I have 2 large mp4 files in my project, which must be set to 'content,copy if newer'.
Is there a way not to delete those files when Build/Clean solution?
I'd add a post-build script to copy of not exists. This does not help when cleaning, but why do you have to clean anyway?
Related
I took over an application from a coworker that was let go and I can't figure out where this file copy process happens. When I build the solution there's an error when it tries to copy files from the solution to a network drive. I searched the code for the file copy commands and didn't find anything and there's nothing in the build events.
Where else should I look for this file copy?
The file copy was in the build events in a second project I didn't think to check.
I have a C# Visual Studio solution with about 15 projects. When I build the solution I want all DLL and EXE files for each project to go to a common folder (called Deploy).
The way I was thinking about doing it was, for each project's Post-build Event Command Line section put the following commands:
IF NOT EXIST $(SolutionDir)Deploy (
'If directory does not exist, create it
MKDIR $(SolutionDir)Deploy
) ELSE (
'Delete directory to make sure it's "clean"
RMDIR /F /S /Q $(SolutionDir)Deploy
MKDIR $(SolutionDir)Deploy
)
'Copy executable and required DLLs to Deploy directory
COPY /Y $(TargetPath) $(SolutionDir)Deploy
COPY /Y $(TargetDir)*.dll $(SolutionDir)Deploy
The problem with doing it this way, however, is I have 15 projects and would have put this in each individual project's post build event section and also, every time I add a new project, I would have to remember to do the same for it.
I checked the solution file properties and did not see a way to set a solution-wide post build event to copy all the files so I did a few Google searches.
One page said to use a C++ Makefile project. I added this type of project to my solution and clicked on the project properties page and found that there is a section under Configuration Properties->NMake with the following:
Build Command Line
Rebuild All Command Line
Clean Command Line
Using the Makefile project's Command Line option poses a similar problem to above. Many different commands to copy each of my 15 project's output files such as:
COPY /Y $(SolutionDir)Project1\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.exe $(SolutionDir)Deploy
COPY /Y $(SolutionDir)Project2\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.exe $(SolutionDir)Deploy
...
COPY /Y $(SolutionDir)Project15\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.exe $(SolutionDir)Deploy
There is another apparent problem with doing it this way. As you can see I took advantage of the $(SolutionDir) and $(ConfigurationName) macros but I had to hard-code each project name.
I didn't see any macros like $(AllProjects), $(AllProjectDirs), etc.
Also, it appears that command line commands for Makefile projects are for building, not post-build events, so I gave up on this idea altogether.
I then tried using a Visual Studio Installer project. After adding the project to my solution I right-clicked the project and saw that there was an Add->Project Output... option. This brought up a dialog allowing me to add one of my other project's Primary Output. I repeated this for each of my other projects and rebuilt.
What resulted was an .MSI file in the output folder. I then opened installer project properties and changed the Package files option to As loose uncompressed files and rebuilt. The output folder now contained all my project's EXE and DLL files!
Most people would be satisfied at this point and move on but I am the kind of person who likes to find the best way to do things.
There was one thing I didn't like about using the installer project option, the fact that, besides copying the files from all my projects, it also created an MSI file (which I don't need) and I didn't see any option tell it not to create one.
Can anyone recommend a another/better way to accomplish my goal of copying all project output files to a single folder?
Thank you.
P.S. I was thinking I could just make a batch file to search and copy all the EXE and DLL files to the Deploy folder but I would have to run the batch file outside of the Visual Studio IDE and also hard-code the configuration folder (Debug or Deploy).
Can't you just change the Output Directory of the C++ projects? See How to: Change the Build Output Directory.
On the menu bar, choose Project, Properties.
Expand the Configuration Properties node, and choose General.
Change the Output Directory value to the new output directory.
If you want both options, you can also create multiple configurations for your VS projects and solutions, similar to the standard "Debug" and "Release" ones. Create a new configuration from one of the existing ones, then change the output directory and save. Now you can just switch the configuration at the solution level to build into another directory. See this link for detailed steps:
How to: Create and Edit Configurations
I have some custom made XML files and a read me file that I've included in my project.
How do I make it so that these files are copied to my debug/release folders automatically when I build my project? I've tried setting the Copy to Output Directory property to "Copy Always" but this doesn't seem to do the trick.
I'm using VS2010
I've found the answer. The build action needs to be set to Content if you want to just directly copy the file to the output folder.
Inside the project folder there is a "project's name" folder, Release and Debug folder. I'm right now working in debug mode and my files keep getting updated everytime i run it, and i copy it into the other 2 folders everytime to avoid confusion. Is this the right way to do it or is it enough if the files are in the main folder ?
If you have files in the project that need to be copied to the current output folder on build then select the appropriate options in the file's properties: select the file in solution explorer and then set the properties of that file:
Build Action: None
Copy to output directory: Copy Always, or Copy If Newer.
Thus VS will put the files in the right place on build. You do not need to maintain multiple copies.
If your program needs access to text files, images, etc. which are separated from the program's code, you can put these both into the debug or into the release folder.
Beware that if you modify these files into the debug folder, you must update the files into the release, and vice-versa. This is valid if you use to switch between the debug mode and the release mode. If you use only the debug mode as I do while I'm developing, you could put all the files in the debug folder only, and copy these files into the release folder only when you will end the development.
When executing build->clean solution in Visual Studio 2005 I want to also remove some debug text files that may exist in my build directory. The file name will always be the same, i.e. debug.txt. Is there a way to get Visual Studio to do this?
Go to Project->Properties and choose configuration properties.
THere's an entry "Extensions to delete on clean". Add *.txt to it and that just should do the trick. Or you can explicitly specify debug.txt