Visual Studio 2008 -- Can I change which "add reference" tab is selected by default?

Question

Every time you start Visual Studio, the first time you click "Add Reference" to add a DLL reference to a project, by default, the .NET tab on that dialog box is selected. As most people reading this have probably noticed, it can take a long time -- often more than 30 seconds -- for the full list of .NET components to fill in.

Because of the way we're designing our solutions, though, about 80% of the time, I want to select either from the "Projects" tab or from the "Browse" tab.

Is there a setting anywhere in Visual Studio that will let me make "Projects" be the first tab that loads up? Does anyone know any other, hidden tricks to accomplish the same effect?

Answer 1

I have never found anywhere that allows you to change the default tab. And yeah, it's annoying how long that window can take to load. I think this is something that we just have to live with.

Answer 2

I am afraid the answer, as far as I can tell, is no. I even took a trip through the registry to determine if there was someway to reorder the tabs. You might be able to do it with a hex editor but I would advise against that.

Answer 3

I use this tip to do this in a different way. Open your Object Browser (Cntrl + Alt + J). Change Browse dropdown to "My Solution". Select the project you want. On Toolbar, click "Add to References in Selected Project in Solution Explorer".

A neat work around which has saved me many hours.

Answer 4

Another tip you might consider is that if you reference a type in another project, ReSharper will notice it and offer to add it to your references for you.

With this, I never visit that tab unless I have file dll references to add.

Answer 5

If you have the PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2008 installed, there is functionality to copy-paste references between projects, as well as copy-paste individual projects as references, all without opening the references dialog.

Answer 6

Tuna Toksoz has created a Fast Add Reference dialog plugin for Visual Studio.

http://devlicio.us/blogs/tuna_toksoz/archive/2009/06/18/vs-addin-fast-add-reference-dialog-no-more-coffee-break.aspx