Group files in Visual Studio

Question

I'm looking at tidying up my project layout in Visual Studio and I'm wondering if there is any hack, plugin or trick to associate an .xml file with a .cs file of the same name so they appear grouped in my solution navigator/explorer.

Similar to the way the code-behind file is associated with its aspx.

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks

Answer 1

In your project file :

<Compile Include="FileA.cs"/>
<Compile Include="FileA.xml">
  <DependentUpon>FileA.cs</DependentUpon>
</Compile>

Or you could use Group Items command of VSCommands 2010 extension.

Edit: Just in case your file is in a folder, don't include the folder name in DependentUpon tag. For example if your file is in Helpers folder:

<Compile Include="HelpersFileA.cs"/>
<Compile Include="HelpersFileA.xml">
  <DependentUpon>FileA.cs</DependentUpon>
</Compile>