Develop Reference

How to create a truly blank project in Visual Studio (2017)

It seems like there should be a way to do this, but I just can't seem to do it. I love VS and I want to use it to develop web apps that are strictly HTML/Javascript based. In other words, no C#, no VB, no resulting /bin folder, no web config, no nothing. A blank project meaning "truly 100% blank" and not trying force me into some Microsoft technology or otherwise. I just want to use VS to write the code because it's still the best HTML/Javascript/Typescript/Everything-else-script editor out there.
Any thoughts on this? Can it even be done? Or is VS just too dependent on "Microsoft thinking" to allow this?

What you have described is indeed possible in Visual Studio 2017 Community.
Step 1) Create a new Project via File / New / Project
Step 2) Select Other Project Types / Visual Studio Solutions / Blank Solution.
Step 3) Right-click the newly created solution and select Add / New Solution Folder. This step may not seem important, but it seems that files cannot be added directly to a solution without first creating a "Solution Folder". This solution folder is virtual in that it does not correspond a physical folder location.
Step 4) Now right-click the newly created Solution Folder and select Add / Existing Item.
Step 5) Insert all the files you want to add. These may be added via the menu option in Step 4 or otherwise drag-and-dropped onto the solution folder (not the solution itself!).
Notice that even after creating the new solution and adding files, the only things created by Visual Studio 2017 are the usual .vs internal folder and the solution file itself.

I haven't heard or found a template online that will do this. I'm assuming you meant just HTML, JS/TypeScript, CSS/SASS etc. without .NET for "truly blank". Me I just delete the files I don't use :)

It seems that what you want is to start with an empty canvas like Blank Solution and then add your files in the solution. You don't actually need to have library/console/web projects in a solution, you could just have html and js and whatever you use for web development.
You can find the Blank Solution when you create a new project under the Other Project Types tab.

Html and javascript in visual studio 2013

i have been working with visual studio for variety of projects for quite a while now, bu t i recently needed to develop a simple html5 webpage that will use some embedded or a seperate file of javascript, now i know there are asp.net projects which support stuff like that but i wanted to know is there a template or project type or something using which i can work purely with html and js only without having to deal with hell of asp.net configs and pages and all that? just simple html5 and js dev with intellisense and maybe a designer mode for css. i looked over internet and am unable to find an exact answer.
Regards.

If you're starting from scratch you can go to File > New > Web Site and choose ASP.NET Empty Web Site. This will give you a very basic site, which has nothing but a Web.config file. You can then add all of your html, js, and css from there. You can also delete the Web.config file, but it is useful as it allows you to continue to use the debugger on your site.
Alternatively you can just start the project in windows explorer, setup the basic files and site directories, then you can go back into Visual Studio, and go to File > Open > Website and then locate the directory your site is in. This will just open the files and allow you to work on them like any other project.
These are the only ways I've seen so far, you may also be able to find project templates online but I haven't looked.
Also, if you're using Visual Studio in this way, then I recommend installing Web Essentials it adds a lot of useful features.
Hope that helps.

Handling common JavaScript files in Visual Studio 2010

We're beginning work on a couple of fully JavaScript-dependent web apps (our previous apps have been ASP.NET MVC, with JavaScript 'goodness' sprinkled over-the-top).
We have a few files that will be shared across the board, and it would be nice to store these files in a Common project, and 'Add As Link' them into individual projects (as would be possible with compiled code).
Obviously this doesn't work with something like JavaScript as the file isn't actually 'there' in the correct location.
Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping a single version of a shared JavaScript file, for use across multiple projects?

I know this issue is ancient, but still wanted to put forward my solution because it is a bit simpler than beardtwizzle's.
You can ensure that Visual Studio copies all linked files to where you placed the link in Visual Studio's Solution Explorer by adding this at the end of your .csproj file:
<Target Name="CopyLinkedContentFiles" BeforeTargets="Build">
<Copy SourceFiles="%(Content.Identity)"
DestinationFiles="%(Content.Link)"
SkipUnchangedFiles='true'
OverwriteReadOnlyFiles='true'
Condition="'%(Content.Link)' != ''" />
</Target>
I've described how this works in my blog post at
http://mattperdeck.com/post/Copying-linked-content-files-at-each-build-using-MSBuild.aspx

In the end, this is how I've achieved it. It may not be to everyone's taste - but worked a treat for me.
Note: In all of our projects, static resources are in a root directory called 'Assets', so for example JavaScript is always in /Assets/js/ and CSS /Assets/css/.
Solution
In the project that is going to 'import' the common code, I simply add the common .js file 'As Link' within /Assets/js/.
Go to that new addition's Properties and set 'Copy to Output Directory' to 'Copy if newer'.
Now I simply edit the project's post-build event command line to the following:
xcopy /Y /E "$(TargetDir)\Assets" "$(ProjectDir)\Assets"
When the project builds, it copies the imported files to \bin\Assets\js - the post-build event then takes a copy of those over to the project directory - in time for the site to use them.

