Visual-studio – visual studio 2008 open file in same instance

visual-studio-2008

i have this issue where I'll have a solution open in vs.net, but then i'll need to open some random *.cs or web.config file or something such as thru tortoise/subversion for comparison. If I just double click the file or tell SVN to open it, windows opens a WHOLE other instance of visual studio. Is there a way to get it to just open the new file in the current instance i have open? I know i can drag files to vs.net and open them that way, but if SVN opens it or I just double click a file, it starts a new instance.

Best Answer

I don't have enough reputation yet, otherwise I'd have just commented this, but I have the opposite behaviour in Windows 7 with VS 2008 - with a solution open, double clicking a .vb or .cs file opens it in the current instance.

Unfortunately W7 has hidden the advanced tab on File Type management, but I've put in a 3rd party utility for it. My open command is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe with a command line option of /dde, send DDE ticked, and DDE message Open("%1") - check that yours is the same.