Sorting project items under SSIS projects

For some reason, SSIS projects in VS.NET 2005 will not sort project files, such as dtsx in alphabetical order. As far as I know, there are no built-in function in VS.NET 2005 to sort the items.

Therefore, the workaround is to open the SSIS project file and sort it manually. The SSIS project file is a valid xml document file. This means I can manipulate it in Excel, such as sorting it. However, I’ve opened the project file in notepad and copied part of the xml to a separate xml file to open in Excel, just in case Excel did more than what it should. Make sure the created xml document conform to xml standard.

After opening the xml file in Excel as xml table, perform sorting of the document in whichever order desired (usually A to Z). Once done, save the file, open the file in notepad and copy the changes and replace the project item section of the project file. Now the project items should be sorted accordingly. Do make sure backup is done before attempting this change.