The correct solution is embedding javascript/css files in your project. You can do this by using WebResources.axd. This is the official way microsoft embeds js in its controls. (Like validation controls)
You can find a good tutorial on: https://web.archive.org/web/20211020131200/https://www.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/080906-1.aspx

I can also see this question is ancient, but thought I would add my two cents...
I have a javascript file in a separate project. I added a linked reference and this works well for publishing, but doesn't work in IIS Express or Casinni. I tried adding custom routing to catch the missing file and manually remap it, but it is bit of a hack and for some reason stopped working when I upgraded to MVC 5.1, so rather than fix the hack, I found a better way:
System.Web.Optimization has javascript bundles.
In your shared project, set the Copy To Output Directory to 'Copy Always' and Build Action to 'Content' on your js file. This means your js files end up in the bin folder of your website project. They cannot be served from there (IIS wont serve anything in the bin folder for obvious security reasons), but they can be included in bundles
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Optimization;
public class BundleConfig
{
public static void RegisterBundles(BundleCollection bundles)
{
bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/externalLibrary").Include(
"~/bin/scripts/externalLibrary.js"
));
}
}
You then need to add this to Application_Start in your global.asax file (right next to register routes)
BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(System.Web.Optimization.BundleTable.Bundles);
then use your bundle link this in your razor cshtml:
<script type='text/javascript' src='#System.Web.Optimization.BundleTable.Bundles.ResolveBundleUrl("~/bundles/externalLibrary")'></script>
you will need the nuget package for microsoft.aspnet.web.optimization

Anyone that stumbles across this question here in the future should know that there are now Shared Projects in Visual Studio to solve this problem. Universal Windows projects use them by default and you can create your own by downloading and installing the VS extension here: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/315c13a7-2787-4f57-bdf7-adae6ed54450
Once you download the extension you can add a Shared Project (Empty) to your solution. The project can be found in the project templates for Visual C#, Visual C++, and JavaScript.
Then include the files you want to share to the shared project in any folder structure that makes sense for you.
Next you will include the shared project as a shared reference in the other projects in that solution that need access to the shared files. Right-click the other project and choose "Add Shared Project Reference".
Now you can reference the shared files in your main project as if the files in the shared project existed there. They are compiled as part of that project.
The technology was intended for Universal apps to share code between Windows Phone and Windows Store apps so be warned that you may have trouble sharing in different scenarios but it is worth a try to see if it will fill your need.

You could perhaps use visual studio templates

great question, I've been thinking about this for quite some time. The only solutions that have popped up in my mind are hosting the files on the web and using them like a cdn or using symlinks. You could add a code snippet into your visual studio to reference them.

This blog post describes an alternative solution to the answer by #beardtwizzle:
http://consultingblogs.emc.com/jamesdawson/archive/2008/06/03/using-linked-files-with-web-application-projects.aspx
The idea is similar:
Add the shared file to to web project as a link
Modify the _CopyWebApplication build step in the project, so that the linked files are copied correct destination path.
So instead of a post build event the files are copied by a modified build step. For me this solution feels a little bit cleaner (but this may well be a matter of taste). Anyway I just added this to our solution and it works great so far!

Use proper version control.
Keep the js in one location and then just git pull (or the equivelant Mercurial / Bazaar) them back into your code whenever you've updated your javascript.

Automatic Script Minification and Combination?

Does anyone know what is being used in this article (Building an HTML5 App with ASP.NET by Stephen Walther) to compress the javascript files?
About 1/2 way down in the blog entry, he says: "All of the custom JavaScript files are combined and minified automatically whenever the application is built with Visual Studio."
However, I've never heard of that being built into Visual Studio.
What is being used to do this?

Upon further investigation, it appears that his sample project included a custom project that uses the Microsoft.Ajax.Utilities.Minifier.

How to work on Javascript projects?

I am trying to write my own Javascript Framework something like jQuery.
I use Aptana Studio for designing websites. I was planning to create a web page and write the Javascript code just as we would do for a website. Then I noticed that Aptana Studio also has a Javascript Project. So I created a new Javascript Project. But it primarily allows you to create only .js files and no HTML files. I wonder what a standalone .js file would do? Would't I need an HTML file to execute and test my Javascript code?
Certainly there must be some advantage to using the Javascript Project. But I am not able to figure it out. Can someone please explain how to use the Javascript Project?

I don't know anything about Aptana Studio, but I'm guessing that you're intended to drive your JavaScript project from another project. Think of the JavaScript project like a self-contained library. It doesn't make sense to include the test code in the library itself, because consumers of the library probably don't want to deal with it. Try creating a second project that imports your JavaScript project and allows you to play with it and test it.

I would recommend that you try Javascript-Test Driver. It has an IDE support and also it seems to be fairly good at helping you debug code. Find more details here:
http://code.google.com/p/js-test-driver/
I would say that while you DO need HTML files; you'd probably wanna do more according to the testing framework you choose; as some work with fixtures other loads up iframe and stuff. But I would presume that writing a whole framework would take more than just HTML pages and a unit testing framework would be more apt for the req.
Screw Unit for JS
http://github.com/nkallen/screw-unit
I know I have deviated from your question; but I just felt that rather than right project structure and HTML for testing what would be more important is a testing framework that keeps development agile and fast.
But that's just me.