This is maybe the first question everybody starting with Orchard development asks. I.e. what should I do to have a Visual Studio solution that I can run and play with and use to start writing an Orchard module or theme? Here are the first steps.

1. Get the latest source code. You have multiple options here (see also "Ways of source controlling an Orchard solution"):
   
   • The "Releases" section on the Orchard project site always has the latest release's source. You could simply download the source in a zip package. This is easy to do and doesn't require Mercurial.
   • Clone the Orchard repository and checkout the dev branch.
2. Copy Orchard.sln: use a separate solution file for your custom development. This makes future upgrades easier.
3. Create your own modules/themes: by using command-line scaffolding you can generate the skeleton for modules and themes.
4. Add your newly created modules/themes to the solution. It's a nice practice to keep your custom modules separated from the built-in ones so now you could create a new solution folder for those and add your modules there.
5. Start coding!

Don't hesitate, take an Orchard jumpstart now!

2 Comments

• Saurabh said 8 years ago

  Hi,
  
  Thanks for this post. I am trying to setup something very similar to what you have explained. Keeping orchard source separate from our custom development source. Can you please provide a copy to download or elaborate more on the steps.
  
  Regards,
  Saurabh

• Piedone said 8 years ago

  You can download the full Orchard source from the Orchard project site (linked) or by cloning the source repository.