views:

206

answers:

3

Apologies for the non-programming question, but does anyone know how to get Visual Studio 2008 to list projects in the Windows 7 Recent Files list instead of the source files it lists by default?

+1  A: 

You should have a "Recent Projects" menu option right below "Recent Files" that shows projects and solutions.

File > Recent Projects

PabloC
Thanks Pablo, but I believe you are talking about the list that is in Visual Studio.I'm referring to the list that is in Windows 7 itself.i.e. if you pin the shortcut to Visual Studio to the Start Menu or Taskbar, you get a Recent Files list.eg http://twitpic.com/ww8lkThis unfortunately never seems to list projects
Chris Anderson
Ah, I see what you mean. Apologies. Yes, mine seems to do the same. This is known as the "Jump List" I think. I expect this because VS 2008 doesn't formally support Jump Lists. However, it appears you can define your own jump lists using a program called "Jumplist-Launcher". I haven't used it myself but it appears to be popular: http://en.www.ali.dj/jumplist-launcher/.
PabloC
Excellent, thanks. I'll look into that
Chris Anderson
+1  A: 

That functionality has to be supported by the application (by implementing specific Win7 task list API). If Visual Studio supports it it would be in the options somewhere. I can't find it so I guess we're out of luck for this version of VS. Hopefully VS2010 has better support for this cool feature.

Ah, but I was wrong, here is a way to kind of indirectly hack it:

http://einsteintech.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!89E05724AF67A39E!744.entry

Igor Zevaka
Thanks Igor. Yeah it appears that VS implemented the interfaces for the MRU that Windows 7 sees for the file list and handled the project list internally. It's a shame they did it that way around, because I would have thought project files were the bread and butter of VS. +1 on seeing it in a future version of VS!
Chris Anderson
Yeah, recent projects list will transofrm MRU from nearly useless to very helpful.
Igor Zevaka
Thanks for the registry hack solution - works a treat!
Chris Anderson
Cool. Nice find.
PabloC
A: 

Here's another way to workaround without a Registry edit. Get to your frequent Visual Stuio projects fast...

This has the advantage of not being specific to a Visual Studio Version

Chathuranga Wijeratna
An excellent answer- it also means that the solutions are listed regardless of VS version (useful for those legacy projects)Thanks!
Chris Anderson