Is this the stupidest question in the world?

JeffPalley · August 7th, 2014, 11:31 PM

If you didn't read this before 10:07 Pacific Time, you'll never know how stupid this question was. Sorry.

Imar · August 10th, 2014, 02:23 PM

I did read it before 10:07. Would you mind elaborating on the solution?

Cheers,

Imar

JeffPalley · August 10th, 2014, 09:32 PM

When I just "open website," I suppose I'll have to admit that the website *is* opened, but the only FILE that's opened is web.config or configure.master. If I want to edit an aspx file within the website I have to manually open it. I had assumed that when a website is opened, all the files in that folder would become available automatially, similarly to the way it works when I right-click on the website folder and see that there's a choice called "Open as a website with Microsoft Webmatrix."

I guess that what I was looking for was a standard way of opening a website in Visual Studio (whether VS is open or not), sort of the way Photoshop works: if I click on a Photoshop file, Photoshop opens automatically and displays the image.

Right now, the best I've been able to find -- and it's good enough -- is to right-click on the website folder, then use Solution Explorer to open the file I really want to edit.

It just *seems* like there should be a more direct way.

Thanks,
-Jeff

Imar · August 12th, 2014, 03:13 PM

Hi Jeff,

An ASP.NET web site is a collection of files. A typical site has tens, hundreds or even thousands of files. Opening them all up when you open the site would be very inconvenient. The Solution Explorer is your view on your site, enabling you you easily located the files you want to work with. Opening up the file you want to edit is then as easy as double-clicking it.

PhotoShop works different, as it operates on a single file. Opening a PSD starts PhotoShop and then loads that single file for you to edit. Visual Studio, with its multi-file projects and sites just works different. Practice a bit with the Solution Explorer and I am sure you'll start to like it.

Cheers,

Imar

JeffPalley · August 12th, 2014, 06:10 PM

Hi Imar,

I appreciate that you took the time to respond. Actually, I eventually came to the same conclusion (unfortunately, I'm a slow thinker). Still, even though I can't offer a solution, it seems that, since that kind of website is just a collection of files in a single folder, and Windows Explorer is sufficiently aware of the contents of that folder to offer to "open as website with WebMatrix," then why not use those same criteria and make the same offer but for Visual Studio as well as WebMatrix? Precisely which files it would open -- well I don't have an answer: maybe it would look to see if the folder contained files with names like web.config, default.aspx, startpage.aspx, etc.

To summarize, it seems that there ought to be SOME way of right-clicking the folder in Windows Explorer and with only a single additional click, ending up with the website open in Visual Studio plus with a few likely-to-be-useful files already open (and all files visible via Solution Explorer).

Again, I very much appreciate your well-worded and thoughtful response.

Thanks again,
-Jeff

Imar · August 15th, 2014, 04:44 PM

Yes, you should be able to that. Years ago I had a registry key that would a command that would do exactly that. However, I haven't used, or had the need for it in years.

Although a Web Site Project is just a collection of files in a folder, VS still keeps track of it in a Solution Folder. So, after you created a site for the first time, it should show up on your Start Page. So, rather than going to Windows Explorer and open up VS by right-clicking a folder, you just start VS first and then pick the site from the Start Page, or from File | Open Website.

Cheers,

Imar