SolZip

The SolZip package provides 3 ways to Compress(Zip) Visual Studio 2008 C# Solutions, C# Projects and Items. A commandline, One using Guidance Automation (GAX) and one using ManagedMenuExtensions.

The concept of SolZip is simple - to enable Zip Compression of Visual Studio Solutions and Projects. This is not a unique idea, others have done it too. The uniqueness comes from the tools used to accomplish this, and the userinterfaces offered.

The simple and smart thing is that SolZip doesn't compress folders but actually reads the sln file and csproj files to infer which items are to be zipped. This also means that it doesn't need special logic to keep out things like the bin and obj folder or .svn folders from subversion.

So it is really not the compression part which makes SolZip extremely valuable. The ability to get all relevant files of the solution, excluding generated assemblies, PDB files, XML files, and other random debris, is something that every developer needs time and time again when they want to share their code with others. The ability to right click on a solution in Visual Studio, and make a Zip file of all relevant files makes this extremely easy.

SolZipMME uses Managed Menu Extensions to enable Right click menus on Visual Studio Solutions, Projects and Items in the Solution Explorer. It is really the main offering of SolZip.

SolZip.exe is a commandline tool for compressing solutions from a dos prompt.

Offers the same Visual Studio Integration as SolZipMME but using Guidance Automation instead of Managed Menu Extensions. It in this sense it is not quite as slick as SolZipMME because you need to enable the guidance package for each solution you want to Compress.