How do I programmatically refresh/reload a VS project after modifying the underlying file?

Question

I am developing a Visual Studio package and I have written some code that will make a file in Solution Explorer dependant upon another file.

What this means is that

Answer 1

AFAIK the only way of doing this is via automation of the Solution Explorer tool-window:

EnvDTE.DTE dte = ...;

string solutionName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(dte.Solution.FullName);
string projectName = project.Name;

dte.Windows.Item(EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindSolutionExplorer).Activate();
((DTE2)dte).ToolWindows.SolutionExplorer.GetItem(solutionName + @"\" + projectName).Select(vsUISelectionType.vsUISelectionTypeSelect);

dte.ExecuteCommand("Project.UnloadProject");
dte.ExecuteCommand("Project.ReloadProject");

Note that, if the project hasn't been saved, the user will get a dialog box prior to the "Project.UnloadProject" call.

Answer 2

Here is my code (with reactivating the old window):

public void RefreshSolutionExplorer(EnvDTE.Project activeProject, string captionOfActiveWindow)
{
  DTE2 dte2 = activeProject.DTE as DTE2;
  string solutionName = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(dte2.Solution.FullName);
  string projectName = activeProject.Name;

  // Activate SolutionExplorer window
  dte2.Windows.Item(Constants.vsWindowKindSolutionExplorer).Activate();
  // Select your project to be updated
  dte2.ToolWindows.SolutionExplorer.GetItem(solutionName + @"\" + projectName).Select(vsUISelectionType.vsUISelectionTypeSelect);
  // Refresh SolutionExplorer window
  dte2.ExecuteCommand("View.Refresh", String.Empty);
  // Reactivate your old window
  dte2.Windows.Item(captionOfActiveWindow).Activate();
}