I am aware there are multiple questions on this topic already, but they all seem outdated. To clarify, I am using the "new" VSIX manifest format, and trying to follow the official instructions here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/visual-studio-extensibility/visual-studio-templates
I have one project template and a couple of item templates that go with it. They all depend on deploying a NuGet package that should come bundled locally with the VSIX. I have examined the resulting VSIX file and all the files seem to be in the right place:
The project template has the required XML for declaring which packages to install:
<WizardExtension>
<Assembly>NuGet.VisualStudio.Interop, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a</Assembly>
<FullClassName>NuGet.VisualStudio.TemplateWizard</FullClassName>
</WizardExtension>
<WizardData>
<packages repository="extension" repositoryId="VsixID.etc.etc">
<package id="Rx-Linq" version="2.2.5" />
</packages>
</WizardData>
The repositoryID matches the ID attribute in the .vsixmanifest file.
There is an individual Asset entry for each package, with the form:
<Asset Type="Rx-Linq.2.2.5.nupkg" d:Source="File" Path="Packages\Rx-Linq.2.2.5.nupkg" d:VsixSubPath="Packages" />
I have removed all packages.config and all the package references from the .csproj file installed by the VSIX (and even from the VSIX project itself just for good measure).
I have inspected the output VSIX and there is indeed a Packages folder in the VSIX containing all the .nupkg files. This folder is indeed unpacked and copied into the Visual Studio Extensions folder.
Despite all this, when I create a new project with the template, VS displays an error message saying: Failed to restore package from C:\users\<pathtoextensions>\Packages.
The thing is, the .nupkg files are actually present in the exact folder that the error message refers to.
I have been searching this for days and I can't seem to find any reference to best practices that actually work. It seems like these VSIX manifests are geared towards the legacy packages.config way of doing things, and there are discussions about how to extend them to use PackageReference instead.
Can anyone give any advice at all at how we are supposed to proceed going forward? Are packages not supposed to be deployed with the VSIX anymore? Are we supposed to just fill in the project with PackageReference entries and just let the user resolve them manually?
I feel like I am missing something fundamental here and any insight would be extremely valuable.
Update: I have also opened an issue on the NuGet github repository, as this is clearly a problem with the PackageRestore feature when restoring packages stored in a VSIX installer. Everything else mentioned in this question is working as intended and expected, except the package restore.
How do you actually include NuGet packages in Visual Studio Project
Templates VSIX targeting Visual Studio 2019?
Actually, there is no way to specify in a VS project template project that nuget packages can be used both using packages.config and PackageReference. Only two project templates of nuget management types can be created separately.
I have an easy way and since you have some issues with PackageReference format, you can try this funtion:
PackageReference
1) add these reference node in projecttemplate.csporj file:
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="Rx-Linq">
<Version>2.2.5</Version>
</PackageReference>
</ItemGroup>
2) When you create a project by this project template, please check these two options and VS will automatically read xxx.csproj and then recover the corresponding nuget package based on the information in it during build process.
Note: also make sure that the nuget url is checked and can be access under Package Source.
packages.config
In additon, for packages.config, you can just create a file named packages.config and then add your nuget info into it:
1)
2) add these into projecttemplate.csproj file:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="packages.config">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Reference Include="Rx-Linq, Version=2.2.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=eb42632606e9261f, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
<HintPath>..\packages\Rx-Linq.2.2.5\lib\net472\xxxxxxx.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>
Note: if this nuget package has dependencies, you should also add them(above steps) into packages.config and xxxx.csproj file. This funcution is a little more complicated than yours but it works. So, I recommend that you use PackageReference format.
More info you can refer to this similar issue.
I have a web app that generates some configuration files that I need to include into my VS-project. I know this can be done manually and also that there is a wildcard-solution (Auto include new files created outside Visual Studio) but I'm not really pleased with this.
I need the files to be included without having to reload the project, and also VS sometimes changes the wildcard configuration and reference the individual files.
I'm thinking that there might be some plugin etc that could to this? Something with a file system watcher that includes the files?
