[Feature Request] Allow Folders within Folders

[dom-brousseau]

Currently, Folder elements may only contain File, Project or Properties elements. Allowing Folder elements within Folder elements would make the .slnx file a lot less repetitive, and increase readability.

Proposal

• Allow for <Folder> elements within other <Folder> elements
• When a child Folder is within a parent Folder, the child's Name attribute becomes relative to the parent's Name
  • ie:

    <Folder Name="/ParentFolder/" />
    <Folder Name="/ParentFolder/ChildFolder/" />

    would be written as

    <Folder Name="/ParentFolder/">
      <Folder Name="ChildFolder/" />
    </Folder>

Motivation

• It would allow the .slnx file to mirror the structure of the solution within Visual Studio.
  • When viewed from an external tool (such as PR diff tools or text editors), it would allow one to parse the structure of the solution a lot quicker.

---

Example Usage

Let's say we have a mono-repo solution, here's how the .slnx file would change, should this feature get implemented.

before:

Solution.slnx

<Solution>
  <Folder Name="/Solution Items/">
    <File Path=".gitignore" />
    <File Path="Directory.Build.props" />
    <File Path="Directory.Packages.props" />
    <File Path="README.md" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/">
    <File Path="src/Services/Directory.Build.props" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain1/">
    <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/SomeDomain1.slnx" />
    <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/Directory.Build.props" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain1/ApplicationLayer/">
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/src/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer.UnitTests.csproj" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain1/Infrastructure/">
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/src/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure.UnitTests.csproj" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain1/Service/">
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/src/SomeDomain1.Service/SomeDomain1.Service.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.Service/SomeDomain1.Service.UnitTests.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.Service/SomeDomain1.Service.IntegrationTests.csproj" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain2/">
    <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/SomeDomain2.slnx" />
    <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/Directory.Build.props" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain2/ApplicationLayer/">
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/src/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer.UnitTests.csproj" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain2/Infrastructure/">
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/src/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure.UnitTests.csproj" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/SomeDomain2/Service/">
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/src/SomeDomain2.Service/SomeDomain2.Service.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.Service/SomeDomain2.Service.UnitTests.csproj" />
    <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.Service/SomeDomain2.Service.IntegrationTests.csproj" />
  </Folder>
</Solution>

after:

Solution.slnx

<Solution>
  <Folder Name="/Solution Items/">
    <File Path=".gitignore" />
    <File Path="Directory.Build.props" />
    <File Path="Directory.Packages.props" />
    <File Path="README.md" />
  </Folder>
  <Folder Name="/Services/">
    <File Path="src/Services/Directory.Build.props" />
    <Folder Name="SomeDomain1/">
      <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/SomeDomain1.slnx" />
      <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/Directory.Build.props" />
      <Folder Name="ApplicationLayer/">
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/src/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer.UnitTests/SomeDomain1.ApplicationLayer.UnitTests.csproj" />
      </Folder>
      <Folder Name="Infrastructure/">
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/src/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure.UnitTests/SomeDomain1.Infrastructure.UnitTests.csproj" />
      </Folder>
      <Folder Name="Service/">
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/src/SomeDomain1.Service/SomeDomain1.Service.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.Service.UnitTests/SomeDomain1.Service.UnitTests.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain1/tests/SomeDomain1.Service.IntegrationTests/SomeDomain1.Service.IntegrationTests.csproj" />
      </Folder>
    </Folder>
    <Folder Name="SomeDomain2/">
      <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/SomeDomain2.slnx" />
      <File Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/Directory.Build.props" />
      <Folder Name="ApplicationLayer/">
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/src/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer.UnitTests/SomeDomain2.ApplicationLayer.UnitTests.csproj" />
      </Folder>
      <Folder Name="Infrastructure/">
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/src/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure.UnitTests/SomeDomain2.Infrastructure.UnitTests.csproj" />
      </Folder>
      <Folder Name="Service/">
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/src/SomeDomain2.Service/SomeDomain2.Service.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.Service.UnitTests/SomeDomain2.Service.UnitTests.csproj" />
        <Project Path="src/Services/SomeDomain2/tests/SomeDomain2.Service.IntegrationTests/SomeDomain2.Service.IntegrationTests.csproj" />
      </Folder>
    </Folder>
  </Folder>
</Solution>