Microsoft.VisualStudio.SolutionPersistence

Microsoft.VisualStudio.SolutionPersistence provides shared serializers and object models for manipulating Visual Studio solution files. It supports both the traditional text-based .sln format and the newer XML-based .slnx format.

Key capabilities include:

• Unified Object Model: Manipulate solution and project contents using a common model regardless of the underlying file format.
• SLN Support: Consistent with legacy Visual Studio parsing logic, including support for specifying file encodings (ASCII, UTF-8 w/ BOM, and UTF-16).
• SLNX Support: A simplified XML format designed to reduce merge conflicts and preserve user-added elements, comments, and whitespace.

To handle features specific to a file format (like encoding or XML styling), use the ISerializerModelExtension interface. Each serializer provides a CreateModelExtension method that allows you to specify options during model creation.

Format-specific capabilities:

• .sln files: Supports specifying different encodings such as ASCII, UTF-8 w/ BOM, and UTF-16.
• .slnx files: Supports customizing XML formatting options.

The library uses a hierarchical object model to represent solution structures:

• SolutionModel: The root object representing the entire solution.
• SolutionProjectModel: Represents individual projects contained within the solution.
• SolutionFolderModel: Represents logical solution folders (note that these are logical constructs and do not always correspond to physical directories).

While the core model is unified, you can use ISerializerModelExtension to access format-specific properties (like encoding for .sln or XML formatting for .slnx). Each serializer provides a CreateModelExtension method to initialize these extensions.

This project uses GitHub Issues to track bugs and feature requests. Before filing a new issue, please search the existing issues to avoid creating duplicates. New bugs or feature requests should be submitted as a new Issue in this repository.

Note: Support for this repository is primarily focused on scenarios involving Visual Studio and related products.

The primary entry point for the library is the SolutionSerializers static class. You can use the GetSerializerByMoniker helper method to automatically select the appropriate serializer based on a file extension, or you can instantiate specific serializers directly.

Use GetSerializerByMoniker when you want the library to decide whether to use the .sln or .slnx serializer based on the file being processed.

Microsoft support for this software is subject to the following conditions:

• Scope: Support is available only when the software is used within officially supported products, such as Visual Studio.
• Version Support: Support and servicing are limited to the latest released version.
• Assisted Support: For professional assistance from a support engineer, you must open a ticket with the Microsoft assisted support team.

For more details on versioning and lifecycle, refer to the Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing documentation.