Or does anyone know how to prevent VS from changing the wildcard-config?
Edit: I think that the changed in the csproj are triggered when you ie add a new file to the project. Then VS removes the folder** and adds a direct reference to all the files included and to the new file.
Edit 2: Seems like this works until you remove a file from the solution explorer, that's when VS creates all these "hard" references to a file.
I came up with a solution that seems to work, that is importing an external project, in my YadaYada.Web.csproj:
<Import Project="..\CustomBuild.targets" />
And then in CustomBuild.targets
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\MyConfigurationFolder\**" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
This will included the files in my builds but not in the VS-ui which is probably fine for me.
Thanks!
I have some text, font, and binary files that I need to ship with my app for both Android and iOS. So far what I've been doing is to add one copy per file to each platform project in Visual Studio. So I was wondering whether there could be a way to have a single folder with all the 'raw' assets and get Visual Studio to copy the files for each platform instead, when building the application.
I'd also like to know if the same thing can be done for vector graphics and bitmaps, so that each file is converted to the appropriate size and resolution depending on the target platform when building the app.
I'm asking because after seeing how easy it's to put together a cross-platform application sharing the same UI and base code with Xamarin.Forms, I was thinking that maybe there is a way to do the same thing for raw assets and resources.
I was thinking that maybe there is a way to do the same thing for raw assets and resources.
You can create a custom NuGet package with MSBuild tasks and a .targets file. In the .target file, you can add all your text, font, and binary files, and then copy those files with MSBuild copy task:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<MySourceFilePath>YourFilesPath</MySourceFilePath>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<MySourceFiles Include="$(MySourceFilePath)\*.txt"/>
<MySourceFiles Include="$(MySourceFilePath)\*.dll"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyFiles" AfterTargets="Build">
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(MySourceFiles)"
DestinationFolder="$(ProjectDir)\DestinationFolder"
/>
</Target>
</Project>
Then Add this .target file into the NuGet package, you can use NuGet Package explorer to create this package:
Then add this package to each project, all your text, font, and binary files will be copy to the project automatically.
Hope this helps.
Background: I have several solutions with roughly 300 C++ projects across them, most of them shared. We are using Visual Studio 2013 and have a build script that compiles all of the projects in the correct order, ensuring dependencies are resolved ahead of time. Our development/engineering team builds all of the code through the build script and then attempts to debug using Visual Studio 2013.
Issue: The "build then debug" process results in Visual Studio telling us that the Projects are out of date. This stems from the ProjectEvaluationFingerprint property (in Line 39 Microsoft.CppBuild.targets) including a $(SolutionDir) in the output file. The recommended fix from Microsoft suggests removing the $(SolutionDir) from the file. As our developers tends to transition back and forth between projects, I do not want to manually change this .targets file on every developer's machine (and remember to change it back when they leave the project). I would like to override the property in the .vcxproj by using a .targets file explicitly for this.
The property in Microsoft.CppBuild.targets looks like:
<!-- Global up-to-date check support -->
<PropertyGroup>
<ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>$(Configuration)|$(Platform)|$(SolutionDir)|$(ProjectEvaluationFingerprint)</ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>
</PropertyGroup>
Generally, I have been following Microsoft's How to: Use the Same Target in Multiple Project Files. I have created a .targets file (test.targets) that contains the following code (note the TEST text was to test evaluation of the property in both the build script and building the project in Visual Studio):
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>$(Configuration)|$(Platform)|TEST|$(ProjectEvaluationFingerprint)</ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>
</PropertyGroup>
I then import it using the following line in the .vcxproj
<Import Project="..\..\Config\VSPropertySheets\test.targets" />
The project.lastbuildstate file now reads:
#TargetFrameworkVersion=v4.0:PlatformToolSet=v120_xp:EnableManagedIncrementalBuild=false:VCToolArchitecture=Native32Bit
Debug|Win32|D:\views\devbranch\Products\SLN\|Debug|Win32|TEST|
It is appending the new ProjectEvaluationFingerprint to the existing one, so it is not overriding (I can understand this to a degree, but I'm no MSBuild expert).
