Difference between Build action content and 'Copy to output directory' in Visual Studio

visual-studio buildaction
ilias picture ilias · Sep 3, 2012 · Viewed 23.7k times · Source

In my project in Visual Studio, I have files that I want included in the output, but not compiled or embedded.

I am aware that there are 2 ways to accomplish this.

  1. Setting the Build Action for the file to 'Content'
  2. Setting the 'Copy to Output Directory' to 'Copy Always' or 'Copy if newer'

Can someone tell me what the difference is and which scenario is each of the options appropriate for?

Answer

Oded picture Oded · Sep 3, 2012

When setting the Build Action to Content, the file will not be compiled and will be put in the Content output group.

Whether the file gets copies or not depends on the Copy to Output Directory setting at that point.

Of course, if you set Copy Always on a file, it may get compiled and then copied.

See File Properties on MSDN:

Content - The file is not compiled, but is included in the Content output group. For example, this setting is the default value for an .htm or other kind of Web file.

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