visual studio project files

c++ visual-studio-2010 visual-studio vcproj vcxproj
user987280 picture user987280 · Dec 2, 2012 · Viewed 26.4k times · Source

What is the difference between a .vcproj and a .vcxproj Visual Studio project file? Is the .vcproj format only available in versions of Visual Studio prior to 2010?

I ask because I am reading an MSDN tutorial dated 10/12 which says to insert text into a certain area of the .vcproj file that doesn't exist in the .vcxproj file. Trying to put the text in a similar area breaks the project.

Answer

Garry picture Garry · Dec 2, 2012

Build System Changes

Project files no longer use the .vcproj file name extension. Visual Studio automatically converts project files that were created by an earlier release of Visual C++ to the format that is used by the current system. For more information about how to manually upgrade a project, see /Upgrade (devenv.exe).

The MSBuild system is used to build Visual C++ projects. However, in Visual Studio 2008 and earlier releases, the VCBuild system was used. Certain file types and concepts that depended on VCBuild either do not exist or are represented differently in the current system.

In the current release, the file name extension for a project file is .vcxproj.

Here is your answer: it has been changed from .vcproj to .vcxproj

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