Question: How can I override this one property using a .targets file? Do I need to use a replaceregexp task or do I have an easier option?
You can override this property, but you have to be careful about two things:
the new setting you want is this:
<ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>$(Configuration)|$(Platform)|TEST/ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>
Note the removal of $(ProjectEvaluationFingerprint), which would contain the previous value of this tag
the location where you put the import is important: you will want to put it at the very end of your project (i.e. after the Microsoft.CppBuild.targets import).
Concretely:
use_custom_fingerprint.targets
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>$(Configuration)|$(Platform)</ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
project.vcxproj
<Project ...>
...
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
<ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
</ImportGroup>
<Import Project="use_custom_fingerprint.targets" />
</Project>
Note that I also tried the extension .props and this worked just the same.
Note: The new import after importing Microsoft.CppBuild.targets.$(Platform).user.props is not sufficient, it must be after Microsoft.CppBuild.targets.
Disclaimer: tried in Visual Studio 2015
I have the same problem. I was able to progress a step further than you, but I still haven't a full solution.
The reason why you have now the old fingerprint appended to the new one without solution dir is your line
<ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>$(Configuration)|$(Platform)|TEST|$(ProjectEvaluationFingerprint)</ProjectEvaluationFingerprint>
The
$(ProjectEvaluationFingerprint)
Holds the old fingerprint, so just remove this part from the value for ProjectEvaluationFingerprint and your lastbuildstate will have the desired value.
Sadly now (at least for me) Visual Studio always thinks the fingerprint is wrong and will re-link the project with every compile, not only when switching sln file.
I removed the line from the props sheet and the up-to-date check works again as expected as long as solution directory doesn't change. I then modified the Microsoft.CppBuild.targets directly and this works: No more "not up-to-date" projects, even when switching solution directory.
Can I exclude a folder or files when I publish a web site in Visual Studio 2005? I have various resources that I want to keep at hand in the Solution Explorer, such as alternate config files for various environments, but I don't really want to publish them to the server. Is there some way to exclude them? When using other project types, such as a .dll assembly, I can set a file's Build Action property to "None" and its Copy to Output Directory property to "Do not copy". I cannot find any similar settings for files in a web site.
If the IDE does not offer this feature, does anyone have good technique for handling such files?
Exclude files and folders by adding ExcludeFilesFromDeployment and ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment elements to your project file (.csproj, .vbproj, etc). You will need to edit the file in a text editor, or in Visual Studio by unloading the project and then editing it.
Add the tags anywhere within the appropriate PropertyGroup (Debug, Release, etc) as shown below:
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
...
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>File1.aspx;Folder2\File2.aspx</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>**\.svn\**\*.*</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>Folder1;Folder2\Folder2a</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
</PropertyGroup>
Wildcards are supported.
To explain the example above:
The 1st ExcludeFilesFromDeployment excludes File1.aspx (in root of project) and Folder2\File2.aspx (Folder2 is in the root of the project)
The 2nd ExcludeFilesFromDeployment excludes all files within any folder named .svn and any of its subfolders
The ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment excludes folders named Folder1 (in root of project) and Folder2\Folder2a (Folder2 is in the root of the project)
For more info see MSDN blog post Web Deployment: Excluding Files and Folders via the Web Application’s Project File
Amazingly the answer for Visual Studio 2012 is not here:
The answer with green checkmark is not the answer.
The highest "upped" answer references an article from 2010 and says you have to edit your csproj project file which is now incorrect. I added the ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment XML element to my Visual Studio 2012 csproj file and it did nothing, the element was considered invalid, this is because ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment has been moved to the .pubxml file it looks like.
For Web Applications and Websites you edit the .pubxml file!
