have been searching around for an answer to this question, but I cannot find the documentation on it. I found a few similar questions asked here, but none that completely cover it?

Similar Question

What do all of the different files in the project directory do? I am trying to make my project open source and I don't want to have a ton of unnecessary files in my repository. What files are vital and what files will be generated when the user initially loads the project? Its important to note that this is a VB Form Application

Base Directory:

*.vb
*.Designer.vb
*.resx
*.vbproj
*.sln
*.vbproj.user
*.config

Any of the other folders in the base directory?

*/bin
*/Collection
*/My Project
*/obj
*/Resources
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Matt
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1 Answers1

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*.suo and *.user files can be ignored. They store user specific settings such as window arrangements, open files etc. Those files are generated by Visual Studio whenever a solution is opened.

*.vb files are somewhat important since they contain your source code...

*.sln and *.vbproj files tell Visual Studio which projects are in a solution and which files are in a project, respectively. They also contain project specific settings such as build plattforms, custom build events, target .NET Framework etc.

*.resx and app.config can be important, depending on your project. They should not be left out when you publish your project, however since they're part of the Visual Studio project. If they're truly not needed you can remove them from the project.

Edit

Folders bin and obj are where Visual Studio generates the compiled output so you should not include those when you publish the source code of your project. Any other folders are project specific so it depends on your project if they're needed or not.

As a rule of thumb, anything that is automatically generated should be excluded when you publish your source code.

Also, if you don't already, you should use a version control system such as Subversion or GIT to manage your sources. Any essential files / folders as explained above should go in there.

alsed42
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  • Thanks for the quick response. That helps alot. I knew that the .vb files were nessecary, I was just putting all of the present file formats for future viewers. Can you clarify on the additional folders included in the main directory that I just added? – Matt Feb 25 '14 at 18:31
  • I have tried GitHub, but I do not find it to be user friendly at all. Thank for the tip on Subversion Im going to try: https://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/ – Matt Feb 25 '14 at 19:06