microsoft / microsoft/win-dev-skills
winui-dev-workflow: generate a .slnx solution file during greenfield scaffold
Nobody has claimed this yet.
- Dominant language
- C#
- Stars
- 442
- Forks
- 33
- Avg merge
- 2h 59m
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 11
Description
97: #97
Problem
From Joe's blog post:
The first thing I noticed was that no solution file was created. The project built fine on its own, but I had to set up the .slnx manually afterward.
dotnet new winui-mvvm -n <Name> (the template our winui-dev-workflow skill uses) doesn't emit a solution file. CLI-only users don't notice; anyone who opens the result in Visual Studio does — VS will load the loose .csproj but most workflows (multi-project growth, Test Explorer, "open existing solution") assume there is one.
Proposed fix
After dotnet new winui-mvvm, the winui-dev-workflow skill should run:
dotnet new sln -n <AppName> --format slnx
dotnet sln <AppName>.slnx add <AppName>.csproj
(Adjust to whatever invocation produces a current-format .slnx on the installed SDK; fall back gracefully to legacy .sln if the SDK is too old.) This should be the default for greenfield — the agent should not need to be asked.
Related
May be subsumed by — or coordinated with — a unified "greenfield polish phase" step (see cross-cutting themes on the 97 issue).
Acceptance criteria
-
winui-dev-workflow/SKILL.md"Create or Open a Project" section adds the.slnxstep. - Generated solution uses the new
.slnxformat where the installed SDK supports it; falls back to.slncleanly otherwise. - Verified end-to-end: scaffold → open in Visual Studio → solution loads with project attached, builds without changes.
Acknowledgments
Identified by Joe Finney in Building Fluent Icon Finder with the WinUI Copilot skill.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start in winui-dev-workflow/SKILL.md, specifically the "Create or Open a Project" section, and review the existing greenfield scaffold steps. Add the solution-generation step using the installed SDK's current format with a clean legacy fallback, then verify the scaffold opens in Visual Studio with the project attached and builds without changes.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- csharp
- Domain
- build-system, developer-experience
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 72/100