You can follow my answer or try this guide which I found later:
http://www.leniel.net/2014/05/using-msdeploy-publish-profile-pubxml-to-create-an-empty-folder-structure-on-iis-and-skip-deleting-it-with-msdeployskiprules.html#sthash.MSsQD8U1.dpbs
Yes, you can do this not just for Website Projects but Websites too. I spent a long time on the internet looking for this elusive exclude ability with a Visual Studio Website (NOT Website project) and had previously concluded it was not possible but it looks like it is:
In your [mypublishwebsitename].pubxml file, found in ~/Properties/PublishProfiles for Web Application Projects and ~/App_Data/PublishProfiles for Websites, simply add:
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>File1.aspx;Folder2\File2.aspx</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>Folder1;Folder2\Folder2a</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
as children to the main <PropertyGroup> element in your .pubxml file. No need to add a new element not unless you are keying a specific build type, like release or debug.
BUT WAIT!!!
If you are removing files from your destination/target server with the following setting in your Publish configuration:
Then the Web Publish process will delete on your source/target server anything excluded, like an item you have delineated in your <ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment> and <ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>!
MsDeploy Skip Rules to the rescue:
First, Web Publish uses something other than MSBuild to publish (called Task IO or something like that) but it has a bug and will not recognize skip rules, so you must add to your .pubxml:
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>MSDeploy</WebPublishMethod>
</PropertyGroup>
I would keep <WebPublishMethod> in its own <PropertyGroup>, you would think you could just have one <PropertyGroup> element in your .pubxml but my Skip Rules were not being called until I moved <WebPublishMethod> to its own <PropertyGroup> element. Yes, crazy, but the fact you need to do all this for Web Publish to exclude and also not delete a folder/file on your server is crazy.
Now my actual SkipRules, ExcludeFolders and ExcludeFiles declarations in my .pubxml:
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>Config</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>Photos</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>Temp</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>Web.config</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
<AfterAddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest>AddCustomSkipRules</AfterAddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest>
And now a the Skip Rules (<Target> is a child of <Project> in your .pubxml):
(You may be able to leave <SkipAction> empty to Skip for all actions but I didn't test that and am not sure.
<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules">
<Message Text="Adding Custom Skip Rules" />
<ItemGroup>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipConfigFolder">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_DestinationContentPath)\\Config</AbsolutePath>
<XPath>
</XPath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipPhotosFolder">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_DestinationContentPath)\\Photos</AbsolutePath>
<XPath>
</XPath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipWebConfig">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_DestinationContentPath)\\Web\.config</AbsolutePath>
<XPath>
</XPath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipWebConfig">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_DestinationContentPath)\\Temp</AbsolutePath>
<XPath>
</XPath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
And please, do not to forget to escape the . in a filePath Skip rule with a backslash.
If you can identify the files based on extension, you can configure this using the buildproviders tag in the web.config. Add the extension and map it to the ForceCopyBuildProvider. For example, to configure .xml files to be copied with a publish action, you would do the following:
<configuration>...
<system.web>...
<compilation>...
<buildProviders>
<remove extension=".xml" />
<add extension=".xml" type="System.Web.Compilation.ForceCopyBuildProvider" />
</buildProviders>
To keep a given file from being copied, you'd do the same thing but use System.Web.Compilation.IgnoreFileBuildProvider as the type.
I struggled with the same issue and finally pulled the trigger on converting the web site to a web application. Once I did this, I got all of the IDE benefits such as build action, and it compiled faster to boot (no more validating web site...).
Step 1: Convert your 'web site' to a 'web application'. To convert it I just created a new "web application", blew away all the files it created automatically, and copied and pasted my web site in. This worked fine. Note that report files will need to have their Build Action set to "Content" instead of "none".
Step 2: Now you can set any files "Build Action" property.
Hope this helps.
In Visual Studio 2013 I found Keith's answer, adding the ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment element to the project file, didn't work (I hadn't read Brian Ogden's answer which says this). However, I found I could exclude a text file when publishing in Visual Studio 2013 by just setting the following properties on the text file itself:
1) Build Action: None
2) Copy to Output Directory: Do not copy
Initially I tried setting the Copy to Output Directory property by itself but that didn't work when the Build Action was set to the default value, Content. When I then set the Build Action to None the text file was no longer copied to the destination folder when I published.
