Templates don't show up in New File dialog

I just downloaded the latest Web Workbench, v2.0.501.19486. I'm on Windows 7 Enterprise x64, using VS2010 Ultimate running in 32-bit mode (from C:\Program Files (x86)) running as Administrator, and have all extensions disabled except Web WorkBench, NuGet Package Manager, Process Template Editor, SqlComplete and WITDesigner -- except for Web Workbench, the others can't be disabled, only uninstalled.

However, regardless of whether I disable my remaining extensions or not, I don't see the Less/SASS/CoffeScript templates when I go to File > New... > File.

My New File dialog doesn't look much like the illustration in your docs. Mine shows the following structure on the left-hand Installed Templates panel:

General
Performance
Web
    Visual Basic
    C#
Script

Nowhere in these nodes do I see an item named "Less Style Sheet", which is the template I want to use. I've confirmed the template files are in the expected location:

C:\Users\vcohen\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Extensions\Mindscape\Mindscape Web Workbench\2.0.501.19486

Following Microsoft's instructions to update template files, I ran devenv /installvstemplates, but that had no effect. I'm a bit reluctant to move your templates out of my personal AppData folder, assuming you won't find them to update in the future.

Any advice on how to make Web Workbench work? I'm using LESS on a project, and want others on my team to do the same, so it would be very helpful to gave an editor that understands its syntax.

Thanks!

• Val

Hi Val,

It looks like you're using a Web Site rather than a normal Web project. Web Sites don't show all the normal templates, and don't support all the features of Web Workbench.

Our recommendation is to use Web projects where possible anyway, as we've found these play better with source control, but if you prefer or are required to use a Web Site, then:

• You will need to use another template such as Text File, and manually enter the file extension. E.g. MyStyles.less (or .scss, or .coffee). We trigger on file extension, so this should get you highlighting, intellisense, etc.
• You won't get compilation (for any language). This is per the Web Site philosophy of 'deploy the source, compile on access.' You'll therefore need to use something like DotLess or the Less browser script to compile the .less files on demand, rather than relying on Web Workbench to compile them for you.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm about to go home now (west coast of the USA), but thought I'd add a couple details. When I created my test solution, I chose New Project, selected Visual C# > Web, then picked ASP.NET MVC 3 Web Application. I expected that to create a Web App project for me, not Web Site. Does this have anything to do with the options I selected when installing Visual Studio, or just how I create a particular project or solution?

I'm fine manually compiling -- I'm currently using DotLess to do so -- I really want the syntax and code folding support.

I just tried your suggestion about adding a text file and renaming it -- that worked fine. But I'd still like to understand how to get full support when creating an MVC project.

Thanks!

You're right, an ASP.NET MVC 3 Web Application should be a normal project, not a Web Site. But that New Item dialog looks very Web Site-like! (For example, a C# project would not normally offer Visual Basic templates and vice versa!) I'm not aware of any Visual Studio installation options that would affect this, but we'll have a hunt around and see if we can figure out what's going on. Is it possible for you to post the .sln file and the .csproj or .vbproj file for your project so we can compare them to what we get for a MVC project? Thanks!

Sure, attached are the .sln and .csproj files. I selected new project, chose ASP.NET MVC 3 Web Application, gave it a name, and on the next dialog selected Internet Application, Razor view engine, and Use HTML5 semantic markup. Then I added a couple text files to .\Content and renamed them to test.less and test.less2, and got syntax highlighting, code folding and your Go Pro reminder. But, I didn't see the .LESS template when I went to add the new files.

So, I have an OK workaround, but if you have any hints as to how to get this to work as expected, I'd sure appreciate it!