Project loading without solution file

[wjk]

I am trying to write and maintain a fairly large codebase that uses C# *.csproj files. However, since I am doing this on macOS and therefore have no access to “full” Visual Studio, I cannot (easily) write a solution file. The problem is, without a solution file, OmniSharp won’t recognize the *.csproj files. Could OmniSharp be modified to support loading a *.csproj file by itself, one at a time, without needing a solution? (Of course, if a *.csproj file is loaded by itself, its project and assembly references would be recursively parsed to provide IntellliSense.)

[willl]

Maybe try using this to generate an .sln file? https://github.com/sriramgd/create-vs-sln-from-proj-files/

As for your other question, yes, it would be possible to modify Omnisharp to search for .csproj files. In fact I suspect we already have code to do so.

[wjk]

@willl That won’t work for me, as it doesn’t run on Mac.

[willl]

@wjk Perhaps you could use MonoDevelop/Xamarin Studio to generate a .sln file?

[wjk]

@willl I really would prefer to avoid using Xamarin Studio if it can be helped, but between this and continuous problems building Xamarin.Mac, I might just have to.

[willl]

Looks like there is a new PR underway to do this: #635

[DustinCampbell]

yup! #635 should address this

[DustinCampbell]

At least, #635 should address this for OmniSharp. @wjk: it's not clear what editor you're using with OmniSharp from your report. The editor would need to be updated to take advantage of this PR.

[wjk]

@DustinCampbell It’s VSCode. If I understand properly, all I need to do is set the omnisharp.path VSCode preference to point to an updated version of OmniSharp.

[DustinCampbell]

The C# Extension for VS Code will need to be taught to launch OmniSharp when there's just a folder of .csproj files. Today, it doesn't do that. I'll be updating this code in the next few days after #635 is merged in to take advantage of the changes.

[DustinCampbell]

I just submitted dotnet/vscode-csharp#760 for the VS Code extension to better process launch targets for .csproj files when no .sln is present.

[DustinCampbell]

Re-opening this issue until the change in the omnisharp-vscode repo is merged.

[DustinCampbell]

v1.5-beta1 of the C# extension has been released which can launch OmniSharp on a folder of .csproj files when no .sln file is present.