How-To's

Open files and folders, and more project model improvements in Rider

What else is new in Rider 2017.2 EAP? Let’s see!

Open file or folder

Not all code is in a solution or project. So we added the ability to open a file or folder from the Rider start screen, the File | Open menu and from the command line (bin\rider somejavascriptfile.js). Here’s me working on our user group’s static HTML website:
Open folder / open file without needing solution or project

The nice thing is that many (but not all!) Rider features are available when opening a file or folder: there’s HTML/JavaScript/TypeScript support, version control, Go to File and Search Everywhere (double-shift) support, as well as Find in Path (Ctrl+Shift+F).

Attach folder to solution

In a related change, it’s now also possible to attach any folder from the file system to an existing solution or project. Note that attaching folders does not include them in the solution file (.sln) itself: it will just be visible in Rider’s Solution Explorer.
Attach existing folder to solution explorer

Change C# language level in project

Rider supports C# language levels from C# 1.0 up to C# 7.1. Projects can define the language level to use by either setting a specific language level, or “latest”. The C# version to use can now be edited from the project properties:
Edit project C# language level

While writing code, Rider will also detect if language features from a higher language level are used. For example when using async main or the default literal, Rider will tell us we have to change the language level, and provides a quick-fix to do so:
Enable language support quick fix

Please download Rider 2017.2 EAP and give it a try!

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