To view these properties in the Visual Studio GUI, in the Solution Explorer right-click on the file you want to exclude and select Properties from the context menu.
I think you only have two options here:
Use the 'Exclude From Project'
feature. This isn't ideal because the
project item will be excluded from
any integrated IDE source control operations.
You would need to click the 'Show All
Files' button on the Solution window
if you need to see the files in
Solution Explorer, but that also
shows files and folders you're not
interested in.
Use a post-build event script to
remove any project items you don't
want to be published (assuming you're
publishing to a local folder then
uploading to the server).
I've been through this before and couldn't come up with anything really elegant.
For Visual Studio 2017, WebApp Publish, first create a standard file system publish profile.
Go to the App_Data\PublishProfiles\ folder and edit the [profilename].pubxml file.
Add
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>[file1.ext];[file2.ext];[file(n).ext]</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
under the tag<PropertyGroup>
You can only specify this tag once, otherwise it will only take the last one's values.
Example:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Release</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
<SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
<ExcludeApp_Data>True</ExcludeApp_Data>
<publishUrl>C:\inetput\mysite</publishUrl>
<DeleteExistingFiles>False</DeleteExistingFiles>
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>web.config;mysite.sln;App_Code\DevClass.cs;</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Make sure that the tag DeleteExistingFiles is set to False
As a contemporary answer, in Visual Studio 2017 with a .net core site:
You can exclude from publish like so in the csproj, where CopyToPublishDirectory is never.
<ItemGroup>
<Content Update="appsettings.json">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<CopyToPublishDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToPublishDirectory>
</Content>
<Content Update="appsettings.Local.json">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<CopyToPublishDirectory>Never</CopyToPublishDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
This is discussed in more detail here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/host-and-deploy/visual-studio-publish-profiles?view=aspnetcore-2.2
<PropertyGroup>
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>appsettings.Local.json</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
</PropertyGroup>
The earlier suggestions did not work for me, I'm guessing because visual studio is now using a different publishing mechanism underneath, I presume via the "dotnet publish" cli tool or equivalent underneath.
The feature you are looking exists if your project is created as a "Web Application". Web Site "projects" are just a collection of files that are thought of as 1:1 with what gets deployed to a web server.
In terms of functionality both are the same, however a web application compiles all source code to a DLL, instead of the naked source code files being copied to the web server and compiled as needed.
This is just an addendum to the other helpful answers here and something I've found useful...
Using wpp.targets to excluded files and folders
When you have multiple deployments for different environments then it's helpful to have just one common file where you can set all the excluded files and folders. You can do this by creating a *.wpp.targets file in the root of the project like the example below.
For more information see this Microsoft guide:
How to: Edit Deployment Settings in Publish Profile (.pubxml) Files and the .wpp.targets File in Visual Studio Web Projects
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<EnableMSDeployAppOffline>True</EnableMSDeployAppOffline>
<ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
*.config;
*.targets;
*.default;
</ExcludeFilesFromDeployment>
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
images;
videos;
uploads;
</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
In Visual Studio 2017 (15.9.3 in my case) the manipulation of the .csproj-File works fine indeed! No need to modify the pubxml.
You can then construct pretty nice settings in the .csproj-File using the PropertyGroup condition, e.g.:
<PropertyGroup Condition="$(Configuration.StartsWith('Pub_'))">
<ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>Samples</ExcludeFoldersFromDeployment>
</PropertyGroup>
excludes the "Samples" folder from all deployments with configurations starting with "Pub_"...
In Visual Studio 2022 I have successfully used this settings:
Go and edit the
[ProjectName] \ Properties \ PublishProfiles \ FolderProfile.pubxml file
in solution explorer.
Add these lines inside PropertyGroup
element:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Remove="Data\*.json" />
<None Include="Data\*.json" />
</ItemGroup>
Then save the .pubxml file and try to publish the project.
"Content Remove" will remove the file from the content to deploy.
"None Include" will keep the file in the solution explorer.
It's possible to set it up in the solution explorer for single files as well: right click the file in the solution explorer -> Properties and change the Build Action to None.