CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.net-core
BillHaggerty
BillHaggerty

Reputation: 6589

Copy files to output directory using csproj dotnetcore

So my issue is pretty simple. I have some files that I want to be copied to the build output directory whether it is a debug build or a release publish. All of the information I can find is about the old json config approach. Anyone have an example using the csproj with dotnetcore?

Upvotes: 206

Views: 214217

Answers (10)

mdisibio
mdisibio

Reputation: 3540

Extending the above answers for content outside a project folder (but still relative to it, such as under the solution folder):

Within a csproj:

For example:

mySolution.sln
- my.project
  - my.project.csproj
  - Foo.cs
  - sql
    - create.sql
    - merge.sql
    - delete.sql

then use:

  <ItemGroup>
    <None Update="sql\**\*.sql">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </None>
  </ItemGroup>

Outside the projects:

For example:

mySolution.sln
- my.project
  - my.project.csproj
  - Foo.cs
- sql
  - orders
    - create.sql
    - merge.sql
    - delete.sql

then use (in my.project.csproj for example):

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="..\sql\**\*.sql">
      <Link>sql\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

Without the <Link> element, this includes (and adds a symbolic link to your project) everything below sql, but not including sql. (Annoyingly, individual files directly under sql get copied to the output directory mixed in with dll's).

The <Link> element gets it to include the top directory as well.

Alternatively, structure the content folder with a subdirectory representing the parent directory in your bin output. For example:

mySolution.sln
- my.project
  - my.project.csproj
  - Foo.cs
- sqlcontent
  - sql
    - orders
      - create.sql
      - merge.sql
      - delete.sql

then use (in my.project.csproj for example):

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="..\sqlcontent\**\*.sql">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

Upvotes: 0

ivanko337
ivanko337

Reputation: 399

For example, you have file named test.txt. To set Copy always to this file you need to add this section to your .csproj file:

<ItemGroup>
    <None Include="test.txt">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </None>
</ItemGroup>

Upvotes: 7

llewellyn falco
llewellyn falco

Reputation: 2351

This will copy full directory into subdirectory with proper names.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content 
      Include="..\libs\x64\**\*.*"
      CopyToOutputDirectory="Always"
      TargetPath="x64\%(Filename)%(Extension)"
    />
</ItemGroup>

Upvotes: 8

gab89
gab89

Reputation: 124

If you need to force copy of a specific NuGet package into an ASP.NET Core project (2.2), add at the end of your csproj:

<!-- Force copy MathNet because we need it in compilation -->
<Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="Build">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\MathNet.Numerics.4.8.1\lib\netstandard2.0\MathNet.Numerics.dll')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\MathNet.Numerics.4.8.1\lib\netstandard2.0\MathNet.Numerics.dll'))" />
</Target>

<ItemGroup>
    <ContentWithTargetPath Include="..\packages\MathNet.Numerics.4.8.1\lib\netstandard2.0\MathNet.Numerics.dll">
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
       <TargetPath>MathNet.Numerics.dll</TargetPath>
    </ContentWithTargetPath>
</ItemGroup>

Upvotes: 2

isxaker
isxaker

Reputation: 9516

<PropertyGroup>
    <PostBuildEvent>xcopy "$(ProjectDir)Xml" "$(ProjectDir)$(OutDir)Xml" /S /F /I /R /Y</PostBuildEvent>
</PropertyGroup>

or

<PropertyGroup>
    <PostBuildEvent>copy /Y "$(ProjectDir)MyXml.xml" "$(ProjectDir)$(OutDir)Xml"</PostBuildEvent>
</PropertyGroup>

Upvotes: 0

hngr18
hngr18

Reputation: 857

I had the requirement for a selection of HTML templates to be consumable both client-side and server-side (Handlebars js)

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Update="wwwroot\html-templates\**\*.*">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

Upvotes: 8

m00seDrip
m00seDrip

Reputation: 4021

Place this in your .csproj file, replacing nlog.config with the desired file path. Then simply save it and build your project:

<ItemGroup>
  <Content Update="Nlog.config">
    <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
  </Content>
</ItemGroup>

Upvotes: 19

Mr Moose
Mr Moose

Reputation: 6354

While this helped me get my issue sorted, it didn't work for all files in a sub-directory. I also used Content Include rather than Content Update.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp2.1</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="layouts\*.*">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>  
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

Upvotes: 180

Martin Ullrich
Martin Ullrich

Reputation: 100811

There's quite a few ways to achieve your goals, depending on what your needs are.

The easiest approach is setting the metadata (CopyToOutputDirectory / CopyToPublishDirectory) items conditionally (assuming .txt being a None item instead of Content, if it doesn't work, try <Content> instead):

<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Debug'">
  <None Update="foo.txt" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" />
</ItemGroup>

If more control is required, the most versatile approach is to add custom targets that hook into the build process in the csproj file:

<Target Name="CopyCustomContent" AfterTargets="AfterBuild">
  <Copy SourceFiles="foo.txt" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" />
</Target>
<Target Name="CopyCustomContentOnPublish" AfterTargets="Publish">
  <Copy SourceFiles="foo.txt" DestinationFolder="$(PublishDir)" />
</Target>

This copies a file to the respective directories. For more options for the <Copy> task, see its documentation. To limit this to certain configurations, you can use a Condition attribute:

<Target … Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">

This Condition attribute can be applied both on the <Target> element or on task elements like <Copy>.

Upvotes: 259

Domske
Domske

Reputation: 5695

Assuming you have an assets folder in your root directory. You can name it as you want. This is just an example:

your-project.csproj

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <ItemGroup>
    <AssetsSourceFiles Include="assets/**/*.*"/>
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="CopyCustomContent" AfterTargets="AfterBuild">
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(AssetsSourceFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
  </Target>
</Project>

this copies only the content of the assets folder to the output root without wrapping it into the assets folder. But if you want to copy with the folder itself, you can use the following code:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="assets\**\*.*">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Upvotes: 52

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