Edit Default Visual Studio 2012 Item and Project Templates

After adding a new file or project within a Visual Studio solution there are certain settings that I always update.  Follow the steps below to edit the default templates so these settings become the default.

Visual Studio 2012 Project and Item Template files are located here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates

Add "public" to all new C# class files:

Edit the Class.cs file by adding the word "public" in front of the word "class"

The Class.cs can be found here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

After you're done, it should look like this:
using System; using System.Collections.Generic; $if$ ($targetframeworkversion$ >= 3.5)using System.Linq; $endif$using System.Text; $if$ ($targetframeworkversion$ >= 4.5)using System.Threading.Tasks; $endif$ namespace $rootnamespace$ { public class $safeitemrootname$ { } }

Do not add the "class1.cs" file to every new Class Library project:

Edit the "classlibrary.csproj" and "csClassLibrary.vstemplate" files found here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\ProjectTemplates\CSharp\Windows\1033\ClassLibrary\

After edited they should look like this:

classlibrary.csproj

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"> <import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" /> <propertygroup> <configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration> <platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform> <projectguid>$guid1$</ProjectGuid> <outputtype>Library</OutputType> <appdesignerfolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder> <rootnamespace>$safeprojectname$</RootNamespace> <assemblyname>$safeprojectname$</AssemblyName> <targetframeworkversion>v$targetframeworkversion$</TargetFrameworkVersion> <filealignment>512</FileAlignment> </PropertyGroup> <propertygroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' "> <debugsymbols>true</DebugSymbols> <debugtype>full</DebugType> <optimize>false</Optimize> <outputpath>..\bin\Debug\</OutputPath> <defineconstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants> <errorreport>prompt</ErrorReport> <warninglevel>4</WarningLevel> </PropertyGroup> <propertygroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' "> <debugtype>full</DebugType> <optimize>true</Optimize> <outputpath>..\bin\Release\</OutputPath> <defineconstants>TRACE</DefineConstants> <errorreport>prompt</ErrorReport> <warninglevel>4</WarningLevel> <debugsymbols>true</DebugSymbols> </PropertyGroup> <itemgroup> <reference Include="System"/> $if$ ($targetframeworkversion$ >= 3.5) <reference Include="System.Core"/> <reference Include="System.Xml.Linq"/> <reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions"/> $endif$ $if$ ($targetframeworkversion$ >= 4.0) <reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp"/> $endif$ <reference Include="System.Data"/> <reference Include="System.Xml"/> </ItemGroup> <itemgroup> <compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" /> </ItemGroup> <import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" /> <!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it. Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets. <target Name="BeforeBuild"> </Target> <target Name="AfterBuild"> </Target> --> </Project>

csClassLibrary.vstemplate
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <vstemplate Version="3.0.0" Type="Project" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/vstemplate/2005"> <templatedata> <name Package="{FAE04EC1-301F-11d3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}" ID="2322" /> <description Package="{FAE04EC1-301F-11d3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}" ID="2323" /> <icon Package="{FAE04EC1-301F-11d3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}" ID="4547" /> <templateid>Microsoft.CSharp.ClassLibrary</TemplateID> <projecttype>CSharp</ProjectType> <requiredframeworkversion>2.0</RequiredFrameworkVersion> <sortorder>20</SortOrder> <numberofparentcategoriestorollup>1</NumberOfParentCategoriesToRollUp> <createnewfolder>true</CreateNewFolder> <defaultname>ClassLibrary</DefaultName> <providedefaultname>true</ProvideDefaultName> <createinplace>true</CreateInPlace> </TemplateData> <templatecontent> <project File="ClassLibrary.csproj" ReplaceParameters="true"> <projectitem ReplaceParameters="true" TargetFileName="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs">AssemblyInfo.cs</ProjectItem> </Project> </TemplateContent> </VSTemplate>




Hope this helps,
Aaron