Visual Studio: How to "Copy to Output Directory" without copying the folder structure?

Question

I have several DLL files in the \ lib folder of my project folder. On the dll properties page, I selected "Build Action" as "Content" and "Copy to Output Directory" as "Copy always".

After the build, I actually get a copy of the dll, but they are inside \ bin \ Release \ lib, and not in \ bin \ Release.

Is there a way to copy DLL files \ Bin \ Release (and not \ Bin \ Release \ Lib) without writing a script after assembling or resorting to NANT, etc.?

Answer 1

instead of <Content> use <ContentWithTargetPath> and specify the target path, for example:

 <ContentWithTargetPath Include="lib\some_file.dat"> <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory> <TargetPath>some_file.dat</TargetPath> </ContentWithTargetPath> 

Please note that this entry may not be visible in Visual Studio (2012, 2015, 2017), but as soon as it is manually added in csproj, it will appear in Visual Studio. The destination route will not be editable through the user interface.

Answer 2

Save them in $(ProjectDir)\Lib , but add these “ As Link ” files to the root of your .csproj. Now they will be copied to bin \ Debug (or any other output folder) without being in lib.

EDIT: This answer was written far back when ContentWithTargetPath was not available in the VS / MSBuild versions that I used. Leave this answer here for people who might have to use an older version of VS. Please stop commenting on this, we all know that there are better ways now.

Answer 3

Add the dll files as a reference to the project, and in the reference set “Copy local” to true.

Answer 4

It seems that in VisualStudio 2015, if the DLL files that you add with the link are in a subfolder of the same project, they automatically put the folder, and the output is also placed in the folder, as you saw.

If the DLLs are located in another project or directory on disk, but not in a subfolder of the project, you can "Add via link" and they will be placed in the root directory only fine.

Answer 5

If your main intention is to include the DLLs without cluttering up the project root directory, another solution is to move the DLLs into a separate shared project and add it as a reference to the original project.

(Please note that this post does not give a direct answer to this question, since it does not preserve the folder and project structure, but I found this approach useful because I was able to restructure my project in my case and because I wanted to avoid some of the disadvantages other approaches here.)

measures

• Right click your Solution → Add → New Project → Shared Project
• Add the DLLs to this project (in the root directory of this project, and not in the subfolder "lib")
• (Make sure the properties of the DLL file are set correctly, for example, Build Action: Content and Copy to Output Directory: Copy Always )
• Right-click the source project. References → Add Reference → Shared Projects
• Select the shared project you created earlier.

The setup is as follows:

Answer 6

If you need to copy files from the Libs directory to the root folder of VS2017:

 <ItemGroup Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'x64'"> <None Include="Libs\x64\**" Link="\%(Filename)%(Extension)" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" /> </ItemGroup> <ItemGroup Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'x86'"> <None Include="Libs\x86\**" Link="\%(Filename)%(Extension)" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" /> </ItemGroup> 

To any other folder, including the Libs folder (RecursiveDir)

 <ItemGroup Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'x86'"> <None Include="Libs\x86\**" Link="mycustomfolder\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" /> </ItemGroup> 

Answer 7

An alternative method is to simply leave elements like None . In Solution Explorer, select the ones you want to deploy and set the Content property to True .

Note: I did this in VS2019, and everything can change from version to version.

For this to work, right-click your project and select "Unload Project." Then right-click on the unloaded project and select "Change project_name .vcxproj".

In the editor, go to the bottom of the file and paste this target right in front of the end </Project> :

  <Target Name="CopyContent" AfterTargets="Build"> <Copy SourceFiles="@(None)" Condition="'%(None.DeploymentContent)' == 'true'" DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)" ContinueOnError="true" /> </Target> 

Now right-click on the unloaded project and select "Update Project". Select to save and close if prompted.

I also set OutputDirectory to:

$(SolutionDir)bin\$(Configuration)\$(Platform)\

and IntermediateDirectory for:

$(SolutionDir)obj\$(Configuration)\$(ProjectName)\$(Platform)\

on the project properties common page. This puts the output in the bin folder, and the intermediate in the obj folder at the root of your solution.

Note: $(SolutionDir) not detected when starting MSBuild from the command line. There is a trick you can use to determine this for the folder the .sln file is in using GetDirectoryNameOfFileAbove. (left as an exercise for the reader). Also, it looks like in 2019 they are handling this correctly on the command line anyway. Yes :) $(SolutionDir) contains the trailing backslash, and therefore, none after it. The results of each must have a backslash.

Now, if you have Pro or higher, please do not do this every time you need to create a project. That would be lame. Instead, as soon as you set up your project as you like, choose “ Project → Export Template . You give it a name, and the next time you want to create a project like this, just select that name in the New dialog box project. "(In the older version, I think it was Files → Export Teamplate... )

Answer 8

I had the same problem with a Visual Studio 2010 / C # project.

For assemblies (that is, having the .NET interface), use the Links folder in your project in Solution Explorer. Right-click it, select "Add Existing Item" and find your .dll assembly.

General. DLL files can be placed in a subfolder (as mentioned above "\ lib"), and in the properties:

• Build Action = "HelpFiles"
• Copy to OutputDirectory = "If Newer"

This worked for me exactly the way you need it - at build time, .LLs are copied to the output directory without the "\ lib" subfolder.