Can I change the content of default files in a Visual Studio project type?

Question

In Visual Studio 2019, when I create a new .NET Framework Console Application in C#, it places the entry point in a class called Program in a file named Program.cs and a namespace with the same name as my project:

namespace ProjectName
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            
        }
    }
}

I always just end up removing the namespace and renaming the class and file to EntryPoint(.cs), putting the entry point class in the global namespace.

sealed class EntryPoint
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        
    }
}

Is there any way I can make this the default behavior for all new projects of this type from now on without manually doing that each time? In other words, can I change how the default files in this type of project look?

You can create custom [`dotnet new` template](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/custom-templates) (so you don't need to mess with the default ones). — Guru Stron, Nov 09 '21 at 20:20
would it be better to have to have the entry class `EntryPoint` as `static` instead of `sealed`. — John Alexiou, Nov 09 '21 at 20:26
@GuruStron Good to know, but the solution from the accepted answer is simpler. :-) — Govind Parmar, Nov 09 '21 at 20:44
@GovindParmar it depends. With the templates you can share this with your team via nuget, — Guru Stron, Nov 09 '21 at 20:47

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 09 '21 at 20:53

This can be helpful How can I change the default Visual Studio C# new class file template? [duplicate]

From the docs:

By default, templates installed with Visual Studio are located in:

%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\[edition]\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\[Language]\[Locale ID]

For example on my machine - C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates

Can I change the content of default files in a Visual Studio project type?

1 Answers1