What is the significance of ProjectTypeGuids tag in the visual studio project file

What is the significance of the ProjectTypeGuids tag in a visual studio project?? When I created a WPF application, i am seeing two GUIDs in here.

{60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}**

Does these represent WPF and Windows type of applications?

If I create my own project type (.myproj) that has .xaml and .cs files, what should I fill in this ProjectTypeGuids tags? Should I also need to fill the ProjectType tag?

It would also be better if someone differentiate the ProjectType and ProjectTypeGuids*tags.

• {FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC} is the GUID for C# project
• {60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548} is for project in WPF flavor package

So your ProjectTypeGuids is for a WPF C# project.

You could see the meaning of the different GUID in the register :

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Projects for ProjectTypeGuids
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Packages for packages reference by some project

Some ProjectTypeGuids

Windows (C#)           {FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}
Windows (VB.NET)       {F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}
Windows (Visual C++)   {8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}
Web Application        {349C5851-65DF-11DA-9384-00065B846F21}
Web Site               {E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}
WCF                    {3D9AD99F-2412-4246-B90B-4EAA41C64699}
WPF                    {60DC8134-EBA5-43B8-BCC9-BB4BC16C2548}
XNA (Windows)          {6D335F3A-9D43-41b4-9D22-F6F17C4BE596}
XNA (XBox)             {2DF5C3F4-5A5F-47a9-8E94-23B4456F55E2}
XNA (Zune)             {D399B71A-8929-442a-A9AC-8BEC78BB2433}
Silverlight            {A1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B}
ASP.NET MVC            {F85E285D-A4E0-4152-9332-AB1D724D3325}
ASP.NET MVC 4          {E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47}
Test                   {3AC096D0-A1C2-E12C-1390-A8335801FDAB}
Solution Folder        {2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}

From MZ-Tools: List of known project type Guids:

Every Visual Studio project has a project type (Windows project, Smart Device project, Web Site project, etc.) and in some cases more than one type (subtypes or flavors).

Every project type is identified by a unique Guid, so every project has one or more project type Guids.

Project type Guids are stored generally in the project file:

<PropertyGroup>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{A860303F-1F3F-4691-B57E-529FC101A107};{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    ...
</PropertyGroup> 

But for some special projects (such as some database projects) and projects lacking a file (such as Web Site projects), the project type is stored also in the solution file:

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 10.00
# Visual Studio 2008
Project("{F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}") = "SqlServerProject1", "SqlServerProject1.vbproj", "{BE5F0BE0-93CD-4FCE-A853-9096A442DF1B}"
EndProject

The project type Guids are stored in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\<version>\Projects. However, not all the Guids stored in that registry key are actual project types. Some of them are used only to provide project templates (for C# and VB.NET projects) and others have other purposes. The following table lists known project type Guids.

Project Type Description                 Project Type Guid

Windows (C#)                             {FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}
Windows (VB.NET)                         {F184B08F-C81C-45F6-A57F-5ABD9991F28F}
Windows (Visual C++)                     {8BC9CEB8-8B4A-11D0-8D11-00A0C91BC942}
Web Application                          {349C5851-65DF-11DA-9384-00065B846F21}
Web Site                                 {E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}
Distributed System                       {F135691A-BF7E-435D-8960-F99683D2D49C}
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)   {3D9AD99F-2412-4246-B90B-4EAA41C64699}
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)    {60DC8134-EBA5-43B8-BCC9-BB4BC16C2548}
Visual Database Tools                    {C252FEB5-A946-4202-B1D4-9916A0590387}
Database                                 {A9ACE9BB-CECE-4E62-9AA4-C7E7C5BD2124}
Database (other project types)           {4F174C21-8C12-11D0-8340-0000F80270F8}
Test                                     {3AC096D0-A1C2-E12C-1390-A8335801FDAB}
Legacy (2003) Smart Device (C#)          {20D4826A-C6FA-45DB-90F4-C717570B9F32}
Legacy (2003) Smart Device (VB.NET)      {CB4CE8C6-1BDB-4DC7-A4D3-65A1999772F8}
Smart Device (C#)                        {4D628B5B-2FBC-4AA6-8C16-197242AEB884}
Smart Device (VB.NET)                    {68B1623D-7FB9-47D8-8664-7ECEA3297D4F}
Workflow (C#)                            {14822709-B5A1-4724-98CA-57A101D1B079}
Workflow (VB.NET)                        {D59BE175-2ED0-4C54-BE3D-CDAA9F3214C8}
Deployment Merge Module                  {06A35CCD-C46D-44D5-987B-CF40FF872267}
Deployment Cab                           {3EA9E505-35AC-4774-B492-AD1749C4943A}
Deployment Setup                         {978C614F-708E-4E1A-B201-565925725DBA}
Deployment Smart Device Cab              {AB322303-2255-48EF-A496-5904EB18DA55}
Visual Studio Tools for Apps (VSTA)      {A860303F-1F3F-4691-B57E-529FC101A107}
Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO)    {BAA0C2D2-18E2-41B9-852F-F413020CAA33}
SharePoint Workflow                      {F8810EC1-6754-47FC-A15F-DFABD2E3FA90}
XNA (Windows)                            {6D335F3A-9D43-41b4-9D22-F6F17C4BE596}
XNA (XBox)                               {2DF5C3F4-5A5F-47a9-8E94-23B4456F55E2}
XNA (Zune)                               {D399B71A-8929-442a-A9AC-8BEC78BB2433}
SharePoint (VB.NET)                      {EC05E597-79D4-47f3-ADA0-324C4F7C7484}
SharePoint (C#)                          {593B0543-81F6-4436-BA1E-4747859CAAE2}
Silverlight                              {A1591282-1198-4647-A2B1-27E5FF5F6F3B}
ASP.NET MVC 1.0                          {603C0E0B-DB56-11DC-BE95-000D561079B0}
ASP.NET MVC 2.0                          {F85E285D-A4E0-4152-9332-AB1D724D3325}
ASP.NET MVC 3.0                          {E53F8FEA-EAE0-44A6-8774-FFD645390401}
ASP.NET MVC 4.0                          {E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47}

A thread at msdn has already been started and a lot has been discussed out there. If anybody is interested to know about this, check What is the significance of ProjectTypeGuids tag in the visual studio project file

> ProjectTypeGuids is used by Visual Studio for project aggregation. In > your example you have a WPF (represented by > 60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548) C# project (represented by > FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC). > > If you have a custom project type working with both .xaml and .cs you > should try to add your custom project guid (specified by your project > factory GUID) as below: > > <ProjectTypeGuids>{YourProjectFactoryClassGUID};{60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC} > </ProjectTypeGuids>