How do I create a Shared Code project (.shproj)

Question

How I add a .shproj to my Visual Studio solution and reference it from other projects?

I know that Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 added a new project type for "Shared Code." This type of project does not produce a dll itself. Instead the files from the Shared project are included as source files in the assemblies that reference it.

I know it exists because I have seen one in an open source project. However, looking through the project templates in Visual Studio I could not find a "Shared" project type.

Answer 1

Edit: According to the Visual Studio 2015 Preview documentation, VS 2015 adds templates for shared projects and a UI for managing the references, so the below should no longer be necessary after upgrading.

There does not seem to be a way to create one directly. It appears currently that Shared Code projects are automatically created when you create a Universal App project as shown in this introduction to creating a Universal App.

Therefore, to create one in your solution: Add a new project type "Blank App (Universal App)." Delete the Windows 8 and Windows Phone projects it created leaving only the Shared project.

Answer 2

Check out the Shared Project Reference Manager extension.

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Note:VS2013 update 2 or above

Answer 3

An alternative to vossad01's approach is to create a shared code project, then open up the .csproj file and see what the project looks like in the .csproj. Visual Studio's csproj files are simply XML files so you can open, copy, and paste the shared code project into your own csproj.