Have you ever debugged a large project you didn’t create? If so, you’ve probably gotten lost in the vast jungle of code that was once some poor programmer’s paradise. This vast jungle is full of cannibalistic tribes and wild animals waiting to tear you to pieces. Your only hope for survival is your ability to navigate the solution tree, relying on your wits to circumvent the illogical paths of code that “Go To Definiton” has guided you down.

Luckily, Visual Studio 2008 will provide you a guide if you ask for it. Open Tools | Options… | Projects and Solutions | General. Then, check the box for “Track Active Item in Solution Explorer.”

After you have pressed okay in this dialog, when you have a file opened in the editor, the Solution Tracker will automatically select it. The one catch I’ve found is that if the project is contained within a solution folder, the folder must be open.