Arranging .csproj files makes it a lot easier to merge changes automatically. We were using the merge=union option with git for our repository and started encountering some issues. After some searching around, I didn't find an alternative that I liked, so I created a new command line tool to arrange .csproj files and ditched the merge=union option for a clean filter.
One of the major annoyances with Visual Studio Extension development is finding out how to make them. It is relatively simple to use the extension wizard and get a command in the `Tools` menu. At that point you really have no idea why or how it works. Doing anything beyond that simple exercise takes a leap in understanding which is not easy to come by. You search and read and follow the rabbit hole. Just when you think you won't figure it out at all, you'll find that one answer that opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. But maybe that is just me. I am starting this series of posts in case it isn't just me.
In this post, I will take my simple extension, NArrangeVS, from having a single command in the menu and some options to running the command on certain files each time they are saved. I will also refactor some of the code to enhance performance and fix issues that are encountered along the way.